The BC Sports Hall of Fame will celebrate five defining moments in B.C.’s sport history that have ties to Kamloops during its annual summit this month.
It will be recognizing the Kamloops Blazers team that won the Memorial Cup in 1995 to cap a run of three tournament wins in four seasons.
That Blazers team – which featured a collection of future NHL’ers including Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla, Darcy Tucker, Tyson Nash, and Nolan Baumgartner – were inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame in 1995, the Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame in 1999, and the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
Also being recognized are Dylan Armstrong’s silver medal in shot put at the 2011 World Championships, Catharine Pendrel’s bronze medal in cross-country mountain biking at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Kelly Olynyk and Team Canada’s bronze medal at the 2023 FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup, and the Rocky Mountain Fro Riders Mountain Biking Team.
All five of these milestones will be the subject of the Defining Moments Luncheon that will be held at the Delta Hotel in Kamloops on Friday, Sept. 20.
“As storytellers committed to celebrating the athletes, coaches, builders, teams and pioneers who have become parts of the fabric of our culture and heritage, we’re thrilled to have the chance to recall these Defining Moments and the memories they created for us,” Michelle Kitchen, the CEO of the BC Sports Hall of Fame said.
“We’re proud to have the chance to celebrate these accomplishments. It’s another way for us to honour the past and inspire the future.”
The BC Sports Hall of Fame will also officially designate Kamloops as a Sports Heritage Community when it holds its annual summit in the city between Sept. 19 and 21.
“It’s a new initiative by the BC Sports Hall that is designed to put the spotlight on communities that have truly helped shape British Columbia sport history, heritage and culture over the years; communities that have produced some of the best sports programs and participation rates in the country,” BC Sports Hall of Fame Chair Tom Mayenknecht told Radio NL.
“It is, quite simply put, a natural way for the BC Sports Hall working in tandem with our stakeholders to acknowledge the important role that communities play in fostering physical activity, play, organized sport and high performance.”
Tickets for the Defining Moments Luncheon and Eric Whitehead Inspired Service Awards Dinner can be found here.
The Defining Moments that will be recognized are as follows:
- Kelly Olynyk Wins Bronze at FIBA Basketball World Cup
September 10, 2023: Captained by Kamloops’ Kelly Olynyk, Canada wins its first-ever FIBA Men’s Basketball World Cup medal defeating the US in the bronze-medal game 127-118 in Manila, Philippines. The result was also Canada’s first medal at a global men’s tournament in 87 years.
- Dylan Armstrong Wins Silver in Shot Put at World Championships
September 2, 2011: Kamloops’ Dylan Armstrong becomes the first Canadian to win a world championship medal in a throwing event, capturing the silver medal in shot put at the World Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Armstrong also represented Canada at two Olympic Games: in Beijing 2008 where he won bronze and London 2012 where he finished fifth.
- Catharine Pendrel Olympic Bronze in Cross-Country Mountain Biking
August 20, 2016: Kamloops’ Catharine Pendrel wins bronze in women’s cross-country mountain biking at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil after battling back from a crash early in the race. Pendrel represented Canada at four Olympic Games and is a two-time world championship gold medalist (2011, 2014).
- Rocky Mountain Fro Riders Pioneer First Freeride Mountain Biking Team
1998: Rocky Mountain Bicycles forms the first freeriding mountain bike team, known as the ‘Froriders’, featuring three Kamloops friends Richie Schley, Wade Simmons, and Brett Tippie, today considered the pioneers of the free ride mountain bike movement. All three Froriders and many scenic Kamloops hills and trails were featured prominently in the influential 1998 mountain bike film Kranked: Live to Ride.
- Kamloops Blazers Wins Memorial Cup in 1995
Arguably the greatest team in junior hockey history, the Blazers featured a collection of future NHL’ers including Shane Doan, Jarome Iginla, Darcy Tucker, Tyson Nash and Nolan Baumgartner. After finishing the regular season ranked #1 in Canada, they claimed the WHL Championship and Memorial Cup.
The Blazers were inducted into the BC Hockey Hall of Fame in 1995, the Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame in 1999, and the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.