Michael Edgson enters the Hall of Fame in the athlete category for his astounding accomplishments as a swimmer. He could have harboured a lifetime of resentment after he was dealt a cruel blow at a very young age. Michael was sick as an infant and the prescribed medication damaged his optic nerves, rendering him close to blindness. When asked if he was bitter, he said he had zero bitterness because he is alive and his life has been truly enriched. As a young boy Michael tried hockey, an experience he called abysmal, and soccer, which was unsuccessful because of his lack of depth perception. At age 11, he was introduced to the Nanaimo Riptides Swim Club and his remarkable competitive career began. A year later he turned his skill and determination into winning at the national level with the Canadian Blind Sports Association Swim Team.

After swimming with the Riptides from grades 6 to 12, Michael came to Victoria and joined the UVic Vikes and Vic O's programs. His coach at UVic, Dr. Peter Vizsolyi, recalls that Michael was determined to attain the "able-bodied" standard for Canadian Inter-Varsity Sport Championships. Although unable to qualify, his dynamic personality contributed greatly to the overall success of the swim team in able-bodied competition and his achievements in disabled swimming were unparalleled.

Michael continued his winning ways, and at the 1984 Summer Paralympics in Long Island, Michael won five gold medals, three silver and he set four new World records. At the 1986 World Championships for the Physically Disabled he won nine events. That same year he made headlines in Victoria as the first disabled athlete to be nominated for a major Canadian sports award. He was a finalist for the Norton H. Crowe Award for Canada's Male Athlete of the Year, along with his friend and eventual winner, Mark Tewksbury.

Over his storied career, Michael's accomplishments include 32 individual medals and more than 20 world records in an 11-year period from 1982 to 1993. In Paralympics competition, Michael won nine gold medals and set four world records in Seoul in 1988 where he was invited to be the flag bearer for the closing ceremony. He went on to win four golds, a silver and a world record at the 1992 Barcelona Paralympics. With 18 Paralympic gold medals he is the most decorated paralympian in Canadian history.

His achievements and recognition include: a three-time recipient of the BC Disabled Athlete of the Year Award; a member of the organizational team for the 1994 Commonwealth Games; in 2009 the first Paralympics swimmer to be inducted into Swimming Canada's Circle of Excellence; inductee into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame in 2006, the Canadian Paralympic Sports Hall of Fame in 2011 and the BC Sports Hall of Fame last year.

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Gillian Thomas joins just six other Athlete All Rounders in the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame and is the first female athlete to be so honoured. Over a long and illustrious career, Gill excelled in field hockey, softball, squash, badminton, tennis and basketball.

In 1957 Gill started her outstanding athletic accomplishments when just 12 years old as she won the junior girls singles tennis championship in Victoria . She paired with Ray Aldeguer in 1961 to win the Club Mixed Doubles Championships and in 1962 with her partner, Margaret Foreman, scored second in the Provincial Doubles Championship. At the same time she was on the Victoria High school basketball team that won the 1962 Vancouver Island High school championship, and a year later she played on the senior B championship basketball team.

In badminton, two years, later Gill teamed with Alison Daysmith to win the Canadian Junior badminton Doubles in Montreal. She won the B.C. Junior badminton singles title In 1965, and the next year, playing out of the Victoria Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club, she was the club women's singles champion.

Gill started her senior softball career in Victoria in 1961, playing for the Vicettes under the coaching of Hall of Famer Walter Yeamans. The team won the Senior "B" Provincial championships in 1961 and 1962, and in 1963 they won the Western Regional Canadian Championships. Following as a Senior "A" team in 1965, they won the Provincial Championships and were finalists in the Canadian Championships in Winnipeg. Gill moved to Vancouver in 1966, to play for the Senior "A" team called the Vancouver Texacos. They won the Provincial Championships in 1966 and 1967. In 1969 the Texacos, now called the Eldorados, went to Halifax for the first Canada Summer Games where they won bronze.

In 1970, Gill won the South Hill top batter league award with a .492 batting average. In 1972, the team had a new sponsor, Green and Louie Realtors, and they became the first BC team to win a Canadian Championship. Gill was named the all-star shortstop at the tournament and later was inducted into the Vancouver South Hill Sports Softball Hall of Fame.

From 1963 to 1965 she played for the Victoria Greyhounds Field Hockey Team and was then named to the BC team that won the National tournament held in Vancouver. In 1966, she was recruited for the Canadian team and played as a speedy right wing. Gill is remembered for entering the scoring circle and blasting one of her legendary rocket shots on goal. The team toured Jamaica in 1966 in preparation for the Women's International Tournament, held in West Germany the following year. After the World Championship was over, they played games in Holland, Ireland, and Scotland.

Gill qualified for the BC Women's Squash Team in 1977, 78, and 79, and she won the BC Women's Senior "A" Singles Squash Championship held in Victoria to become the number one ranked player in the Province.

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