It was a glittering, nostalgic evening at the Westin Bear Mountain on Saturday night as eight prominent sports individuals were inducted into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame. It was the 25^th Annual event.

The eight inductees are Dave Calder (Rowing), Rich Harden (Baseball), Alison Murdoch (Golf) and Deb Whitten (Field Hockey) - all inducted in the athletes’ category. In addition, three-time Olympic swimmer Ron Jacks was honoured in the coaching category for services to swimming, and Ian Lamplugh in the official’s category for baseball. The two builder inductees were Hugh MacDonald (Multi-sports) and Yeiji Inouye (Judo) who was honoured posthumously and represented by Greg and Caroline Inouye.

In his address Doug Jennings, President of the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame, heralded this year’s inductees. “The inductees we recognize tonight are truly worthy of inclusion among their peers into our hall of fame, which now has more than 200 athletes, teams, coaches, officials, media and builders.”

Calder, a Brentwood Bay College graduate is a 10-time Canadian Champion, nine-time World Cup Medalist, three-time World Champion, and four-time Olympian. In a tumultuous career and coming back from retirement he won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics where he paired with Scott Frandsen. Harden, a product of Layritz Little League, is famously known for his ‘immaculate inning’ in 2008 with the Chicago Cubs. He played just nine seasons in the majors with Oakland, Chicago and Texas but he won 59, lost 38 for an outstanding winning percentage of .608. He is ranked 14th all-time in the history of Major League Baseball.

Murdoch is a Canadian golfing sensation, having won numerous club and provincial championships in addition to four Irish Senior Women’s, two Canadian Championships, and four Pacific Northwest Golf Association Championships. She has been Victoria Golf Club Champion for 17 of the past 20 years and was inducted into the Golf Canada Hall of Fame in 2013. Whitten, played field hockey for UVic, taking the team to two CIAU National Championships and four Canada West titles. She played in two World Cups and the 1991 (Silver) and 1995 (Bronze) Pan American Games. On retiring she became Assistant Coach for the 1995 UVic National Championship team, and the Canadian National team at the 1998 Commonwealth Games and 1999 Pan American Games.

Jacks is PacificCoast Swimming’s Director of Swimming and has been recognized for coaching excellence by Swim BC, both the BC and Canadian Swim Coaches and Teachers Associations, and Swimming/Natation Canada. He was National Open Water Coach of the Year (2002-2005), Paralympic Coach at Athens 2004, and Canadian Open Water Head Coach at the 2005 World and 2006 Pan Pacific Championships. Lamplugh started umpiring at Lambrick Park, before becoming a member of the B.C. Baseball Umpires Association (BCBUA) and Baseball Canada. In 1998-99, he became the first Canadian in many years to work the Majors as part of the National Baseball League’s umpire staff, and then umpired the professional Canadian and Chinese Leagues before retiring in 2007. In 2010, he was the inaugural inductee into BCBUA’s Hall of Fame.

Canada’s highest-ranking Judoka, Yeiji “Lanky” founded the Victoria Judo Club and was its chief instructor for 41 years. He also co-founded the University of Victoria, Cowichan Valley, Nanaimo and Comox judo clubs. He served as President of Judo BC, Chair of the Judo BC Grading BoarChair of the BC Referees Committee, and National Councillor to Judo Canada In 2018, he received a rare Kodokan Certificate of Recognition for his remarkable commitment that spanned every facet of the sport for over 75 years. Inouye passed away in June 2018.

MacDonald has spent his life in the sports industry first as a founding member of the International Sports and Cultural Exchange Association, then as Director of Marketing and Sponsor Services, 1994 Commonwealth Game and as Executive Director of SportHost Victoria. He was instrumental in bringing many high-level sports event to Victoria including the Canadian Track and Field Olympic Trials, Pan-Pacific Swimming Championships, World Curling Championships, U20 Soccer World Cup, and the World Junior Hockey Championships In early 2018, Hugh was honoured as a Tourism Victoria Life Member.

“The displays outlining these remarkable careers can be viewed with our other inductees on the concourse level of the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre,” added Jennings. “We invite everyone to view these displays as we continue to engage the Greater Victoria community in recognizing and celebrating outstanding performances and contributions in sport.”