It was a big weekend for the locally-based sports Halls of Fame on both sides of the river.
The reason was because the Battlefords was hosting the annual special group retreat of the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.
About 14 staff and board members were in the area on Friday and Saturday. On Friday they toured the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Battleford, and on Saturday they were at the North Battleford Sports Museum and Hall of Fame in the basement of the main library on 101st Street.
It’s a time for the Saskatchewan Hall of Fame to do some business and prepare for the next year, and also a chance to see two Halls of Fame that are part of their network of 12 satellite halls across the province.
According to Rankin Jaworski, president of the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, these various satellite halls represent either certain sports or regions of the province.
“Some of their funding would roll down from SaskLotteries to those halls,” said Jaworski. “We’re kind of the administrator of some of that.”
The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame also provides support and guidance for these satellite halls.
Jaworski said their main activity has been “concentrating around kind of the strategic vision, the strategic plan, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame has.”
The main challenge, he says, is how to promote awareness of the great sports history of Saskatchewan.
“This province has really incredible sports history, both in the province and athletes that compete internationally,” said Jaworski. “It’s how do you tell that story.”
What particularly impressed the group visiting the North Battleford Sports Museum and Hall of Fame was seeing for themselves the impressive results of the rebuilding job done at the location.
The location had suffered heavy flooding this summer from the major storm that rolled into the city in August. That had ruined the display cases and ceiling tiles and prompted a major repair and repainting job.
A lot of places would “have packed it in,” Jaworski said, but “you’ve continued on with this legacy. That’s what I was impressed with this morning.”
Don Hilsendager, executive director for the North Battleford Sports Museum and Hall of Fame, said he was “happy to have them come and see this Hall of Fame.”
Among the items on hand were considerable tributes set up for local sports icons Emile Francis and Rueben Mayes, as well as the legacy display from the time North Battleford was part of the Olympic torch run route for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
“We wanted to show off to them and show them we have a first class Hall of Fame.”
