(Ottawa, ON) Softball Canada is pleased to announce the list of inductees to the 2015 Hall of Fame Class who will be inducted during the celebration of the organization’s 50th Anniversary at its Congress and Annual General Meeting taking place November 12-15 in Winnipeg, MB. The inductees include Bruce Bierman (Official – Ontario), Roy and Evelyne Holenski (Builders – Manitoba), Heather Newsham (Athlete – Manitoba) as well as a pair of teams – the 1994-1996 Smitty’s Midget Girls’ Team and the 1993-1997 Smitty’s Senior Womens’ Team.
Â
Bruce Bierman (Ayr, ON)was an active umpire in Ontario from 1981 to 2006, officiating in five Softball Canada Canadian Championships (Junior Women’s in 1987; Senior Women’s in 1993; Senior Men’s in 1990, 1997 and 2002) and was also an Umpire-in-Chief at countless provincial, national and international softball tournaments, leagues and associations, including Deputy Umpire-in-Chief of the 2001 Canada Summer Games in London and Softball Ontario’s Umpire-in-Chief from 1989 to 1994. As an international umpire, he represented Canada at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In addition to all he has done on the field, Bruce also dedicated many hours to the development of umpires by instructing at numerous umpire clinics and has attended and/or volunteered at all of Softball Canada’s Blue Conventions.
Â
Roy and Evelyne Holenski (Winnipeg, MB) have dedicated most of their lives to softball, both at the provincial level in Manitoba and as representatives of Softball Canada. They both began their coaching careers by launching the extremely successful Smitty’s Terminators program, which they have coached and led for 40 years (1975 to 2014). Evelyne served as a Softball Manitoba Director from 1975 to 1999 and has held numerous other administrative positions in the province since then, and both she and Roy were both instrumental in the formation of Manitoba’s Ladies Super Softball League, one of the most successful softball leagues in the country. In addition to all of their contributions locally, Evelyne also served on Softball Canada’s Board of Directors from 1998 to 2001 and served as the business manager of Canada’s National and Olympic Teams, leading them to the 1999 Pan American Games and the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Roy and Evelyne have been outstanding volunteers throughout their lifetimes and have seen the fruit of their labours succeed on numerous occasions at the national level with Smitty’s, one of Canada’s most successful programs of all-time.
Â
Sandy (Newsham) Maskiw (Winnipeg, MB) began her softball career in 1985 at the age of 12 and quickly developed into one of Canada’s top pitchers. A product of the Smitty’s softball program, she helped lead the team to an outstanding eight Senior Women’s Canadian Championship Gold medals and one Silver medal between 1995 and 2007, gathering several Top Pitcher, Top Batter, Top Player and Most Valuable Player awards over that span. Her international softball playing career began when she represented Canada at the 1991 Junior Women’s World Softball Championship where she pitched a no-hitter against New Zealand, and was named to the senior team two years later in 1993, remaining in the program until 2001. She went on to pitch in the 1995 and 1999 Pan American Games, playing a key role in Canada’s Silver medal performance in 1999 by earning the win in the semi-final game before pitching the Gold medal game in a 1-0 loss. She then represented Canada as a member of the 2000 Olympic Summer Games team in Sydney, where she went 1-2 while maintaining a 1.17 earned run average and striking out 25 batters in 30 innings pitched.
Â
The 1994-1996 Smitty’s Midget (U19) Girls’ Team (Winnipeg, MB) won three consecutive Canadian Championships in 1994 (Antigonish, NS), 1995 (White Rock, BC) and 1996 (Brandon, MB), breaking Manitoba’s nearly 30 years Canadian Championship drought and beginning an incredible run of success for the program. Led by the coaching staff consisting of head coach Dale Newsham, assistant coaches Dennis Chester and Joe Storozuk and manager Marion Newsham, Smitty’s went a combined 30-3 over the three-year period with six players playing in all three tournaments and another seven playing in two of them. The team also produced five players – Kathy Le, Leanne Scott, Heather Newsham, Nicole Anneck and Lindsay Chester – who went on to represent Canada at the 1995 Junior Women’s World Softball Championship in Normal, Illinois where the team finished fifth.
Â
The 1993-1997 Smitty’s Senior Women’s Team (Winnipeg, MB) won five consecutive Canadian Championship medals, working its way up with a Bronze medal in 1993 followed by a Silver medal in 1994 before winning three consecutive Gold medals from 1995 to 1997. The first of those three Gold medals came 30 years after Manitoba’s first (and to that point only) Gold medal at the Senior Women’s level, and the team was led by Roy and Evelyne Holenski who are also being inducted in the Hall of Fame this year. The Smitty’s Terminators Senior Women’s Team also included five Senior Women’s National Team members – Juanita Clayton, Karen Doell, Heather Newsham, Sandy Newsham and Deb Sonnenberg – who each went on to play in the Olympic Summer Games, Clayton, Doell and Sonnenberg in 1996 and Heather and Sandy Newsham in 2000.
Â
The inductees will join the Softball Canada Hall of Fame at an Induction ceremony which will be held Saturday, November 14, 2015. The ceremony will be held in conjunction with Softball Canada’s Annual General Meeting and Congress in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which will take place from November 12-15. Winnipeg was also where Softball Canada was formed in 1965.
Â
The theme of Softball Canada’s 50th Anniversary celebration is “Celebrating the Past and Building the Futureâ€. Softball players and fans are passionate, and behind each and every one of them is a moment that started it all. This theme celebrates that moment, whether it happened in the past or whether it is happening right now, kick starting future generations of players and fans.
