Category Archives: 2000 – 2009

1970 - 1989, 1990 - 1999, 2000 - 2009, 2010 - 2019, 2010 - 2019, Builder, Male

Larry Sinclair

The incredible growth and overall athlete success of Nordic skiing in the Collingwood region inevitably can be traced to the involvement of the Sinclair family in Duntroon.

On Saturday, October 25, 2014, the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame proudly welcomed Larry Sinclair – Builder to join his father Jim, as an enshrined member.

As a young man, Larry competed on the provincial and national level and parlayed his experience and success into a highly respected coach and mentor to young skiers.

During the 1980’s, Larry coached the Cdn. Junior team travelling to Finland, Russia and Bulgaria for international compeititions. He was also a support coach at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics.

Larry brought this experience home and alongside his father – Jim Sinclair – founded the Highlands Trailblazers Cross Country Ski Club. A club that has trained hundreds of youths including a 2x Olympian – Brittany Webster.2014 - Larry Sinclair

As owner of the Nordic Cross Country Ski Centre, the facility has hosted Provincial Ontario Cup races, OFSSA Nordic championships & a National Championships (2003 and 2009).

Larry’s love of the winter outdoors is infectious to the ever growing number of athletes coming to Highlands Nordic. Larry is universally respected across the sport and community.

Sadly, Larry Sinclair died on January 25, 2015 following a lengthy battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Pat Elson, and daughters Kelly and Megan.

1970 - 1989, 1990 - 1999, 2000 - 2009, 2010 - 2019, All, Athlete, Male, Other

Paul Shaw

Paul Shaw was introduced to trap shooting during a conversation in 1981 while goose hunting with friends.  Paul quickly established himself as a force within the sport through pure instinct built from his early years, raised on a farm near Ravenna, when rabbit hunting was considered  recreation. 2014 - Paul Shaw

In 1984, he got involved in Olympic style trapshooting.  For the past 30 years, his accomplishments in provincial, national and international competition are staggering.  He has won every championship event at the Ontario Championships incl. singles, handicap, doubles, High- All Around and High Overall.  Paul is a 4x Canadian Champion in Double Trap.

During his career, he has represented Canada as an athlete at the  1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, 4x Pam American Games and 2010 & 2014  Commonwealth Games in both Trap and Double Trap.

In 2014, Paul Shaw is ranked #1 in International Double Trap and #3 in Olympic Trap and involved with the organization of shooting events for the 2015 Pan American games in Toronto.

His trapshooting talents have been recognized in his induction in to the Ontario Provincial Trap Shooting Hall of Fame in 2007.

On Saturday, October 25, 2014,  the Collingwood Sports Hall Fame introduced Paul Shaw as one of its newest members.

2000 - 2009, 2010 - 2019, All, Athlete, Male

Jay Morrill

Jay was introduced to cross country running as an elementary student at Cameron Street Public. Very soon thereafter he began to dominate races with students 4 years his senior.

It was during his high school years at Collingwood Collegiate Institute (CCI) between 2000-2004 that Jay simply dominated the cross country running scene. He was a perfect 20/20 winning every Simcoe County League race and winning 9 GBSSA championships in both cross country and track & field. He was won two OFSAA titles in 2001 & 2002 and further elevated in stature as a 2x National Team Champion ( Canadian Cross Country Running Championships – 2001 and 2002.

His high school success led to an athletic scholarship with Georgian State University where he served as captain – a testament to his commitment to training and leadership skills.

On Saturday, October 25, the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame welcomes Jay Morrill, joining his father Bobby Morrill and great uncle Allan Morrill, as an enshrined member of the Collingwood Sports Hall of Fame.

1950 - 1969, 1970 - 1989, 1990 - 1999, 2000 - 2009, 2010 - 2019, 2010 - 2019, All, Golf, Male

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.

1990 - 1999, 2000 - 2009, 2010 - 2019, All, Golf, Male

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.

2000 - 2009, 2010 - 2019, 2010 - 2019, All, Builder, Male, Other

BRIAN BAILEY

Brian Bailey is the wind beneath the wings of the Collingwood Sailing School, which has been recognized by the Canadian Yachting Association and teaches the ropes to
more than 100 youth and adults each year. A Collingwood Yacht Club member since
1973, the Manchester, U.K.-born Bailey raced DEIMOS, an Express 30, for 29
years. The long-time sailor has been the club’s Keel Boat Champion three times. He has been commodore of the local yacht club as well as a member of its board of directors for more than 20 years. In Toronto, he was part of a successful racing crew on a custom C & C 34 which won the Royal Canadian Yacht Club’s;Champion of Champions.

Bailey was the catalyst in the history of the successful Collingwood Sailing School. He
channeled his energy, knowledge and pride into a unique educational opportunity
for budding sailors in the region. Bailey’s early involvement in the sailing school resulted when his son, Kyle, was hired by the former Watts Skiff Sailing School in 2001 as its sole instructor. The following season, he became the volunteer course director helping to drive increased enrolment, improved classroom instruction on the second floor of the Collingwood Terminals warehouse, and organized the repair of a collection of cast-off boats.

The Sailing School, in 2011, had close to 120 students and five instructors. (Almost
all of the instructors hired have been former graduates of the program.) The school’s fleet of 20 boats receives heavy use throughout the summer season. Student volunteers earn valuable experience for their instructor certification and community placement hours for high school graduation requirements. The school offers Canadian Yachting Association White Sail I, II, III, and Bronze IV; V courses at the Collingwood Harbour. The school uses a variety of dinghies from 7.5 feet to 14 feet.

Bailey is an avid skier, working as a Blue Mountain patroller from 1995 to 2004. He was a Mosport racer from 1961 to 1967 with his Sunbeam Alpine car. His first race was in front of a crowd of 50,000 people. He is passionate about all three sports; sailing, skiing and racing; describing how participants carve into turns in each of them. “You feel it”, he said. “You slide through it. If you have done all three, you can relate.”

2000 - 2009, 2010 - 2019, 2010 - 2019, All, Male, Other

ADRIAN VAN DEN HOVEN

Adrian van den Hoven is a sailing master of the Great Lakes. He is the first Canadian to complete solo racing on all five of the lakes, has won his division in all but one of the lakes, and was our country’s first participant in the Super Mac marathon race. For his outstanding efforts, he was awarded the Collingwood Yacht Club’s James Russell Memorial Trophy in 2011 for Meritorious Navigation skills. He’s proven to be one of the best in his racing division.

Seven years after beginning the sport of sailing, van den Hoven set sail on a racing career in 1997. Three years later, he was racing solo and placed first in the 2003 Collingwood Yacht Club Invitational Race. Three out of the five times that he entered the Georgian Bay Sailing Regatta from 2000 to 2008, he placed first in his division and took overall honours in ’00. As part of the crew aboard the 42-foot Benateau ‘Smokum Too’ out of Thornbury, he worked the foredeck handling sails and spinnaker from 2000 to 2011. In 2006, the boat became the first-ever Canadian entry to win overall honours in the Chicago – Mackinac race.

van den Hoven enjoys working out and training, skis alpine and cross-country during the winter months. He works as a full-time employee with Hydro One as a Hydro One Lines Supervisor in Stayner, Ontario.

1990 - 1999, 2000 - 2009, 2010 - 2019, Male

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.

1990 - 1999, 2000 - 2009, 2000 - 2009, All, Female, Other

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
1990 - 1999, 2000 - 2009, 2010 - 2019, All, Male, Other

EARL WILSON

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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.