The 27th annual induction ceremony for the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame took place Nov. 3. This year’s class of honoured inductees include four Huskie connections and a handful of other Saskatoon products.

Legendary University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s volleyball coach Mark Tennant was entered into the hall in the builders category as well as Dale Yellowlees and Judy Warick.

Tennant was the head coach of the women’s volleyball squad for 24 years, a time highlighted by the years 1979-81. In that time, the Huskiettes, as they were called, won three consecutive national championships — a feat never before seen in Canadian university volleyball.

“In those 24 years we had a lot of highlights, but winning the national championship three times was without a doubt the ultimate highlight,” said Tennant, who still recalls those games played over 30 years ago with vivid detail.

Outside of the university game, Tennant created SuperVolley, once the largest volleyball tournament in North America. He has worked with the International Volleyball Association and even wrote a book about developing volleyball skills.

Dale Yellowlees and Judy Warick both entered the hall as builders of the sport of track and field.

Yellowlees was a renowned voice of track and field events all across the country. In a career that dates back to the early 1970s, he has announced track and field events for six Canadian track and field championships, two Commonwealth Games and the 1979 World Cup in Montreal. He also coached the Huskies cross country running team in the early 1970s.

In the athletes category, hockey player Curtis Leschyshyn was honoured along with taekwondo expert Duk Sang Ha.

Leschyshyn’s professional playing career started with Saskatoon Blades before being drafted by the Quebec Nordiques third overall in the 1988 NHL entry draft. He spent seven years in Quebec and moved with the club when it was relocated to Denver, Col.

In 1996, Leschyshyn won a Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche. He said it was a moment that he had been waiting for his entire career.

“To win a Stanley Cup is every kid’s dream growing up playing hockey,” Leschyshyn said. “I was fortunate to be on a very good hockey team and to have my name on the Stanley Cup is something I will cherish forever.”

Leschyshyn retired in 2004 after playing over 1,000 games in the NHL. He took on an assistant coaching job with the Saskatoon Blades this fall.

Duk Sang Ha placed first at the Canadian National Taekwondo Championships in the men’s flyweight division (up to 58 kilograms) in 1999, and went on to compete at the World Championships in Edmonton in the same year.

The teams category saw the induction of two teams, both former Huskies squads that won on the national level.

The 1998-99 Huskies men’s volleyball team was one of the teams. The squad was a true underdog, squeaking into the Canadian national tournament with a wildcard berth after a 14-4 season that culminated in losing to the Calgary Dinos in a best-of-three series in the Canada West semifinal.

The team took full advantage of their wildcard berth, however, by first beating Winnipeg in three straight sets, knocking off Alberta in five sets in the second round and dismantling Laval in three sets. The Huskies were national champs and the team’s outside hitter Aaron Canfield was named the tournament MVP.

Canfield remembers the tournament fondly.

“It’s definitely an accomplishment to take pride in. Your championship team is locked into the history of Saskatoon, and it’s always good to recount old memories and get the players together again.”

The other team inducted was the 1968 men’s cross country team. They won the university’s very first team national championship. Seven of the Huskies runners finished in the top 16 in the final race 44 years ago, giving them enough team points to garner the gold.

The only sports organization inducted into the Saskatoon Hall of Fame this year was the Bedford Road Invitational Tournament for high school boys basketball.

—
Photo: Bob Florence