Five Atlantic Canadians to Join Softball Canada Hall of Fame
August 18, 2008
Ottawa, ON
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 19, 2008
Five Atlantic Canadiansto Join Softball Canada Hall of Fame
(Ottawa, ON) - SoftballCanada is pleased to announce that Wendy Dealy, Kris Gillis, Jody Hennigar,Ivan Mader and Walter (Butch) Ryan will be inducted into the Softball CanadaHall of Fame in recognition for their contribution and excellence in the sport of softball across the country.
Wendy Dealy (Athlete, NewBrunswick) had a 19 year softball career in New Brunswick, and represented herhome province in 14 Canadian Championships (2 junior, 12 senior), often leadingthe charge for her team in the pitcher’s circle. She is already recognized asSoftball New Brunswick Inc.’s premiere female softball pitcher, and wasinducted to the Softball New Brunswick Inc.’s Hall of Fame in 1994, the NewBrunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and the Miramichi Wall of Fame in 2007.
Kris Gillis (Athlete, NewBrunswick) was a significant contributor of the Gold-medal winning CanadianNational Team at the 1993 ISF Junior Men’s World Championships, which happensto be the last time Canada won the Gold medal at the tournament. Gillis wasnamed Most Valuable Player of Canada’s semi-final win over Japan, hitting twohomeruns and driving in all three runs in a 3-2 win to lead Canada to thefinal. He also crossed the plate for the winning run in the eighth inning ofthe Championship game, a 4-3 win against New Zealand. The Salisbury native led Team Canada with five homeruns in the event, and also ranked second with 14runs batted in.
Jody Hennigar (Athlete, NovaScotia) is recognized as one of the most decorated players in Canadian Men’s softball history, with a career spanning 21 years. Twelve of those years were spent with the Canadian Senior Men’s National Team, while Jody also played in New Zealand for six years. His Canadian accomplishments include fiveAll-Canadian selections, two All-Canadian Most Valuable Pitcher awards, and collected seven medals at the Canadian Championships (2 gold, 3 silver, 2bronze) with various teams. He also represented Canada in three ISF WorldChampionships (1992, 1996 and 2000), helping Canada win Gold in 1992 and silver in 1996, while also competing on two Gold-medal winning Pan American Games teams in 1995 and 1999.
Ivan Mader (Official, NovaScotia) began his involvement in softball back in 1967, when he volunteered as an umpire and coach in New Brunswick, moved on to Ontario and finally arrived in Nova Scotia in 1977, where he has lived and been involved ever since. Ivanalso dedicated a lot of time to the administration side of officiating, serving as a regional umpire-in-chief, deputy umpire-in-chief and Provincialumpire-in-chief from 1991 to 2003. His umpiring career on the national levelincluded six Canadian Championships – one Junior Men’s Championship (1983), twoSenior Women’s Championships (1987, 1991) and three Senior Men’s Championships(1989, 1991, 1996). He has been a registered umpire for over 30 years, and wasinducted in the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame in 2001.
Walter (Butch) Ryan(Official, New Brunswick), who sadly passed away on May 19th, 2001, was apioneer in Softball Canada’s Officiating program. He began umpiring in the1950’s and his involvement was tremendous all the way up to the year 2000. Heumpired in or supervised six Canadian Championships (1978, 1981, 1983, 1988,1992, 1994), often working the plate in Championship games. He was also aSoftball Canada National Deputy Umpire in Chief for three years and a leadinginstructor and mentor for Softball New Brunswick for 30 years, conducting manyclinics to help develop local umpires.
The five Atlantic Canadianswill join the select group of Canadians who have had this honour bestowed uponthem at the Induction ceremony which will be held Saturday, November 8th2008. The ceremony is held in conjunction with Softball Canada’s Annual Meetingin Fredericton, New Brunswick.
For more information, pleasecontact
Gilles LeBlanc
Manager - Marketing andCommunications
Softball Canada
(613)-523-3386 ext 3105
