Category Archives: 1990 – 1999
1996-97 OMHA Pee Wee “BB” Champions
1991 OBA Pee-Wee “C” Champions
1990-91 Atom A Silver Stick Champs
MIKE JACKSON
In his competitive golfing career, Mike has atop the leader board for more than 50 golf championships spanning the local, provincial, national and international landscape. Mike has played in national events in all ten Canadian provinces at least once.
Jackson is currently ranked in the upper tier out of more than 700 senior golfers by Golf Week Magazine in the United States. And as recently as May 2012, he won the Ontario Senior Men’s “Champion of Champions” title by two strokes in Peterborough.
His athletic roots run deep in Collingwood. He is the son of Ken “Jeep”’ Jackson, a member of the Sports Hall of Fame. Michael, who played local Junior hockey as a right-winger, tried out for the Guelph CMC’s in 1972. In 1973, he attended the training camp for the Toronto Maple Leafs arranged through local scout Donald ‘Nip’ Spooner. Mike also played a couple of years of Senior “B” Hockey for the Durham Husky’s winning a provincial championship.
An excellent right-handed golfer as a youth, Jackson was Ontario Best Ball Champion with Hugh Fraser in 1976. As an amateur, he competed numerous times at the provincial level. He took part in the 1985 British Amateur at Royal Dornoch in Scotland and was 27th out of 288 golfers before match play. His medal score was ahead of such greats as Duffy Waldorf, Jose Maria Olazabal and Colin Montgomerie. He was the 2003 mid-amateur provincial champion (played at Mad River in Stayner) and won the 2010 Ontario Senior Men’s Amateur crown at the Ambassador Golf Club in Windsor.
Locally, Jackson has been the Blue Mountain Golf and Country Club champion an unprecedented 15 times, the club’s Senior champ twice and captured the Scenic Caves Invitational on seven occasions. As a six-time champion with the Midland Golf and Country Club, he holds the course record of 63, shot in the final round of the club championship in 1979. He’s a four-time winner of both the Georgian Bay Club championship and Senior Club championship, along with being Match Play champion for three years.
Jackson, a committed community citizen, owns the GM dealership in Collingwood. A recipient of Rotary’s Paul Harris Fellowship Award, he has been the E-3 Community Living golf tournament chair for many years. He was a board member for the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame committee from 1988 to 2002. Jackson has been on the board of the Canadian Auto Institute (CAI) at Georgian College for several years, and was its chairman of the board from 2005 to 2007.
Jackson is appreciative of the support of his family – wife Doreen, son Ryan and daughter Courtney – which has allowed him to venture far and wide in his chosen sport. He credits fellow Sports Hall of Famers Don Cook and Brian Jeffery for giving him the inspiration to compete in golf.
On October 20, 2012, the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame welcomed Mike Jackson as an enshrined ‘Athlete’ from our sporting community.
BRIAN FRENCH
Respected and competitive golf professional Brian French has been a member of Team Ontario five times in Titleist Cup match-play action. His team won the 2010 event played at the Royal Quebec Golf Club in Boischatel. ‘Frenchie’ holds course records locally at Cranberry Resort (66), Mad River (68) and Monterra (66). Among his many achievements was being the leading money winner in the 1989 Ontario Assistants’ Order of Merit.
The winner of more than 10 Ontario professional golf tournaments, French shot a 68 at Deerhurst and a 64 at Tor Hill Golf Club in Regina; both course records. He captured two consecutive championships in the Pro-Am event at the National Golf Club in Woodbridge. He also won the Head Professional T.P.D. Fall Classic at the Barrie Golf and Country Club. In 1986, French won the Saskatchewan Open and was a three-time member of the Willingdon Cup. As part of the Willingdon Cup, he was among the top four amateur golfers in Saskatchewan.
French has shot one double-eagle — on hole #14 at Cranberry — and collected 11 aces in his strong golfing career.
French has been the head golf professional at Mad River Golf Club in Creemore since 1994 and is in his 25th year as an accomplished golf instructor. He was also head pro at Cranberry. He continues to be an avid supporter of developing and promoting popular junior golf programs. Along with being a prolific squash player, he was a class ‘A’ squash referee and a member of the Saskatchewan Squash Association.
While attending Collingwood Collegiate Institute, French was part of the badminton team and continued playing the sport at university. The CCI golf team one year featured French, his brother Tim, and the Jacksons, Mike and Paul.
DAVID McKECHNIE
It didn’t take McKechnie long to set new benchmarks in swimming as a young member of the Collingwood Clippers. He started swimming at age 9. He holds 60 short-course and long-course club records and five Huronia Regional records. In 1996, he was ranked the nation’s third-fastest 10-year-old swimmer and clocked strong results at the provincials, where he was champion in the 50 and 100 breaststroke.
Ivy League champion swimmer David McKechnie is recognized as one of Cornell University’s all-time best performers, his swimming accomplishments rank among the best results in Ivy League history. He achieved the highest honour a college swimmer can attain as he qualified for the 2007 NCAA Division 1 championship in Minnesota. He placed 24th in the 100 breaststroke. It was a landmark year for the Cornell team, which claimed its first unbeaten dual-meet season in 60 years (10-0) and captured the regular season Ivy League title for the first time in school history. Cornell defeated Princeton and Harvard for the first time in over 20 years. From 2005 to 2007, he was the three-time Ivy League winner in the 100 breaststroke and twice won the league championship in the 200 breaststroke.
He was a member of four championship-winning relays for Cornell at Ivy competition in 2007. He was Cornell’s MVP in 2004-05 and 2006-07 and won the Spirit Award in 2004.
At the 2004 Canadian Olympic trials, McKechnie placed 12th in the 100 and 200 breaststroke. He won the 50 breaststroke championship at the Bell Grand Prix National Meet in Etobicoke in 2006, 3/10th of a second off the national record set by Morgan Knabe. He beat three Canadian Olympians in the process (Mike Brown, Scott Dickens, Matt Huang).
During his years at Cameron Street Public School and Collingwood Collegiate, he was involved in volleyball, basketball, cross-country running, and curling. His 1999-2000 junior volleyball team won the Georgian Bay championship. He also participated in Kids of Steel and Collingwood triathlons.
Twenty-six-year-old McKechnie is employed with Deutsche Bank and lives in Singapore. He says he owes a huge thank you to his local coaches, including Barb Richmire, Cheryl Blay and Todd Funston with the Collingwood Clippers.
KELLIE CASEY
In 1973, at the age of 8, Kellie Casey moved to the
Collingwood area with her family and promptly began
training for a career in freestyle skiing.
She attended school in Thornbury and Meaford before transferring to Collingwood Collegiate for Grade 12 and 13. At age 12, she decided that her main skiing interest was not freestyle but rather the challenging downhill events. She began competing in the Toronto Ski Club racing programs, her firm goal now was to be an Olympic downhiller.
In 1980, she made the Southern Ontario Division team. She graduated in 1982 to the Ontario team and began racing
internationally. Her top finishes in the Pontiac Cup series of 1982 and 1983 earned her a place on the development squad of the
national team in 1984. In 1985, she became a member of the Canadian
National Alpine Ski Team and began a regular tour of competition on the prestigious World Cup circuit. She competed and trained throughout the world, proudly carrying the name, Collingwood through many countries in Europe and America as well as into numerous major ski centres in North America. Injuries prevented her from a serious run at the 1984 Olympic Games in Sarajevo. In 1985, she placed 4th in Canada in the downhill. In 1986, she won the overall downhill title in the Nor-Am International series. In 1987, she vaulted into the 1st seed in the World Cup Downhill standings with 5th, 8th and two 12th place finishes in Europe just prior to the Olympics. She capped her bid for Olympic selection later that year with a 2nd place finish in the Canadian Championships.
At the Calgary Olympics on February 18, 1988 she was 7th out of the
starting gate. On a steep twisting high speed turn at the top of Mt. Allan she lost visual contact with the terrain and crashed heavily into a safety net. The resulting torn knee ligament ended her quest for an Olympic medal. Following surgery and extensive knee rehabilitation she returned to World Cup competition in 1989, still ranked in the first seed on the World Cup tour.
In 1990, during a downhill training run in Argentina, she sustained a back injury. This latest problem along with a still-imperfect knee was enough for Kellie to heed the medical advice, and call it a career.
Kellie attended the University of Guelph for a Bachelor of Commerce
degree, and Brock University for a Bachelor of Education. She has been a
special education teacher and a local ski coach for two decades. Her
passion is teaching youth at-risk and teaching Indigenous youth to
reconnect with their Indigenous ancestry while she does the same. She is devoted to her three children and still spends as much time as possible skiing with them.
Kellie still proudly calls the Collingwood area her home.
JILL MILLER
Jill Miller was born in Birmingham England in 1951, moving to Collingwood in 1977. After joining the Blue Mountain Weightlifting Club in 1991, she started competing Internationally on the Canadian Masters Weightlifting Team in 1993. During this time, Jill organized and competed provincially at competitions taking home numerous – Ontario Gold, Silver and Bronze medals, as well as the Ontario Open Championship. Jill has won the Canadian Masters Weight Lifting Championships in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002, and 2003.
Every year, since 1993, she has competed International at events hosted in Austria, Australia, Canada, United States, Scotland and the Dominican Republic.
Jill competed for 15+ years through to the World Masters Weightlifting Championships and was honored as “Best Lifter” in her age group on a number of occasions which is determined by the use of a formula that equalizes both age and body weight.
Record Lifts:
World Masters Games Record Holder
Pan American Record Holder
Commonwealth Record Holder
Canadian Record Holder
Weight-lifting accomplishments include:
Pan American Masters Champion – 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2005
World Masters Championship – 2nd Place – 1999, 2000
Canadian National Masters Champion – 2001, 2002, 2003
World Masters Champion – 2003, 2004
World Masters Games – 2nd Place 2005
Jill’s passion for weightlifting is not focused entirely on competition as she has often assumed the required administrative tasks to ensure that the sport of weightlifting continues to flourish not only in Collingwood but provincially and nationally. Her various undertakings have brought Collingwood worldwide recognition.
In addition to weightlifting, Jill’s is a Level alpine ski instructor, Swimming Instructor, Lifeguard and Swimming Course Instructor.
1) Co-chair of World Master Weightlifting Championships – Collingwood 1996 2) Co-chair of Pan American Masters Weightlifting Championships – Collingwood 1999 3) Co-chair Canadian Weightlifting Championships – Collingwood 2001 4) Co-chair of annual Collingwood Open Weightlifting Championships Approx 8 times 5) Representative of Collingwood on the Provincial , National & International weightlifting scene 6) President of the Ontario Weightlifting Association 7) Member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Weightlifting Federation 8) Chairperson of a Coaching Association of Canada committee for the development of new coaching resources for Weightlifting Canadian Coaches 9) Master Learning Facilitator training coaches in Canada 10) Level 3 Nationally Certified Coach 11) Coach of the Blue Mountain Weightlifting Club – 50+ members 12) Developer of strength (Olympic style weightlifting ) training program for older adults
EARL WILSON
With little fanfare, it was 20 years ago that Earl began his journey to become the
most recent inductee into the Canadian Arm-Wrestling Federation – Hall of Fame.
At the age of 16, Earl natural physique and strength directed his competitive
spirit towards this “Power” sports. In 1995, in his first major competition,
Earl received 2nd place in the left & right arm division with the 110 kg category. In the coming years, Earl continued to refine his tactics and strength conditional that resulted in his arrival as a World Champion in Finland – 2000. In fact, he became the first person to win 3 gold medals within a 24 hour period; Left arm (110 kg), Left Arm and Right Arm (Masters) to go along with a silver medal for Right Arm (110 kg).
In the next 9 years, Earl chalked up an unbelievable 11 Gold – World Championships
alongside 4 Silver & 2 Bronze medals. During this time, Earl travelled
across Europe, USA & Canada that quickly earned him the title as the man to
beat in the 100 & 110 kg division! Incredibly, Earl repeated his record
performance during the 2009 World Championships in Italy as he won another 3
gold medals within 24 hours. His reputation was cemented during the 2009 Event
as a record number of competitors – 1600 witnessed his conquests.
On our home turf, Earl has captured 11 Provincial & 28 Canadian
Arm-Wrestling titles to accompany 6 Silver & 2 Bronze finishes. Additionally, Earl set a Canadian Bench Press record at the time of 421.25 lbs – in competition. At home, Earl actively promotes his sport through his ongoing 17 year commitment to the Great Northern Exhibition – Arm-Wrestling event. As Chair, this event is free to all participants with all competitors taking home an award.
In 2010, Earl’s good fortune has returned with another run of 3’s: Inducted into the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame and Canadian Arm-Wrestling Federation – Hall of Fame while in August, he was recently married.