Woodstock sports wall to be re-introduced in new format

Community complex is site for sports recognition wall
Woodstock sports wall took a hiatus for new inductees in 2015

By Mark Schadenberg
There are so many possibilities, but an improvement must be and will be found.
The Woodstock Sports Wall Of Fame has existed since 1996 when the Southwood Arena twin-pad facility opened its doors at the Woodstock District Community Complex (WDCC) in 1996. Around that same time Stub Harper passed away and thereby became the first inductee to the sports wall -- sort of a foundation to the house to be built around him.
As the years went on, the concourse or foyer or mezzanine at the WDCC quickly became filled with plaques to recognize athletes and teams, coaches and founders, and even those to be placed on a local pedestal called 'lifetime achievement'. The foyer under its current format became full and more plaques are now affixed to the walls in the hallway with the glass viewing of the secondary ice pad -- the hallway of fame -- which leads to the office for figure skating and minor hockey, and eventually to the breezeway to Fanshawe College.

The Woodstock Sports Wall of Fame has grown to be exactly what it was meant to be -- honouring significant accomplishments of local people in their arena of sports, whether it be badminton, weightlifting, hockey, football, golf, bowling, gymnastics, figure skating, baseball / softball / fastball, track and field, and even kayaking. Those bestowed their earned place on the wall include world champions, a Stanley Cup champ, and many many many national and provincial-level winners, and Olympians too.
City council members at the time who were 'champions' of the wall idea were Dave Nadalin and the late Phil Poole. 
The update to today -- as 20 years have now passed through the hourglass -- is to improve the wall's format and layout by creating an interactive display monitor with a touch screen, so if you wanted more biography on Catherine Bond-Mills (pictured) or Brian Paton or Klondike Joe Boyle or Penny Parkes or Bill Gillespie, all you have to do is scroll through the names and touch a monitor. Teams will be focused on as well, including the 68-69 Junior C Navy Vets which won an OHA title. 

The Woodstock recreation advisory committee (WRAC), which I chair, along with the City of Woodstock events manager Brad Janssen and museum curator Karen Houston, have already been working for almost a year on researching and re-researching and verifying bios on the current inductees. The idea is to have a terrific photo of each honouree, but if, for example, a computer scanning of a newspaper clipping could add more script, and at the same time more background data on the various accomplishments -- great -- add the clipping. 
Today's plaques simply have the inductees name, their category (male or female athlete, etc) along with the about six words about their sport and resume. Further, over time, photos have faded, so it's now time to shuffle the deck and re-introduce the sports wall locally. 
Sometime in 2016, which is also the 20th birthday of Southwood Arenas, along with its adjoining gymnastics centre and community hall, the WDCC will celebrate a birthday party, and before or after the candles are extinguished, the local sports hall of fame will be re-introduced with a new look, but the same focus of recognizing the people who have created our strong local sports community.
The previous nominations submitted but not yet inducted, are still on file, but new nominations will be accepted again in the new year with strongly defined criteria, but keep in mind the WRAC and its sports wall committee will continue its efforts in looking at all nominations for overall deserving quality and their contributions.
Just this past week, I spoke as a delegation at city council as WRAC chair with our advisory committee's annual report.
Also this past week, I stopped by the Wayne Gretzky Centre in Brantford (See a different post on this terrific facility) and had a long chat with Sandy Jackson there. Sandy is from Woodstock originally and continues to reside in Oxford, but is the facility manager for the stunningly renovated Gretzky building, which has four arenas and an expansive aquatics department, a gymnasium, and a fitness centre. 
My main discussion with Sandy though was about the sports recognition museum there inside the lobby of the multi-use facility.

BRANTFORD Touch-Screen

About one-quarter of the hall or museum honours Wayne, but there are also closed-in glass cases with memorabilia of many Brantford area athletes in countless sports, they have an interactive recording machine which permits participants to do play-by-play of famous sports events, and there is also a photo of each previous inductee, but most importantly a touch screen monitor which you can access by sport or in alphabetical order to see an impressive biography on all those previously honoured.
By the way, the display created to highlight the current-year honourees includes badminton player Mike Beres, who was not only a world ranked badminton player, but also a long-time member of the Woodstock Badminton Club because of the quality facility our city has for that racquet sport.
I look forward to 2016 for many reasons, including the renovated, re-focused, re-invented, re-introduced Woodstock Sports Wall of Fame.
If you have ideas on a 'look' or 'theme for the sports wall, you may certainly contact me anytime or email Brad Janssen at bjanssen@cityofwoodstock.ca. If you have old photos of current inductees, nostalgia albums of stories, or even historic trophies in your possession, you can contact Brad Janssen about these items as they could be offered to the City "on loan" for a specific time period. 

LINKS:
www.cityofwoodstock.ca
http://www.cityofwoodstock.ca/en/living-in-woodstock/resources/Applications_and_licences/Sports_Wall_Application_Form.pdf
http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2014/10/14/seven-athletes-and-one-team-will-be-inducted-into-the-woodstock-wall-of-fame-oct-25-as-part-of-the-2014-class
www.waynegretzkysportscentre.ca

Mark Schadenberg, Sales Representative

Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)

Royal LePage Triland Realty Brokerage

757 Dundas St, Woodstock

www.royallepagetriland.com

(519) 537-1553, cell or text

Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com

Twitter: markroyallepage

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