ATHLETE OF THE YEAR
Caroll Ann Alie
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Gord & Bruce Hamilton
ARCHERY – Rick Mallett – Like good wine the 38-year-old Mallett keeps getting better. Mallett earned his fourth straight dinner invitation by winning field events at the Canadian Championships and finishing first over-all. He was third in target shooting, the same position that he held at the end of the Quebec challenge competition. He had a fine 11th-place finish in the world championships.
ALPINE SKIING – Julie Klotz – Won Ontario Sealtest Cup slalom finals; won Eastern Canadian Best Ever Series and was named to the Ontario senior team as well.
BADMINTON – Suneeta Khare – Already an international – she played here against China – Khare added to her string of trophies by winning the national under 19 singles and the Coupe de Quebec. She has been fourth ranked on the Canadian Grand prix circuit which she has won the last two years.
BROOMBALL – Guy Marion – In a sport not noted for prolific scoring, Guy Marion has been broomball’s Wayne Gretzky in the Embrun 417 Broomball League. Playing for Independent Radiator he scored 53 times and assisted on another 36 leading his team to the league title and provincial championships. He was 41 points ahead of his nearest scoring rival.
BASKETBALL – Bill Holmes – The Carleton Raven grad had the country’s best scoring average – 266 per game – in university basketball ranks. His season total of 373 gave him second in the overall scoring. He is Carleton’s all-timer scorer with a career total 2,768 and tops the Ontario University all-time list with 1,210. He also either shares or holds 11 of 14 school records.
BOXING – Greg Gayle – One of the better fighters to come out of the Beaver Boxing Club since its revival under Joey Sandulo, Gayle was a busy fighter in 1985 starting off by winning the Canadian lightweight title. He also won silver medals in Australian and Danish fight competitions to earn seventh ranking on the world amateur list. Turned professional in December and got his coach a suspension for appearing in a corner of a pro fighter.
BIATHLON – Lise Meloche – Among the Europa Cup leaders in a gruelling sport that combines cross-country skiing with shooting and time limit penalties. She was sixth in the women’s five kilometres and seventh in the 10 kilometres at the world champion
BALL HOCKEY – Denis Lapensée – A hockey tourist in season, Lapensée keeps his hand in with ballhockey in the off-season. He’s been the tier 1 Ottawa-Carleton most valuable performer the last three seasons.
CYCLING – Senta Bauermeister – Bauermeister, a fourth-year kinesiology student at University of Ottawa has built up an enviable cycling record in just two seasons. She won the Mont-Laurier 3-day stage race, the Ottawa Grand Prix and also carried Canadian colors in the Tour de France, women’s version, for the second year.
CURLING – Rideau – Steve Kot, Dick Wilbur, Bob McKenzie, George Ward – Runners-up in the Canadian senior men’s curling championship with a 9-2 record, best by any Ottawa rink in a national final until Dave VanDine won the Canadian mixed earlier this winter. The Kot rink’s only losses came in the third and fourth rounds.
CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING – Jennifer Walker – Finished 18th in the world 20 kilometres, best ever finish by a Canadian woman. Finished 26th in the 5 kilometres and helped relay finish 9th. Third overall in Canada Cup racing at Falun, Sweden.
DIVING – Anne-Marie Beavis – The Nepean Diving Club member was a finalist in the women’s three metre springboard at the nationals, won a provincial championship and earned a Canada Summer Games medal at Saint John.
FIELD HOCKEY – John de Rosenroll – A veteran of interprovincial and international competition at 25 years of age. Expected to make Canada’s World Cup team later this year. Helped Ontario win provincial indoor and outdoor crowns in 1985.
FOOTBALL – Mark Brown – Carleton University Ravens’ Mark Brown, a 5’8″ bundle of football magic out of J.S. Woodsworth High School swept all intercollegiate rookie honors proving little men can play tailback, he’s 157 pounds. He won conference, CIAU and Schenley honors carrying the ball for 719 yards in seven games and catching another 18 passes as Ravens enjoyed their best season in some years.
FREESTYLE SKIING – Chris Simboli – Simboli ended 1985 freestyle skiing third over-all. He finished 7th in aerials, 47th in moguls and 4th in ballet. Closer to home (the Canadians) he was 6th in moguls, 2nd in ballet, 2nd in aerials and the combined leaders.
FENCING – Michel Dessureault – Dessureault, an epee exponent, carried on from a 10th place epee finish at the L.A. Olympics, with a solid performance on the world cup tour. Made the top 30 four times, the best by a Canadian, and now ranked 7th in the world.
FIGURE SKATING – Elizabeth Manley – Canadian champion senior women’s champion; second in Skate Canada and 9th, down one place over the previous year in the world championships.
GOLF – John Haime – The first time he made the ACT dinner list, father Peter, took his place as his son went stateside to Indiana University and a golf scholarship. The younger Haime’s next move is a pro career but not before collecting his top golfer award earned by a Quebec Amateur win and a berth on the Willingdon Cup team.
GYMNASTICS – Lianne Laing – Lianne Laing, a nine-year-old Argo C athlete, was the outstanding performer in Eastern Ontario. She won meets at Kingston and at Ottawa and dominated floor exercises, vaulting and the unevenboards.
HANDICAP (BLIND) – Gord Hope – “Probably my best year in sports,” said Gord Hope, who usually helps turn up handicapped sports stars, but he couldn’t hide himself. He won provincial, national and American wrestling titles and tossed in a provincial triple jump record as well. He’s a doctoral student in psychology at Carleton University in his spare time.
HANDICAP (AMPUTEE) – Jim Enright – Track and field and wheelchair basketball take up most of Enright’s recreation time the last eight years. His 1985 track and field log shows athlete of the meet honors for Eastern Ontario and provincially at Windsor and between the two he won eight of 10 events. He set national high jump records both in the provincial and national competitions, the latter his 9th of 15 wins, a .600 percentage.
HOCKEY – Luc Chabot – The Central Junior Hockey League scoring machine became the second from the league to win the hockey nomination as athlete of the year. His 1984-85 scoring totals with Pembroke Lumber Kings were 84 goals and 94 assists. The 20-year-old left winger scored a startling 101 goals on the way to a second straight most valuable player victory.
HANDICAP (DEAF) – Paul Landry – First Canadian to claim a track & field gold medal in world games for the deaf when he ran 1,500 metres in 3:53.14 (roughly 4:10 for mile) at Los Angeles. His time was a games record (his best time in 1985 – 3:50:03). Second appearance at the dinner, he having represented track and field in 1977.
JUDO – Stave Hayami – Among the young comers in judo today, Hayami has been the Canadian Open and closed 14 and under champion the last two years. Each time, it has been reported, he came back to claim the title honors.
LACROSSE – Mike Lachapelle – Lachapelle was credited with an unusual double when he as most valuable player, manager and coach of Ottawa lacrosse Club, a field lacrosse team, was named to represent the sport on the amateur list. Lachapelle got a box lacrosse nomination back in 1974 with Nepean PCO’s.
LUGE – Chris Wightman – Luge is the second new sport to the ACT-Cities of Ottawa and Nepean Sportsmen’s Dinner, and, a devilish creation of World War One where the competitor slides down an icy chute on his backside on a more sophisticated version of a child’s sled. Luge has been an Olympic sport since 1964 and will be part of the Calgary program in 1988. One of the small band of Canadians pointing to 1988 is Chris Wightman.
ORIENTEERING – Ted de St. Croix – Orienteering enthusiasts knew what they were doing when they enticed Ted de St. Croix to Ottawa to become technical director. He’ll be trying for his 11th consecutive Canadian title and to maintaining his 10th place on the international ranking list, incidentally, the highest placing by any non-Scandinavian.
PADDLING – Renn Crichlow – Rideau Canoe Club paddlers earned their second national title in 12 years, the win due in no small way to the efforts of Renn Crichlow. He ended the CCA, staged on his own Mooney’s Bay water, with five gold and one silver medal – two medals in midget and four, all victories, in juvenile kayak action. He won the midget Kl, the juvenile K1 over 500 and 1,000 metres, the juvenile K2 and the juvenile K4. The silver came in midget K2 paddling. And he’ll be juvenile again next year.
BOARD SAILING – Carol Ann Alie – Carol circled the globe in her four major competitions during 1985. She finished second in the International Yacht Racing Union Championship at La Rochelle, France. She won the Mistral Sailboard Championship in the Canary Islands, she won the Canadian Championship in Vancouver & finished first in the Windsurfer World Class Championship in Australia which began in 1984 & ended in 1985.
RACQUETBALL – Larry Greene – Greene won the city and district and Montreal regional open. He also reached the semifinals in the Quebec and northern New York State championships. He is also a member of the national training squad.
ROWING – Rob Grondin and Den Lanoue – The ORC athletes won their first Canadian Henley gold as a member of a club four. They stayed together in 1985 and won the 145-pound Junior and senior double sculls, indeed a rare accomplishment.
RUGBY – Mike Clarkin – Played centre for Canada in seven of nine games on an Australian tour. An Irish club member, Clarkin also played for Ontario. Got into six club matches with the Irish, and the 25-year-old athlete scored eight trys.
SAILING – Stephan Poirier Defoy, Marc Robin – The youthful Grande Riviere Yacht Club sailors startled the experts by dominating the Laser 2 Competition at Kingston’s CORK regatta. They showed their Canadian title was no nuke easily defending their honor at Halifax. “We won every race,” said Poirier Defoy.
SQUASH – Keith Patterson – Another 17-year-old comer, Patterson is the Canadian junior men’s hardball champion. He’s 8th ranked nationally in the softball game.
SHOOTING (RIFLE) – Alain Marion – Marion, a Hull policeman couldn’t think of any trophy at the DCRA championship on which he hadn’t inscribed his name. And don’t argue with the law. He has a career high of 47 firsts including this year’s Governor-Generals and all have been recorded since 1970. At Bisley, the rifleman’s Holy Grail, he’s 24 firsts in 10 appearances.
SHOOTING (PISTOL) – Linda Thom – Thom defeated American sports pistol rival Ruby Fox in a shoot-off for the second time in major competition – they were Olympic Games gold finalists in 1984 – to win the sports pistol Championship of the Americas title. They were tied at 582 after the regular shoot and Thom took the extra 148-150 against 145-150. Thom also established a Canadian sports pistol record at 588, three better than her own Olympic standard.
SOCCER – John Roumelis – Top goal scorer for Ottawa Capitals in the provincial A league. Should improve as he gains experience.
SOFTBALL – Grant Skinner- All-Canadian at second base as well one of the top batters in the country. Most valuable player with Turpin Pontiacs in the Metro Fastball League.
SPEED SKATING – Frank Pound – Won 3,000 metres, placed second in the 5,000 metres and third over-all in the Canadian junior speed skating competition. Won the western regional and the performance earned him a stint with the National development squad.
SNOOKER – Ervin Budge, Rill Olson, Ken Shea – Trio won the International League snooker crown for the third straight year and sixth time in last eight in Chicago. They could not be available because of a previous engagement.
TOUCH FOOTBALL – Don Belsher – The veteran quarterback played with Skeammers – the old Dan Kelly outfit – was named the outstanding performer the fourth time in 12 years by a vote of his peers. Some may recall him playing junior hockey with M and W Rangers.
TRACK AND FIELD – Alison Armstrong – Armstrong put her best foot forward winning the Canadian heptathlon title with a personal best 5,543 points. She finished eighth in the world student games scoring 5,393 points. Her best individual performance was 1.83 metre high jump to earn her fourth on the Canadian women’s high jump list.
TRIATHLON – Bruce McNichol – One of the new boys on the block, the triathlon (first introduced by the Rideau Canoe Club) was given a royal welcome by Bruce McNichol. Competing in running, swimming and cycling legs in 16 competitions in Ontario, Quebec and northeastern U.S.A., he won 13 for an amazing win percentage of .812.
TRAP AND SKEET – Jacques Chauvest – The Gatineau gun made his rivals sit up with an overall shooting average of 91.35 taking in three individual competitions. From 16 yards his average was 96.96; from the 22-yard handicap he was 87.0 and at the 16-yard doubles he was 90.11. Small wonder he won the Canadian long handicap and the East U.S. doubles.
TABLE TENNIS – Mariann Domonkos – Canadian singles champion 9th straight year. Paired with Gloria Hsu to win Canada’s first doubles gold medal at the Commonwealth tournament on the Isle of Man; North American singles champ; made eights in world doubles with Hsu; made eights in singles and doubles with Hsu in Polish open and eights in singles and doubles with Joe Ng in Belgian Open; swept singles, doubles and mixed at CNE.
WEIGHT LIFTING – Rick Haggar – A clutch clean and jerk of 177.5 kilos moved Haggar from fourth to second in the final 90 kilo standing. Haggar, an all-round athlete, was the Ontario champion.
WRESTLING – Mike Payette – It may come as a surprise, but this is Payette’s second dinner appearance, this one as Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union 57 kilo champion. He and Brian Renken broke a string of eight by Ray Takahashi, into two blocks of four in 1979-80.
WATER-POLO – Reid McDonald, Rod McDonald – Both brothers arc MVPs for the Ottawa Titans who were Ontario Champions, provincial runners-up & North American Invitational runners up.
SWIMMING – Kaili Salmon – Rated a “comer” by the Nepean Swim Club, Kali appears to thrive on international competition. Finalist twice in Esso Cup international in 100 breaststroke as well as in three other major meets. Best single competition, Canada Games where she was fourth in 100 breaststroke and sixth in 200 breaststroke.
TENNIS – Jamie Laschinger – Another 12-and-under corners, Laschinger would have ranked six of his age-group rankings were kept. He and his partner Aaron Marionfeld were provincial runners-up and national runners in 12 and under doubles. In singles at the nationals he was ousted in the quarter-finals of the championship flite and man the consolation final.
RA Fencing Club, Les Spadassins – Canadian women’s foil champions – Paulette Cogliati, Louise Leblanc, Caroline Marshall, Carol Ann Wishart, Marie France Dufour.
Rideau Canoe Club – Canadian Canoe Association champions second time in 12 years. Coaches Cindy Deugo, Wade Farquharson.
Ottawa Rookies bantams – provincial girls’ basketball champions. Season record 35-10. Team Coach, Bob Shepherd.
Ottawa Rookies midgets – provincial girls’ basketball champions. Season record 26-11. Team Coach, Laura Gillespie.
Ottawa Rookies premiers – provincial womens’ premier (junior) champions. Team record 26-11. Team Coach, Bob Butler.
Ottawa International Snooker League (Erwin Budge. Bill Olson, Ken Shea)
Vanier-Blackburn Nordiques Little League Baseball Team – Canadian champions for 13 year olds. Manager: Don Eves, Coach: Dale Smith
Stephan Poirier Defoy and Marc Robin are two youthful athletes with a growing reputation as Laser 2 sailors… For the second straight year they swept all seven title races, this time in Halifax. Defoy 21 years old and Robin 20 are both national team members. There will be a special cheer when Gord Hope collects his handicap trophy. The popular Hope having nominated many since the handicap category was introduced in 1977… Mike Lachapelle has a special distinction in lacrosse, winning outstanding honours in both box lacrosse and field lacrosse.