Al Gaetz is one of the six individuals and one team in who will be inducted into the Humboldt and District Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
"I feel it's a real honour," said Gaetz. "I'm pleased to be inducted."
Gaetz has always been interested in sports, especially hockey.
"Sports have always been a big part of my life," said Gaetz.
As a young boy, he would collect hockey cards from Kellogg's cereal boxes and order more with the order form on the side of the box.
His interest in hockey continued throughout his teens, when he would listen to Hockey Night in Canada every Saturday night.
When Gaetz moved to Humboldt in 1957, he became very active in the sports culture in the city.
In the 1960s, Gaetz was on both the Humboldt Merchants and Humboldt Jaycees fastball teams. He also coached minor baseball.
In 1969, he helped coach the Sandlot team, which won the provincial championship and placed second in the Western Canada Finals.
He may have been involved in baseball, but his first love was hockey. He has always worked hard to support the Humboldt Broncos in every way he could and was instrumental in rebuilding the team in the 1976-77 season.
As long as Humboldt was associated with the SJHL, Gaetz longed for a new home for the Broncos. In 1982, he became involved with the committee responsible for building the Uniplex as the building chairman.
It was under his direction that the Uniplex Arena became a reality. The project was completed $150,000 under budget.
In the 1994-95 season, the Broncos were having financial difficulty and had a deficit of $200,000. After hearing that, Gaetz became office manager and took it upon himself to turn the club around. It was at this time Gaetz initiated the first Humboldt Bronco Combine Lotto.
Due to his dedication and effort, the lotto was a huge success, showing a profit of $250,000 in four months - taking the club out of debt.
The next year, he chaired another successful lotto, completely turning the club around. Other clubs then took his lead and began holding their own lotteries.
In the 1995-96 season, he again worked to rebuild the club by acquiring a strong recruiting and scouting network, which was instrumental in hiring Bob Beatty and Dean Brockman.
On February 1, 1997, the SJHL recognized Gaetz for his contribution to their organization by presenting him with the Bill Shinske Memorial Builder of the Year award.
Not only has Gaetz been heavily involved with the Broncos at home, he helped those who had left home to go on to greater careers. When Dave Balon, former Bronco coach and NHL player was diagnosed with MS in 1979, Gaetz decided to spearhead a campaign to get him financial help from the NHL.
Gaetz worked with Don Cherry to get Balon help from the NHL Player Association and with Gary Peters to get the Montreal Canadians and New York Rangers to present Balon with a new specialized van and scooter.
Gaetz is always ready to help the Broncos either financially or with man power.
Besides working for the Humboldt Broncos and SJHL, he scouted and worked with Dave King from Billings Bighorns, Bob Strum from the Spokane Chiefs, Doug Sauter from the Brandon Wheat Kings and Denis Sobchuk from the Regina Pats.
Gaetz feels sports are a large part of Humboldt culture and is proud to have served his community through them.
"I am pleased and proud to be nominated," said Gaetz.
The inductees will be honoured at a Humboldt and District Sports Hall of Fame banquet on November 10.
