Wallaceburg Sports Hall of Fame Annual Award Winner Biographies
The Wallaceburg Sports Hall of Fame is awarding local athletes and members of the community for their achievements in 2016. Here’s a look at their biographies:
Jonah Pataki – Athlete of the Year
Jonah Pataki rushes the ball for the Queens University Gaels – Photo by Jeff Chan/ Queens Athletics
The 2016 Athlete of the Year and recipient of the Eldon Griffith Memorial Award, is Jonah Pataki.
In 2016, Jonah’s 4th year at running back for the Queens University Golden Gaels was a very successful one. In the first two games of the season, Jonah scored TD’s against both Laurier and Guelph but unfortunately both were in a losing cause. In the Gaels inaugural home game at the revitalized Richardson Stadium, Jonah ran for 40 yds against the 5th ranked Western Mustangs in a tough 27-13 loss.
In the next game, Jonah ran for 105 yds in a 20-5 win against University of Toronto Blues. The following week, Jonah had one his most successful outings when the Gaels lined up against the Waterloo Warriors. He ran for 133 yds scoring TD’s of 33, 17 and 38 yds in a 54 -20 pasting of the Warriors. As a result of his efforts, Jonah was named the Queens University “Athlete of the Week”.
After a loss at the hands of the highly ranked McMaster Marauders, Jonah had another excellent game as the Gaels crushed the University of Windsor Lancers by a score of 55-5. In this game, he rushed for 139 yds and for the second time this season, scored 3 TD’s.
Queens season ended the following week with a very hard fought overtime loss to the Ottawa GeeGees. This game saw Jonah run for a season high 204 Yds!
At season’s end, Jonah finished 4th in rushing in the OUA with 148 carries for 814 yds averaging 5.5 yds
per carry. Jonah was 5th in the OUA with an average of 101.8 yds per game and scored 8 rushing touchdowns placing him 4th in the league. Jonah also caught 12 passes for 146 yds and scored one touchdown.
Jonah, along with 2 of his teammates was invited to take part in the East-West Bowl at McGill Stadium in Montreal. In the combine in front of CFL scouts, Jonah placed second in the vertical leap at 37” and was above average in the Long jump and 40 yd sprint. The West won the game and Jonah had 2 carries for 6 yds.
Congratulations to Jonah Pataki for a great season and a successful 4 year career at Queens University, the Wallaceburg Sports Hall of Fame 2016 Athlete of the Year.
Torrie Handsor – Harold Martin Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement
Torrie Handsor carries the ball for the OCAA’s St. Clair College Saints – Photo by St. Clair Athletics
The co-recipients of the Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2016 are Torrie Handsor and Casey McGee.
Playing her 2nd year for the St Clair College Women’s Basketball team in 2016, Torrie Handsor had an outstanding year. She played in 33 games averaging 9.3 pts per game for a total of 308 points.
In an Ontario Collegiate Championships qualifying game against Durham College, Torrie came up big
scoring 17 points, grabbing 11 rebounds and blocking 3 shots for a 73-58 victory. In the OCAA playoffs, St Clair was defeated 69-59 by Niagara College in the consolation final.
As host for the Canadian College Championships, St Clair qualified for the tournament. In the opening game St Clair played the number 1 seed Saint-Foy and lost a close one 56-51. As a 6’1” forward, Torrie scored a game high 14 points and brought down 10 rebounds for a double double and was selected player of the game. St Clair lost 82-72 to Saint Mary’s University with Torrie netting 12 points and 4 rebounds and she had 11 points and 3 rebounds in a 98-61 loss to Montmorency .
In March, Torrie was named St Clair College Athlete of the week.
St Clair is off to a good start for the 2016/17 season and is currently in second place in the Western Conference with a 9 and 2 record. Currently, Torrie has scored 105 pts averaging 9.5 ppg, leads the team in offensive rebounds and is in 2nd place in defensive rebounds.
Casey McGee – Harold Martin Memorial Award for Outstanding Achievement
In 2016, Casey McGee had an outstanding 2nd year with the Wallaceburg Sting Men’s Soccer Team leading the 1st division in scoring with 19 goals. In league cup play he scored 3 goals and in the first cup play he scored 7 goals. The Sting were the First Division League Champions and League Cup Champions for the first time in the same season. This qualified the Sting to be promoted to the Premiere League in the Western Ontario Soccer League next year. In 1st division League Cup play, Casey scored 4 goals in a 5-1 Win over Croatia Casey and scored another goal in defeating London America 2-1 to clinch a promotion to the Premiere Division.
Casey had an outstanding athletic career at WDSS being named the Athlete of the Year in 2016 and was the WDSS nominee for the prestigious Dr. Jack Parry Award.
Ray Aarssen – SHOF Scholarship
The Ray Aarssen Family and the Wallaceburg Sports Hall of Fame have joined forces to create the Ray Aarssen/Sports Hall of Fame Scholarship. The recipient of this scholarship must be a recent graduate of WDSS who is attending a University or College having been involved in school athletics and activities while maintaining high academic standards. The 2016 recipient of this prestigious award is Brad Maxim.
Brad has just completed an outstanding athletic and academic career at WDSS and is now studying Engineering at Western University. While attending WDSS, Brad participated in and excelled in many athletic endeavours. Brad played volleyball, was an All-Star hockey player, quarterbacked the football team, was a member of the swimming and badminton teams and was an MVP and SWOSSA finalist on both the soccer and curling teams. Academically, Brad was an hounour student, an Ontario Scholar and at Commencement in June was awarded the Jessie Houston Scholarship recognizing the student with the 2nd highest overall average, the R.J. MacLean Award, the Ontario Power Generation Student Achievement Award, The Archie Stewart Memorial Award and the Western Scholarship of Excellence. During his time at WDSS Brad was also very active in the Student Athletic Association and Student Parliament. Outside of school, Brad played triple A Bantam & Midget hockey for the CK Cyclones and in 2016 was 2nd in scoring on the Wallaceburg Sting Men’s soccer team.
Ric Vancollie – Coach of the Year
The Wallaceburg Sports Hall of Fame 2016 Coach of the Year, is Ric Vancoille.
Ric Vancoille is no stranger to the sporting scene in Wallaceburg. Ric grew up on the soccer pitch and is well known in Wallaceburg as both a player and coach including 3 years as the player/coach of the Wallaceburg Sting Senior mens team. About twelve years ago, Ric decided to add hockey coach to his resume and last year led the Wallaceburg Minor Midgets to the OMHA Minor Midget BB-D Ontario Championship.
In league play, the locals had an unblemished 9-0 home record while recording 5 wins, 2 losses and 2 ties in away games. In regular season play, the team notched 73 goals and only allowed 43 to be scored against them in an 18 game season. Their outstanding league record qualified them for the Ontario Playoffs.
A six-point series awarding 2 points for a win and one point for a tie, saw the Wallaceburg team sweep their first opponent from Lincoln Ontario in 3 straight games. Moving on to the second round of playoffs against Ingersoll, the competition became a bit more challenging but Rics team rose to the challenge winning the series 6 points to 2 to advance to the third round. The next series would find the Wallaceburg team facing North Middlesex with the winner earning the right to advance to the provincial finals. Wallaceburg once again swept the series 6 points to zero and advanced to the OMHA Minor Midget Finals. In the Championship round, the Wallaceburg team were pitted against a team from Erin-Hillsburgh. After winning 2 games and tying one, Wallaceburg headed into a pivotal fourth game with a 5 points to I series lead. Knotted at 3-3 at the end of regulation time, they headed into overtime only needing a tie to secure the series. It took a mere 19 seconds in the overtime period for Wallaceburg to score for a thrilling 4-3 overtime win, crowning Wallaceburg as the Ontario BB-D Minor Midget Champions! On the road to the Championship, Ric coached his team to an impressive 12-1 and 1 record!
Congratulations to Ric Vancoillie, recipient of the Wallaceburg Sports Hall of Fame Allen Schepens Memorial Award as 2016 Coach of the Year.
Ken McPhail Memorial Award – Builders of the Year
The Wallaceburg Sports Hall of Fame is pleased to present the Ken McPhail Memorial Award to Penny and Bob Bishop, the 2016 Builders of the Year.
Penny and Bob Bishop are certified Tennis Canada Instructors who have been taking their program into local schools and providing tennis instruction to students for the last 10 years. When the tennis courts in Wallaceburg were in need of major repairs, the Bishop’s visited other cities in the area researching how to best rejuvenate them and working closely with the Municipality, were able to find funding to return the Wallaceburg courts to excellent condition. Their program provides instruction to school age children in the basics of tennis. Visiting schools all the way from Tilbury to Forest, the Bishops volunteer their time and provide the nets, racquets and tennis balls. When a court isn’t available such as at rural schools, they simply use the school gym. The Spring of 2016 was extremely busy for the Bishops as their expertise was requested by 25 schools. Having to cram all of the clinics into the months of May and June, they were disappointed to have to turn down some of the schools requests as there simply wasn’t enough time.
Penny and Bob also run a summer tennis program in Wallaceburg at the Steinhoff Park tennis courts. This year, their program had 44 juniors and 6 seniors. On the final day of the program in 2016 they ran the sixth annual Little Caesar’s Team Tennis Tournament. The 44 juniors were split into 4 teams and the scores were extremely close with the winning team scoring 26 points to the runner-ups 25!
Penny and Bobs passion for the sport of tennis has benefited thousands of people over the course of the last ten years as well as the sport of tennis itself. Thank you, and congratulations to Bob and Penny Bishop, recipients of the Ken McPhail Memorial Award as 2016 Builders of the Year.
*These biographies were submitted to the Chatham-Kent Sports Network.