Rob Guenter

Rob Guenter enjoyed a stellar fastball career and has the word "perfect" attached to his name more times than most. The Saskatchewan-born fastball pitcher recorded 23 perfect games between 1973 and 1990 and many no-hitters. These career marks earned him admission to halls of fame for Softball Canada, Saskatoon and Softball B.C. Rob honed his craft on the prairies and he joined the Saskatoon K&K Olson's, later the All-O-Matics, in 1973 and as an 18-year-old rookie threw three no-hitters in his first season. He faced the powerful Victoria Bates at the national championships in 1973 and 1976, when the defending champs needed a late rally to defeat the young ace in the final. He was one of the country's top pitchers with Saskatoon but enjoyed his greatest success with Victoria. After the Budgets won their fourth Canadian championship in 1978, they picked up Rob for the 1979 Pan-Am Games. There he threw a one-hitter and a perfect game before outduelling legendary Ty Stofflet of the USA for a 1 - 0, 14-inning, gold medal game victory. Rob moved to Victoria and led local teams to two more national crowns and Canada to a Pan-Am victory in 1983. Rob's stellar status was solidified in the 1983 Canadians, when he threw five games in 24 hours to carry Payless to another national title. He was named Victoria's male athlete of the year for 1982 and 1983.

Wendy Barlow

Wendy Barlow was renowned for her great mental toughness and big heart on the tennis court. She was involved with the Canadian national team program for seven years and won 12 national titles and many prestigious international matches in a short, but impressive career. She began playing at age 10 in the Victoria Parks program and won her age category that first year. Wendy stepped up her training and tournament play and went on to claim six national junior age titles in four years. When her father's pro hockey travels took the family to Phoenix, Wendy and sister Lori's training became an all-year activity. In her mid-teens she continued to win titles and began representing Canada on the junior international tour. At 16, and playing under-18, she was rated #3 in Canada. Wendy represented Canada in three Federation Cup matches against the world's best, and competed five years on the WTA pro tour. Possibly her biggest victories came in 1977, in qualifying for one of eight junior spots into Wimbledon and winning the Canadian women's doubles with Nicole Marois. Wendy realized a life-long dream by winning the Canadian National Championship and the #1 ranking in Canada in 1980. She was Victoria's Female Athlete-of-the-Year in 1978 and capped off her impressive tennis-playing career at the age of 20.

Search For an Inductee

GVSHoF logo

saveonABOUT THE GREATER VICTORIA
SPORTS HALL OF FAME

Victoria enjoys a stellar sports history and we celebrate the many athletes, teams and builders who have contributed to that history.  Our displays are seen at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre (1925 Blanshard St.)  through Gate Three.

FOLLOW US

Twitter logo 011facebookyou tube

 

 donate subscribe