“I have to thank Island athletes and teams,” said Dheensaw, who called the honour a “huge surprise.” “It’s their success, produced through their effort and sweat, that has allowed me to write about their exploits in the Olympics and Commonwealth and Pan Am Games, World Cups in soccer and rugby, Mann Cups, the Super Bowl and from junior to the NHL. They have taken me on quite a journey over nearly four decades.”
Dheensaw said it is meaningful to be inducted the same year as the first of the UVic dynasty basketball teams to win a national championship.
“That was my first beat in the Times Colonist sports department, and to be able to jump right into covering a dynasty was truly unique and special,” said Dheensaw, adding it’s also a privilege to enter the same hall as Island greats such as hockey legend Lester Patrick, all-rounders Torchy and Doug Peden, basketball stars Art and Chuck Chapman, lacrosse superstars Paul and Gary Gait and Kevin Alexander, triathlete Simon Whitfield, rowers Silken Laumann and Derek Porter, rugby player Gareth Rees, and basketball hall-of-famer Steve Nash.
“I am truly grateful for this honour,” he said. “Sport is as intrinsic to the fabric of a community as the symphony or theatre.”
https://www.timescol...fame-1.23991919
Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 October 2019 - 02:15 PM.