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Wednesday, April 19, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER D3 Honoured inductees JACK DUGGAN In the ring, Jack Duggan took a lot out of his opponents. Outside the ring, he gave it all back. At age 31, after an excellent profes sional career of 29 wins, two losses and two ties, he retired from the ring but not from boxing, related Doctor Joseph Falletta, chief medical officer of boxing for Canada, a family friend who spoke on Duggan's behalf. "He did not retire completely for life because he devoted himself to community activities as we well know." And not just in boxing. "H e's been very active in his home town o f Oakville. H e's been a member of the Hopedale Bible Chapel for 35 years, honoured member of the Royal Canadian Legion and chaired the poppy campaign seven years." On a personal level, he said Duggan is "a very loved family man", married 55 years to wife Jenny with "five lovely children." "I know him as a boxer, a boxing mentor. I know him as a gentleman and Oakville supporter, and above all, a benevolent humanitarian." PHIL IAFRATI Phil Iafrati, who recently added a national championship (with the U-19 Oakville Blue Devils) to a long, distin guished and still very much ongoing coaching career in Oakville, termed his induction into the Oakville Sports Hall of Fame a "magnificent honour." `T o keep company with the best of the best and to be remembered along side these great athletes and builders, I can only say a humble thank you." The Oakville Sports Hall of Fame, being only two years old, will go through a lot of `firsts' as the years go by, and Iafrati has locked up a couple of them -- he's the first soccer repre sentative and the first coach. He has always been a talented soc cer player, and, if anything, is even more dominant among his peers now (with the Alfield oldtimers club) because of his continued high fitness level. But it's his decades of soccer coaching that has earned him an hon oured entrance into the Oakville Sports Hall of Fame. And true to a good coach, he took the team approach to the honour. The actual players, of course, are the most important. "I would ... like to thank the players I coached. Some of them represented province and country. Some went to Europe to try the pro route. Others took scholarships to U.S. universities and two even played in the NFL as field goal kickers -- Mike Vanderjagt and Steve Christie." Some o f the players from way back, he said, are still playing oldtimers soccer along with him. And that's something he finds immensely rewarding, knowing they still have their original love of the game that he helped guide. "I always felt privileged to coach these players and I still do." But Iafrati also paid tribute to the team behind the team, and given his decades of volunteer service the list is long and cannot all be mentioned here, although what they all share in com mon -- whether they be team man agers, trainers or volunteer soccer club executive -- certainly can. "All the people I've just thanked," he said "had many things in common that earned my respect for them. They had outstanding moral values. The players always came first. The players were respected. The common goal was to help the players enjoy a wonderful game and create an environment that would draw the best effort from the players and help them attain their own goals." Iafrati was lucky enough to experi ence those values from the get-go, and he paid special tribute to his family -- his loving late mother, his father and his sister and brother-in-law. He termed his father, Angelo, "a testament to human endurance." "He sits over there. He's 94 ... For the last 70 years he has suffered from acute asthma. He has to take an inhaler every day, ventilen and other stuff. He's had so many major operations he could have starred on E.R. and Chicago Hope. "He is an amazing man. He lives alone in his own house. He does his own cooking, cleaning, cuts the grass, shovels the snow and cooks dinner for me every Sunday. That's a date I hope I will never miss. Thank you dad, I hope you're as proud of me as I am of you." LARRY CAIN Canadian paddling legend Larry Cain who, on Sixteen Mile Creek, honed his talents that would one day lead to an Olympic gold medal, knows a thing or two about halls of fame. After all, in 1998 he was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame (along with Marcel Dionne among others), to become only the second paddler in the hollowed institution. Cain, however, was just as pleased to be inducted into his home town sports hall of fame, a town where he still lives, still works and still paddles as furiously as ever with the Burloak Canoe Club. "A community is more than the buildings that line the streets and the parks and whatever. It's the people. And the people in this town have always been very supportive of me. And I'd like to extend a thank-you to all who have helped me and the canoe club over the years." He did single out a couple of peo ple who were most influential to his career, and in attendance. Jim Reardon has not only been his coach since 1978 but also "a very good friend." "Some of the results I was fortunate enough to be able to achieve, the cred it for that goes to the fact that we were able to work well as a team ... He pro vided me with a lot of direction that if I didn't have, I don't know if I would have been able to accomplish what I did." John Wood, an Olympic silver medalist in the 1976 Montreal Olympics, provided a lot of inspiration to Cain just as Cain did to the follow ing generation of paddlers, most notably Oakville's Gavin Maxwell who competed in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. "Long before I watched the race in Montreal, I had a chance to go pad dling with him. He took the time to take a few strokes beside me and say some encouraging words." Cain didn't forget that, and when Wood paddled to his Olympic medal, his ardent fan in Oakville -- Cain -- was right there in front of the tube watching his every stroke. "I knew what lane he was in, who else was in the race and knew exactly the way things would shape up for him. I remember being very sad that he won a silver medal and just narrow ly lost out on a gold medal. "And that was when I realized that what I want to do is go to the Olympics and try to duplicate that feat." "And I gave up my dreams of play ing for the Leafs," he deadpanned. He also mentioned his mother, Polly Cain. "She is also a life member of the Oakville Racing Canoe Club which is now the Burloak Canoe Club. "My mom has always been very supportive of my sister and I, no mat ter what we do. And certainly canoe ing has been a big part of my life so canoeing became a big part of her life as well. "And not only has she been sup portive and helped me along the way but she's also been able to help and support the efforts of a lot of other young paddlers all around this area, until only very recently. So she had more than a decade of continued ser vice to helping amateur athletes in my wonderful sport so I'd like to thank her." DAN FERRONE The most laughs generated at this year's Oakville Sports Hall of Fame dinner (although, on this night, the honoured inductees were definitely not in competition) would most certainly have gone, to the master of ceremonies, Oakville's Ron MacLean of Hockey Night in Canada Fame. But close behind would have been Dan Ferrone. It was a great mix to an already great evening. The other speeches, to a person, were all very fitting -- at times poignant, inspirational and heart felt -- and all very much worth the price of admission. That Ferrone's was all this -- along with being entertaining -- was just a bonus. Wearing his joy on his sleeve, Ferrone said "this is absolutely fantas tic ... to be recognized in your commu nity with such greats ... I get to hang around with these people!" "Someone asked me earlier, has it hit you yet. Not yet. But it's great. To have an evening like this and have someone as special as Ron MacLean to be here as our M.C. -- someone of his stature gives an event like this tremendous prestige, tremendous cred ibility, instantly." And, adds Ferrone, in a line that brings the house down again ... "And I'm in the hall and he's not." Being honoured by your home town, where you grew up, made a name for yourself and now raise your own family is extra special, he related, once again ending his point with some humour. "I've been very fortunate in my career I've had a couple of awards. But never ever have I ever been able to share it with my whole family and all my friends at one time. This evening, it is great to be in the hall of fame but it makes me so much more proud and happy that so many of my friends and relatives spent $125 to be part of this evening." He also paid tribute to his own family, starting with his own mother and father. `They've been unbelievable. They taught me one of the most fundamen tal things in life and that's hard work. If you have anything else, any other qualities. If you have hard work, you accentuate all of the other qualities. The fundamental key to success is work hard. Hard work." O f course, he couldn't resist (in Smothers Brothers-like fashion) to continue a particular mock sibling rivalry that seems to plague loving fam ilies... "I was happy they decided to have me -- their favourite." He moved next door to his (then future) wife 30 years ago, started dat ing her 27 years ago and have been happily married for over 20 years. "She is the base of all my success. If it wasn't for her I'd probably be just another dumb football play er..." As it turned out in 1997, he was 13th on a Globe and Mail list of the 25 most influential people in Canadian sport. And, of course, he mentioned his three children. "One thing I hope for my children, I hope they get to feel the way I feel right now. I mean I hope everybody, once in their life, twice in their life, get to be happy, contented, fulfilled for a moment, because that's the key you work for all the time. "And my children do that for me all the time. I'm very proud. They will never have to go into a hall of fame for them to know I'm proud of them." Ferrone and Cain are not only going into the hall together, but they're also founding committee members, something they both joked about in their speeches. "I've been fortunate enough to be part of that committee, and I have had a tremendous amount of influence on voting myself into the hall of fame -- I thought I'd say it before Ron (MacLean)," laughed Ferrone. Seriously, though, Ferrone added the hall of fame committee to his already full plate of volunteer com mitments because he believes a hall of fame can help give a community "pride, tradition, history ... the fastest man lives in Oakville, the greatest paddler..." Not to mention, a pretty dam funny former football player. Hall of Fame career capsules (Continued from page D1) was instrumental in launching these two powerhouses. In their first season, the Blue Devils won the Peel Halton Premier League and six tournaments, including their 4th Oakville International title. In 1994, they joined the newly formed Ontario Youth Soccer League and won the league championship, and their first Ontario Cup. In 1995, the team defeated the Canadian National team in their last preparation match before the World Cup in Ecuador. They won the league again, took home their fifth Oakville International and reached the final o f the Ontario Cup. The highlight o f the season was their win at the Tampa Bay Sun Bowl, against 35 top American teams, including 21 state champions. As a result, the team was invited to play in the Cincinnati Blue Chip and the Toumoi International in France in 1996. For the next two years, the Blue Devils concentrated on the future, playing against U.S. university teams and top youth teams. The year' s crowning glory was winning the Canadian National Championship in their last game together in October, 1998. The following month, Phil was awarded the Ontario Soccer League's highest honour -- Coach o f the Year, recognition o f his out standing contribution to the game. Phil immediately began coaching the U9 boys rep team, the Oakville Blue Stars. Their first season, 1998, resulted in a 44game undefeated streak, capturing the League, the Cup, and the Tom Dunleavy Championship. They have won every Ontario tournament in their age group, including Mississauga, Richmond Hill and Kitchener International. Phil has coached the Columbia Rehabilitation Senior Women` s Soccer team fo r the past three seasons, and continues to play on the Alfield Men's Recreational Team in the Halton Senior Soccer League, as he has since its inception in 1976. Phil' s success on the field is a result o f his strategy o ff the field and his faith in his players. Phil believes every player is differ ent, and should be treated and coached accordingly. Having never been married, Phil's players have become his family, and he is as proud o f them as any father. A keen competitor, if there is one thing Phil has taught his players, it' s discipline. And while the concept seems to have fallen out o f favour in light o f some o f today' s ath letes, the results speak fo r themselves. Anyone who plays fo r Phil is a winner. tional competition. He was made a Member o f the Order o f Canada in 1984, and was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall o f Fame in 1997. Not bad fo r the skinny little kid from Oakville. Larry retired from the National Team in 1996, but continues to compete at the inter national level with the Canadian National Dragon Boat Team, where the medal list grows. In 1988, Larry Cain was made a Life Member o f the Oakville Racing Canoe Club. And although Larry lost his dad when his career was just beginning, he was never without family support. Larry' s mom, Polly, was right there beside him in 1988, when she too was made a Life Member o f the Oakville Racing Canoe Club, fo r 10 years o f volunteer work and serving three years as club commodore. Dedication and com mitment to excellence in canoeing in Canada has become a Cain fam ily tradi tion. It is also the legacy that this outstand ing Canadian athlete leaves to the world. Dan Ferrone FOOTBALL Many things have changed since Oakville' s native son, Dan Ferrone, first entered the CFL in 1981. He has added a beautiful wife, three lovely children, a thriv- __ ing business career, and an on-going com mitment towards charity and community. Dan graduated T.A. Blakelock High School as a touted football and (his first love) basketball athlete. Attending Simon Fraser University on a football scholar ship, Dan was named to the NAIA Division One All Star team and was selected as one o f two territorial protections o f the Toronto Argonauts in 1981. Dan loved his 12 years in the CFL -- a career that totalled 209 games. The offen sive lineman s outstanding career includes nine Divisional All Star selections, five All Canadian wins, 10 Team Outstanding Lineman nominations, two Leo Dandurand awards fo r Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman representing the Eastern Conference Schenley Award winners. The form er captain o f the two-time Argonaut Grey Cup team is the Toronto Argonauts all-time awards winner. Dan still says his greatest moments o f his football career came when on behalf o f his team mates, he was presented in 1983 and in 1991, with the oldest championship trophy in sports, the Grey Cup. Funny word, retired, to describe some one like Dan Ferrone. I f anything, life got even bigger and busier. When he wasn' t cracking heads on the gridiron, Dan was preparing and working towards "after" football. While establishing Ferrone Ventures Inc., Dan left TSN where he had his own show, Ferrone File, to become President o f the CFL Players Association. As well as operating Ferrone Fitness Centre with his childhood sweetheart and wife. Barb, Dan is also President and CEO o f a $7-million venture fu n d called Sportfund. In 1997, the Globe and Mail National newspaper named Dan, 13th o f the 25 most powerful and influential people in Canadian sport, placing him ahead o f greats Don Cherry, Sheila Copps, and Jacques Villeneuve. Bom and raised in Oakville, there are three other reasons Dan's name has become so familiar in Oakville. They are his children, Matthew, Marco and Danielle. They are the blessings o f his life and, as a result, he cannot do enough fo r the kids that aren '/ his. He was co-chair o f Big Brothers, honourary chair o f the Kidney Foundation, co-chair o f the Great Dream Home Lottery, the Cancer Society s Rizutti Dinner, Halton Family Trauma Centre, Special Olympics, and the Community Foundation o f Oakville. Says Dan: "It' s something where a little effort from me creates a lot o f success fo r them. " Dan Ferrone, the big man with the big heart. Larry Cain CANOEING Bom in Toronto in 1963, Larry Cain' s family moved to Oakville just a year later. Larry enjoyed all types o f sports, but found his niche when he joined the Oakville Racing Canoe Club in 1974. Larry says he loved it from the first, but admits he spent most o f that first summer in the water after falling out o f a C-l racing canoe! Larry' s first taste o f success came in 1975, as a member o f the Oakville crew which won the Minor Bantam Boys War Canoe event at the Mississauga Canoe Club Regatta. As a young teenager, Larry' s hero was John Wood, the top Canadian C-l paddler. It was during the live broadcast o f John Wood winning a silver medal in the C-l 500m at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, that Larry jumped up and shout ed to his family, " That's what I want to do . " Nothing less than winning a medal in the Olympics would ever be enough. Larry began to train in earnest, compet ing in the Ontario Championships and Pan American Junior Championships in Mexico City, when he was just 14. He was named to the Junior National team and competed at a series o f Canada-USA dual regattas and won the bronze medal in Juvenile C-l at the nationals. At 16, Larry was named to the Canadian Team, finishing seventh and eighth in the Junior World Championships in Tampere, Finland. Larry finished second at the 1980 Olympic Trials, and though he failed to make the team, he was selected fo r a European Tour with the National Team. Larry took top honours that same year at the National Championships in Dartmouth, N.S., winning the Juvenile, Junior 500m, Senior 500m, and Senior 1000m C-l. A first in the sport. The dream finally came true fo r Larry in Los Angeles, in 1984, when the young Canadian took home Olympic gold in the C-l 500m, and silver in the C -l 1000m. The nation had a new hero. Larry was named to the Olympic team again in 1988, finishing fourth in the C-l 1000m and in 1992finishing 7th in the C-2 1000m. He has won 56 Canadian Championship gold medals, has been named to the Canadian Team at World Championships seven times and has never placed lower than eighth place in interna SUMMER NO N-CONTACT ADULT ||0 C K E y LEAGUE HALTON MEN'S HOCKEY LEAGUE · Non-contact · Prime time games s · 27th season o f , operation j · Sweaters/socks provided > > · Trophies · Balanced teams · Excellent officiating · Individual entries INFORMATION AND/OR REGISTRATION OR PHONE [ (905)849-9712 Application at RIVER OAKS, GLEN ABBEY or APPLEBY COLLEGE ARENAS May 6, - PLAN TO RUN! Michael " Pinball" Clemons is easily the most recognizable player on the T oronto Argonauts football team. Once again championing the Y M C A I OK Run, Michael urges everyone to come o u t and participate! W ith the 10k Run, the non-com petitive 5k Family W alk and the excitem ent o f the Ik Challenge,there w ill be something fo r everyone here! The event w ill also feature entertainm ent, free refreshments and Child Care on site. Lunch w ill be available fo r minimal cost and some great prizes w ill be handed out. So plan to join us on May 6 fo r the M illennium 2000 10k Run, sponsored by The InvidiataTeam/Re/Max A boutow n e Realty Corp. Inform ation and entry form s are available fo rm the Y M C A C ustom er Service desk. Just call 905-845-3417 and make Saturday, May 6 your day to run! Rep players needed for Burlington team Young w om en ages 17 to 25 w ho w an t to play co m p etitiv e baseball are invited to apply to the B u r lin g to n B u lls A A A re p w o m en 's d iv isio n b a s e b a ll team . The team is an O ntario Baseball A ssociation carded team playing in a w eekly loop throughout the G reater Toronto A rea w ith four or fiv e w eekend tournam ents. R egular season play begins midM ay, ru n n in g through m idA ugust. Interested players bom betw een 1975 and 1983, please call Don Cruikshank at 336-6560 (hom e) or 525-6069 (work). O akville Little League Umpires REGISTRATION Friday, April 28th 6:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m. at General Wolfe High School O a k v il l e M S u m m er H o ck ey L eague May - August Schedule Including "vacation week " to assist urith holiday planning. in o r Saturday,April 29th Sunday, April 30 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. at General Wolfe High School 9:00 a.m. - 12 noon at General Wolfe High School O O O O O Non-contact 14-game schedule No weekends or Fridays Prime time evening games Games on brand new Olympic size River Oaks surface O Balancing of teams O Divisions for boys & girls ages 5-15 O Trophies & c awards O Certified officials O Coaching & sponsorship positions available O No fundraising All returning umpires must attend the Friday, April 28 session. A p p l i c a t i o n s a v a il a b l e a t R i v e r O a k s , G l e n A b b e y , M a in w a y & A p p l e b y | C o l l e g e a r e n a s . F o r in f o r m a t io n o r t o r e c e i v e a n a p p l ic a t io n For more information call Umpire & Chief Mel Swinton at (905)510-1447 This is not affiliated with the M O H A A staff with several years of coaching, officiating & league administration experience guarantees a well-organized & quality league for your child. (905) 616-4044