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Thursday, A pril 23, 2015 - The IFP - H alton H ills - w w w .theifp.ca Page 39 The TORONTO 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games are coming! Metroland Media Group is proud to be the official print and online media supplier. Watch for exclusive coverage in your community as we count down to the largest multi-sport event ever in Canada. SPORTS Players wanted! The Halton Hills Minor Baseball Assoc. is looking for players age 16-18 for its midget house league.To register, visit the website www.hhmba.ca By Eamonn Maher emaher@theifp.ca The Halton Hills Sports Museum Hall of Fame will welcome six new inductees at its ninth-an- nual ceremony on Thursday, June 18 at the John Elliott Theatre in Georgetown. The 2015 inductees are: Joe Cleary (athlete/ builder), the late Eustace Collins (builder) and Ron Dixon (athlete/builder), Susan (Craig) Kuck (athlete), Gord Lyons (builder) and Finn Poul- strup (builder). Tickets are $40 each and are available by con- tacting Glenda Nixdorf at 905-873-1360. A reception will be held at 6 p.m. with the awards ceremony at 7 p.m. Below are profiles of each inductee: JOE CLEARY For someone who has put up more miles on his feet than most people on the planet over the past 30 years, long-distance runner Joe Cleary has also done a lot of legwork to foster the sport of running in Halton Hills. The native of Dundalk, Ireland, who turns 75 on April 23, has completed more than 530 races around the world and a large number of those were far longer than the standard 26.2-mile marathon, with one 1,000-km event in Europe two years ago taking him 34 days to finish. Cleary is one of two Canadians known to have surpassed the 500-race mark, despite hav- ing only about half of his lung capacity due to COPD. 'Irish Joe' continues to run in a race each month. In the early 1980s, Cleary was an original member of the Georgetown Track Club, which later became the Georgetown Runners, in order to get a track built at the local high school. Before then, he drove many local youths who aspired to earn scholarships to schools in the U.S. to track practices in Scarborough. He also was one of the original race organiz- ers of the popular annual Egg Nog Jog in Decem- ber, which has raised approximately $200,000 for numerous community groups since its incep- tion. EUSTACE COLLINS The man who held many titles within the Georgetown Soccer Club could probably best be described as the organization's ambassador. He could be found on most weeknights at his usual perch on a picnic table beside the willow tree at Cedarvale Park taking in the action, while sharing his vast knowledge of the game with the kids. He died last April at the age of 63. A manager in the Town of Halton Hills fi- nance & adminstration department, Collins was active on many fronts with the GSC since 1995, including as a rep coach for girls' and boys' teams, indoors and outdoors, ranging in age from 8-18, along with serving as a skills instructor/mentor coach. He held numerous roles with the GSC since joining the board of directors in 1999, as registrar and board member and guided Georgetown's under-17 girls' Mustangs to the South Region Soccer League championship in 2008. In 2012, the native of St. Kitts was named as one of three Ontario Soccer Association Club Ex- cellence Volunteer of the Year Award recipients. RON DIXON The 1984 Georgetown Hockey Heritage Award recipient enjoyed an illustrious 12-year intermediate playing career here during the 1950s and went on to coach youth teams for many years afterward. Dixon, who passed away in 1999 at the age of 67, started in Georgetown as a junior and became a high-scoring right-winger for the Georgetown Raiders of the 1950s that won the OHA Intermediate 'A' title in 1956-57 and the 'B' championship in 1958-59, along with two run- ner-up finishes in that decade. The Regina, Sask. native moved on to coach- ing following his playing days and posted unde- feated regular seasons twice in four years with the Georgetown ban- tam all-stars, bowing out in the all-Ontario semifinals on both oc- casions while winning the popular George- town International Bantam Tournament in 1967. Dixon coached several players who were drafted by Jr. A and NHL clubs, including Ron Fogal and Gary McFadyen. He also enjoyed success with the George- town midgets for a few years and had brief bench stints with the Jr. B Gemini and the Intermediate Raiders. SUSAN (CRAIG) KUCK A three-time First Team All-Canadian in vol- leyball as the setter with York University in the early 1990s, Susan Kuck (nee Craig) was a key component for the Yeowomen in their remark- able run of four consecutive Ontario titles and two bronze medals at the national champion- ships. The Acton native was effective at the net as an attacker and translated her skills as a star point guard in basketball to the volleyball court as a setter in high school with her hometown Redmen, with whom she won OFSAA 'A' gold medals in 1987-88. A versatile athlete who also excelled in basketball, skiing and gymnastics, Kuck was also an outstanding student, earning a degree in physical education and economics from York. She represented Canada on its junior na- tional team in 1989, at the World Student Games in England in 2001 and on the bronze medalist team in Buffalo in 2003. She was inducted into York University's Sports Hall of Fame in 2009. Following her days at York, Kuck played professionally in Germany and now resides in Montpellier, France with her husband and two teenage daughters, teaching English at the uni- versity level. GORD LYONS The founder of the Halton Hills Minor La- crosse Association in 1999, Gord Lyons felt that merging the Georgetown Gators and Ac- ton Rams youth organizations would support healthy rep and house league competition. Halton Hills soon rose to become one of the hotbeds of lacrosse in Ontario, producing many players who moved on to the National Lacrosse League or to scholar- ships in the U.S., along with several 'A' provin- cial minor champion- ships in both field and box. Lyons, who'll cele- brate his 60th birthday in August, was the first president of the HHMLA and held that position for several years. He also coached a few successful youth teams and served as an assistant for the Jr. B Bulldogs during their spectacular run to the 2010 Found- ers' Cup Canadian title. As a player, Lyons lined up for Canada at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton and earned a Mann Cup national senior men's championship in 1980 with the Brampton Excel- siors under coach John McCauley. The HHMLA's annual house league champi- onship is now named the Gord Lyons Weekend of Champs.  Sports Hall of Fame admits six new members Continued on page 40