Four new faces will soon be added to Sackville’s Sports Wall of Fame.
The latest inductees – among them a soccer star, a golf great, a highland dance mentor, and a longtime hockey volunteer – will be honoured during an upcoming ceremony that will pay tribute to their outstanding achievements.
Erin Anderson, manager of special programs and events for the town, says the Sports Wall of Fame is a way for the community to award individuals or teams who have accomplished greatness in their chosen pursuits and who’ve given back to the sport.
“It’s a chance to recognize the people who have brought recognition to the town of Sackville through their achievements and to honour those who have played a key role in the development of youth sports,” she says.
Under the athlete category, Kate Crawford (soccer) and Randy Beal (golf) will receive accolades; while Sharon MacIntyre (highland dance) and Wayne Hicks (minor hockey) will be inducted in the builders’ category.
Sackville has been giving recognition to local athletes, teams and sports builders through its Sports Wall of Fame since 1989.
The induction ceremony, which will be open to the public, will be held Wednesday, June 2 at 7 p.m. at the Tantramar Veterans Memorial Civic Centre and will be followed by a reception.
Kate Crawford (athlete)
From the time she kicked her first soccer ball at the age of six, Kate Crawford has excelled in the sport – rising through the ranks throughout elementary, middle and high school, then earning a full athletic scholarship to the University of Maine to play at one of the highest levels of women’s amateur soccer in the United States.
Kate’s journey as a soccer player began with the Sackville Youth Soccer Association, and she eventually moved on to play with the Tantramar Titans at the high school-level (receiving MVP honours in Grade 10 and female athlete of the year in Grade 12), then earned a spot on the Canada Summer Games team and provincial-level squads before launching her successful university career.
Although small in stature, Kate quickly separated herself from the pack with her athleticism, speed and dedication, which led her from the pitch in Sackville to soccer at the NCAA Division 1 level at the University of Maine, with many experiences in between.
Nominated to the Sports Wall of Fame by Steve Ridlington, Kate has served as a “proud ambassador of her home community” as she’s traveled throughout Canada and the US.
According to Scott Atherley, Kate’s former head soccer coach at the University of Maine, prior to her arrival, the women’s program had never posted a winning season nor qualified for post-season play. In Kate’s final season (2003), however, the team not only qualified for post-season play but also advanced to the championship game of the America East Conference.
“Kate played an integral role in the team’s success and program’s ascendancy to a championship calibre team,” said Atherley.
In recent years, as she has completed her professional training as a physiotherapist, Kate has returned to work in her home community and has embarked on a soccer coaching career that has already touched minor, high school and university-level players.
Now serving as assistant coach of the Mounties women’s varsity soccer team, head soccer coach Barry Cooper says Kate’s expertise and dedication to the sport have proven invaluable.
“The 2009/10 season was easily the best the soccer Mounties have experienced in the past five seasons . . . the fact that Kate was involved was not a coincidence.”
Randy Beal (athlete)
Hitting the links for the first time at the age of nine, it didn’t take long for Randy Beal to start nabbing numerous golfing honours and awards for his talent and commitment to the sport.
Randy went from a junior star who got his start at the Sackville Golf Club to a university athlete playing on a full scholarship in the US. While attending college, he earned a spot on the NAIA (Divison II) District team and then moved on to play for the NCCAA District 3 team.
Randy, who began playing golf in 1972, earned the NB Midget Champ title in 1976, and became a member of the New Brunswick juvenile team the following year.
He made the junior provincial team three times and brought home nearly every award in the junior and juvenile ranks in New Brunswick.
Now living in Nova Scotia, the former Sackville golfer is a graduate of Tantramar Regional High School and earned a four-year athletic scholarship to Marion College, Indiana, where he continued to gain accolades as a member of the varsity team that was named the Central Conference Champs in 1982.
Nominated by Lou and Ruth Lambe, Randy was honoured with New Brunswick’s first-ever junior development award in 1981, was named to the all-district team for the National Christian College Athletic Association in 1982, and was named Marion College’s MVP in 1985.
Wayne Hicks (builder)
Wayne Hicks has undoubtedly done more than his fair share for Sackville’s minor hockey program and continues to do so, even after more than three decades of volunteering. And he does it for the sheer love of the sport.
A longtime coach, manager and fundraiser for the Sackville Minor Hockey Club (and a volunteer for 20 years for the local swimming club), Wayne has earned numerous honours for his unselfish dedication to the community – including the Edmund LeBlanc Award, Sackville Citizen of the Year, manager of the year, Haines Award, David Sears Memorial, Hockey New Brunswick’s volunteer of the year award, and a 30-year service award from SMHC. The annual Sackville Minor Hockey Recreational Tournament is also now named in his honour, the Wayne Hicks Classic.
Nominated by the SMHC, Wayne began supporting minor hockey when his son started in the program more than 30 years ago. Wayne served as assistant coach in those early years, moving on to a coaching role and then a management position, even after his son no longer played. Now he serves as head of the coaches’ selection committee.
Wayne also initiated a bottle exchange fundraiser for SMHC, which has brought in thousands of dollars for minor hockey over the years.
“Always in the rink but never in the spotlight,” says Jason Bartlett, a high school teacher and local hockey coach. “He works tirelessly behind the scenes as an organizer, manager, timekeeper, recycler, and, more importantly, supporter of local-area kids as they fulfill their hockey dreams.”
Kirby Cadman, past-president of the SMHC, would agree.
“He’s seen it all, heard it all and helped out with all,” says Cadman. “He has been a large contributor to make Sackville Minor Hockey the successful program it is today.”
Sharon MacIntyre (builder)
Sharon MacIntyre has spent the past three-and-a-half decades building a vibrant and strong highland dance program in Sackville, while nurturing and mentoring young athletes in the sport she so loves.
An award-winning competitor in her younger years, Sharon began to teach highland dance in Moncton in 1964 at the age of 14, with her students encountering great success at all levels of competition.
In 1972, marriage to Don MacIntyre brought her to Sackville where she founded the Sharon MacIntyre School of Highland Dance (now the Tantramar Highland Dancers).
In the past 35-plus years, Sharon has “built the discipline of highland dance in her home community of Sackville into what it has become today – a vibrant sport in which girls and boys have the opportunity to develop to their peak of physical fitness and personal skill level, work as a team and individually in competition, performance and choreography, and if they choose and qualify, to represent the town of Sakville and New Brunswick at the national level,” according to the local highland dancers and parents who nominated her to the Wall of Fame.
Sharon began dancing at the young age of three and, after being noticed by a top highland dance coach, started training seriously two years later. Her success in competitions and at performances began soon after; she moved up in the ranks from juvenile champion to junior champion to senior champion, then Atlantic champion. Her dedication and talent earned her 200 medals and over 20 trophies in the growing world of highland dance in the Atlantic provinces between 1953 and 1964.
She then began her teaching career, established a highland dance school in Sackville, and has continued to work tirelessly to promote the sport throughout the province. Sharon has been a much sought-after judge since the early ‘70s, ran the Mount Allison-based highland dance summer school for a decade, established the annual Sackville Highland Dance competition in 1975, coordinated several NB provincial championships and two Atlantic Open Championships, served as president of the New Brunswick Highland Dance Association from 1989 to 1996, and, most recently, she co-chaired the ScotDance Canada Championship Series 2007 in St. John, a five-day competitive event attended by 650 dancers from all over the country, as well as competitors from the US, Scotland, Australia, and South Africa.
In the past 35-plus years, Sharon’s goal of personal excellence has been passed on to the next two generations of highland dance students, who consistently bring back medals from regional, provincial and national level events.
