ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Kathy Bald, Swimming
Kathy Bald didn’t make the Commonwealth Games swim team as was her desire when she embarked on a comeback at 23 years of age.
She didn’t miss by very much — 13/100th of a second in the 100 metre breaststroke, one of her favoured races, at the national swim championships at the Olympic pool in Montreal.
And she is probably better off.
She was returned to the national team: given a “C” card, “and I’ll soon change that;” she won’t be lacking for competition and is already .set for the summer nationals in Edmonton.
The performance of the 23-year-old Nepean swimmer, who had taken about a year off after the last Olympic Trials “for personal reasons” undoubtedly was the centre of attention for a number of swim experts. They would have kept an eagle eye on her to see if they could spot the toll taken by the retirement. In the two years prior to Los Angeles, Bald had won gold medals in the Commonwealth Games at Brisbane, Australia (1982) and the Pan-American Games at Caracas, Venezuela. Both medals came in the breaststroke, at 100 metres and at 200 metres. An Olympic gold at Los Angeles would have given her that coveted golf “triple”, but she was not to get the opportunity.
Bald, office manager for Dyonix Greentree when not in the pool, was the victim in one of the toughest Olympic trials ever seen in Canada. They served up a competition the East Germans would envy — two world records and about eight Canadian records.
Prior to Montreal Bald said “Hopefully, I won’t have to worry about that,” in answer to a question about the future if Montreal plans should go awry, and with the world championship trials, the Commonwealth Gaines and the nationals all on the one plate something could well go wrong.
It would appear the Nepean Swim Club athlete knew where to draw the line.
SPORTSMAN OF THE YEAR (GORD TRIVETT MEMORIAL TROPHY)
Peter King, rowing
Indeed he was taken by surprise when he was named the Gord Trivett Trophy recipient as sportsman of the year for 1983 at the Associated Canadian Travellers-Cities of Ottawa and Nepean Sportsman’s Dinner.
“I had no idea until about halfway through the citation,” said the Ottawa Rowing Club’s jack-of-all-trades Peter King. “I’m impressed by the way Mike Scott (paddling) and Fred Morris (ski jumping) handle their business and I’m flattered to be included among these people.”
King — who started as a fencer but the oarsmen are not holding that against him — has done a workmanlike job since he’s been with the ORC. The proof can be found in the gold medal column, the ORC colors appearing with more and more frequency and this year forcing dinner selectors to make a choice.
The rowing club coach-general manager is also an author, the book bearing the title “Art and a Century of Canadian Rowing”. The idea grew through a practice started by David Carlisle of purchasing trophies through local sculpturers.
That got King to investigating the relationship between art and sport and eventualy put together that was taken on by a publisher when King answers a question about a second edition with “I can use the masters”, and the book came out in time for rowing’s centenary.
He got into rowing precisely because he put on too much weight over one summer and couldn’t get into his fencing jacket. His next stop was a track suit where he saw an oarsmen friend working out and asked if he could join in. The friend replied sure if you can keep up. “I was stupid enough to keep up”, said King.
King was next introduced to a rowing shell and became stroke of the crew of Western freshman. And they won and started thinking grandiose thoughts when someone suggested the Japanese Olympic eight averaged 5’6″
Ten years later while doing some research he found that the Japanese had never had an Olympic eight, never won internationally and when they did try one race, they started off at 51 strokes per minute and three died.
By then it was too late.
But he has been back fencing once. That was last winter at the urging of one of the club members. “I won two and lost two”, said King, “not bad for a fellow who hadn’t competed in 15-20 years.”
Alpine skiing — Mike Tommy
Archery — Rick Mallett
Badminton — Suneeta Khare
Baseball — Peter Chiarelli
Basketball — Geoff House
Biathlon — Don Mallet
Bobsled — Clark Flynn
Bowling —Ron Allenby
Boxing — Greg Gayle
Cross-country skiing — Jean McAllister
Curling — Don Lachance, Jim Jensen, Pete McKinley, Alan Creelman
Cycling — Mike McCloskey
Darts — Steve Earl
Diving — Mark Latreille
Field Hockey — Laura Branchaud
Fencing — Marc Lavoie
Figure skating — Paul and Isabelle Duchesnay
Football — Jim DeSilva
Freestyle skiing — Tim Simboli
Golf— Bill Holzman
Handicap — John David Skene
Hockey — Bruce Cassidy
Judo — Tina Takahashi
Lacrosse — Bruce Dykes
Modern pentathlon — Lawrence Keyte
Oldtimers Hockey — Al Johnson
Orienteering — Ted de St. Croix
Paddling — Sue Holloway
Racquetball — Larry Greene
Ringette — Donna Lachance
Rowing — Dan Lanoue, Rob Grondin, Mark Holthausen, Jeff Russell
Rugby — John Billingsley
Sailing — Andy Roy
Shooting — Linda Thom
Ski Jumping — Horst Bulau
Snooker — Erwin Budge
Soccer — Charmaine Hooper
Softball — Dave Dixie
Speed Skating — Chantel Cote
Squash — Diana Edge
Swimming — Kathy Bald
Tennis — Rob Cartwright
Table Tennis — Than Mach
Touch Football — Barry Hughes
Track and Field — Ann Peel
Trampoline — John Ross
Trap and Skeet — Rick Robinson
Volleyball — Paul Gratton
Water polo — Rene Bol
Weightlifting — Terry Hadlow
Wrestling — Ray Takahashi
Top Team — Dan Kelly’s touch football
Dan Lanoue and Rob Grondin are building up a good collection of Henley gold medals. They teamed up Mark Holthausen and Jeff Russell to win the junior 145-pound four in 1983 and then last summer (1985) won the junior and senior 145-pound double sculls, a rare double indeed… Rugby went to the top executive director John Billingsley as player of the year… He made the Italian tour and was a replacement for the annual Canada-U.S. confrontation… Ottawa turned up a talented youngster in the badminton field in Suneete Khare. Probably the No. 1 age class player in the country she was introduced to international competition against China here in 1984… Presence of Pete Chiarelli on the 1983 amateur list, should set start nostalgia wags a talking… The Borden High School graduate who went stateside for university education was equally at home in hockey, football or baseball gear… He’s a baseball catcher, a defenceman in hockey and a halfback in football… Ice dancers Isobel and Paul Duchesnay gambled and won a citizenship ploy to gain another crack at the world dance championships. The 1983 skaters of the year knew they couldn’t crack the Canadian lineup for the 1986 world championships exercised an option to take up French citizenship and made the French team for the championships… Bill Holzman won about everything that moved or came in sight to claim golfer honours… He called it a last fling before joining the working world.