The Board of the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame is pleased to announce that three athletes, three builders and one coach/builder will be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year.

“This year is the 29th induction ceremony and dinner for the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame and this year’s inductees are great champions of their sports,” said Doug Jennings, President of the GVSHoF Board of Directors. “I look forward to celebrating their accomplishments in late October with their many friends and family members as well as our community and supporters.”

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In the athlete category, the hall will induct the late Andy Hebenton (hockey), as well as Susan Butt (tennis) and Jamie Ackinclose (para soccer).

Hebenton competed in 26 seasons of professional hockey (1949-76) and earned 695 career goals and 820 assists (1515 points). Of his 1,931 games played, 525 of those were with the Victoria Cougars and Maple Leaf, while he nine seasons in the NHL. Hebenton set an NHL record of playing 630 consecutive games, a record held until 1976.

Born and raised in Victoria, Butt was an active tennis player from the late 1950s through the early 1970s and was ranked No. 1 in Canada for three years. Butt won a Canadian national championship in doubles and competed at the 1961 Wimbledon championships. Butt captained the Canada Federation Cup team from 1970-72 and is a member of the Canada Tennis Hall of Fame and British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame.

A top-level soccer player coming up through Gorge FC, Ackinclose suffered multiple concussions resulting in permanent brain damage, which led to his career as a para soccer player. In 2019 he retired as one of the all-time greatest Canadian para players, with 35 caps and 25 goals in his nine years on the national team. Although Canada just missed qualifying for the Paralympics in 2012 and 2016, Jamie has appeared multiple times in the Para Pan Am Games and Para World Cup.

Three builders – Jim Hubbard (multi sports), Jim Cain (lacrosse) and Ron Greene (volleyball) will also join the class of 2023 alongside coach-official Helena Myllyniemi (archery).

Jim Hubbard is best known for his 13 years as the University of Victoria Vikes’ “Mad Viking” patrolling the sidelines of McKinnon gym roaring on the 1980s dynasty basketball teams. Hubbard’s more recent contributions have been as a 40-year volunteer with softball and 30-year volunteer with rugby. Hubbard is credited with forming the Lower Island Softball Umpires Association in 1985 and has received distinguished service awards from the Greater Victoria Sports Council, Softball Canada and the Canadian Indicator Club, as well as the Washington State Umpires Association Award for Leadership & Training.

Jim Cain was the Victoria Shamrocks lacrosse team’s trainer and equipment manager for 37 years (1979-2015) and in that time the Shamrocks won 15 provincial championships and seven Mann Cups as Canadian national champions. Cain was also the head trainer for the 1994 Canadian national team that won silver at the World Field Lacrosse championships and spent time with the professional NLL lacrosse league as a trainer for the Calgary and Minnesota teams. He is the only trainer to be inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Ron Greene joined the Victoria Y’s competitive volleyball program in 1968 and little did he know that would lead to over 30 years of refereeing, coaching, mentoring and building the sport. One of the first certified referees in Victoria, he officiated at the 1972 Canadian University Championships and 1975 Canada Winter Games. As a coach, Greene’s teams won 13 BC club championships and qualified for 17 national club championships. Greene was the founder of the Victoria Y club system, which became the basis of the Victoria Volleyball Association, incorporated in 1990.

For over 55 years, Helena Myllyniemi has fostered interest in and love for archery as a National Team Coach and national, provincial and local administrator. She is an NCCP Level III Coach and Coaching Course Conductor. She is a National Judge who has judged many years at provincial and national level. She was Manager of the BC Team to Canada Games and the Canadian Team to World Championships. Myllyniemi upgraded the UVic archery program to Coaching Level I Certification and, for the past 30 years, has instructed archers from age eight to over 80.

“Every year the selection process for the Inductions Committee gets more and more difficult as there are so many outstanding athletes, coaches, officials in the Victoria sports community and this year was no different,” remarked Chris Graham, who is the new Inductions Committee chair. “I would like to acknowledge Lois Smith, outgoing chair for the Inductions Committee, for her dedication and exceptional leadership over the past nine years.”

The inductees will be honoured at an in-person event on October 28, 2023, while a visual representation of this group of inductees will be added to the physical Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame display at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre concourse. Tickets for the Induction Dinner & Ceremony are available online now.

The 2022 inductees were athletes Dave Kirzinger (football), Brenda Shields Hennigar (speed skating), Gerry Poulton (squash), Gary Reed (athletics) and Jim Rutledge (golf), the pair of Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee (rowing), coach Lance Watson (triathlon) and builder Richard Way (multi sports). Over 230 athletes, teams, coaches, officials, builders, and media personalities have been inducted into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame since 1991.