Nominations for the 2022 Powell River Sports Hall of Fame are now open.
Sports hall of fame committee member Paul Liknes said he is hoping to see a number of nomination forms coming in for the second induction of candidates. For the first sports hall of fame induction in June 2019, there were about 20 nominations that met the criteria, he said.
“I would suggest to people that if they are not sure if the people they want to nominate fit the criteria, put it in anyway and let the committee decide,” said Liknes. “I’d like them to make it tough for the committee to decide who is going to go in.”
Nominations can come in the categories of athlete, builder, pioneer and team. The criteria for induction, along with the nomination form, can be found at powellriver.ca. There is a link on the homepage under popular topics.
According to the induction criteria form, for Powell River Sports Hall of Fame, those who are eligible include individual athletes, teams and builders of all abilities who live or are from the Powell River area and have made significant contributions to sport in Powell River and elsewhere. Their achievements must have placed them at the national, international or professional level in their respective sports. Full details are available online.
Liknes said the sporting legacy for this community is phenomenal.
“That’s why I was so happy to get the sports hall of fame off the ground,” said Liknes. “I think it’s important that we document the outstanding achievements of our people.”
He said not everybody knows that there are people from this community who have won Super Bowls or world championships in curling. The sports hall of fame, he said, is a great way of bringing familiarity of great athletic accomplishments to the broader community.
Liknes said the committee has not seen this year’s nominations yet, but given the nominations that came in for the 2019 induction and didn’t get in, there are already some exceptional people and teams out there that deserve to be in the hall of fame.
“It’s an incredible honour to be nominated and to be recognized as one of the elite athletes, teams or builders from your hometown,” said Liknes. “I am hoping that people who do get nominated and are asked to become part of the sports hall of fame understand that.
“Some may have to travel quite a distance to be here for the induction, but hopefully, they see the significance of it. It’s the who’s who of elite athletes in Powell River.”
Liknes said the community has played a big part in the sports hall of fame. There have been some incredible sponsors that have stepped up to help out and some incredible help throughout the town, he said.
“I think it was well past its time that we got this off the ground,” said Liknes.
The first induction was a huge success, said Liknes, and the committee now has a blueprint to run another great event.
“We know what we want to do and I think the next one will be that much better,” said Liknes.
One of the great components of the last go-round was that every sports hall of fame inductee was featured in a story in the Peak, once a week, leading up to the grand event, according to Liknes.
“I think it really got the town going, got people excited and remembering these people and how great they really were,” said Liknes. “There were some great stories.”
Nominations will remain open until October 31. Liknes said last time there were a couple of surprises and he expects a couple of surprises this time. He said, for example, that although he was Powell River born and raised, he had never heard of track and field pioneer Gino Bortolussi, who became the best Canadian army sprinter for two years in a row.
“That’s the big thing about the sports hall of fame,” said Liknes. “It’s bringing up some of the older people that deserve to be recognized as pioneers and athletes.
“Hopefully, we get a lot of interest and people fill out the nomination forms so the committee can sift through it.”
