Fort Frances Sports Hall of Fame Announces 2025 Inductees
The Muskies 1989 Gold Medal boys’ hockey team, and a former hockey All-American, are among two teams, one builder and three athletes entering the Fort Frances Sports Hall of Fame in 2025. The six inductees will officially enter the Hall of Fame, during ceremonies at La Place Rendez-vous on Saturday August 9, 2025.
The two teams entering the Hall of Fame are:
- 1977 – 78 Muskie Boys Basketball team – NWOSSAA Champions Head Coach Brad “Bucky” Bodnarchuk, Assistant Coach John Bock. Players: the late Gord Ash, Dave Ashworth, Dan Bird, Brad Carlson, Rick Chambers, Bill Douglas, the late Mark Drazenovich, Ron Fryer, Francis Ling, Ross Quirie, Mike Stamarski.
- 1989 FFHS Muskie Boys Hockey team – Provincial Gold Medalists Head Coach Terry Ogden, Assistant Coaches: Ken Christiansen, Glenn Edwards. Manager: the late Barney Maher. Players: Jay Albright, Shane Bliss, Neil Cooper, Craig Erb, Marcel Horton, Tim Lindberg, Murray McLeod, Geoff MacEachern, Chris Medicine, Ken Pocock, Manny Rego, Chris Spence, Wayne Strachan, Bill Tucker, Gib Tucker, Brett Watt, Mark Wilkins, Dean Wilson.
The inductee in the Builder Category is:
- Rick Wiedenhoeft who is a long time football and volleyball official. He was a former coach and athletic director at FFHS. He was an outstanding football player at FFHS and the University of Waterloo.
The athletes being inducted include:
- Gary Beck who led the St. Scholastica Saints to two NAIA national hockey championships in the 1970’s.
- Erin (McIvor) Howe who was a team captain with the York University women’s hockey team.
- The late Elov Seger who was a first team All American defenseman on the 1961 – 62 Michigan Tech NCAA national hockey championship team.
Complete histories for each inductee will be publicized in the weeks before the induction ceremony. Tickets for the event will go on sale in the middle of June.
Spokesperson Scott Fawcett said “This is an outstanding class of inductees entering the Hall of Fame. Their accomplishments and contributions to sport have earned them membership in our Hall. The selection committee was challenged to select these inductees from over a dozen nominations submitted by the general public.” The Fort Frances Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee uses a scoring system similar to that of the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
The Fort Frances Sports Hall of Fame was founded in 2012 with a mission to preserve and honour the area’s rich and proud sports heritage. Since the inaugural induction event in 2015, 14 athletes, 18 builders and 9 teams have been honoured for their outstanding accomplishments and contributions to a wide variety of sports.