A Summit – and New Heights Reached – Through Collaboration

MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR
September 1st, 2019

As it should, the newly-named Annual Summit of the BC Sports Hall of Fame will help elevate the implementation of our Inspiration 2020 strategic plan, one borne out of our commitment to celebrate Honoured Members, cultivate Collaborative Partnerships and spark Inspiring Experiences and educational opportunities related to the rich fabric of sport history, heritage and culture in British Columbia.

The result is a robust agenda of activity over the course of Friday, September 27th and Saturday, September 28th.

We are inviting Honoured Members to join us for our Legacy Pin ceremony, where those Honoured Members attending on Sept. 28th will receive their exclusive pin, one that carries the dogwood and wreath that was first associated with the BC Sports Hall of Fame in the years after its founding in 1966 (53 years ago last month).

We are paying special tribute to those British Columbians who were part of three of the Defining Moments of BC sport history: The 1979 Vancouver Whitecaps Soccer Bowl Championship, Terry Fox and the Marathon of Hope in 1980 and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and Paralympics. These will join the first three Defining Moments we honoured last year at our AGM in Vancouver – and earlier in the day in Victoria: The XV Commonwealth Games in 1994, the Vancouver Canucks playoff run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 1994 and the BC Lions’ historic 1994 Grey Cup win over Baltimore at BC Place stadium.

We are also recognizing some of the leading people and organizations who are partnering with us in various ways in our quest to consistently improve the way we tell the stories of sport to inspire an entire new generation to even greater heights. They’ve captured our attention by making history themselves, either on or off the field of play. That is why we’re so looking forward to the Eric Whitehead Inspired Service Awards Friday night, Sept. 27th. They’re named after the first curator of the BC Sports Hall of Fame; the former sports editor and columnist at The Province newspaper who is generally acknowledged as the “founder” of the Hall.

Yet more than anything, we’re excited and energized by the new approach to the AGM that will bring the BC Sports Hall of Fame and its Annual Summit to leading sport communities throughout the province this month and in the years to come. The pilot later this month marks the first time the BC Sports Hall of Fame has staged its Annual Summit outside of Vancouver proper.

To this end, we are piloting the Annual Summit (AGM & Conference) September 27th-28th in partnership with the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in the City of New Westminster. The first day (Sept. 27th) will be held at the Anvil Centre – the home of the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame – and the Inn at the Quay in New West. The second day (Sept. 28th) – including the pin ceremony, our 360 degrees of excellence workshop and the AGM itself — will take place at the BC Sports Hall of Fame at BC Place.

It is being done this way in large part to commemorate the 130th Anniversary of the New Westminster Salmonbellies in 2019; an important milestone in the history of sport in British Columbia. As such, it is being billed as “A SportsHall Spotlight on Lacrosse”. The Annual Summit will bring to New Westminster a series of special elements, including our Defining Moments luncheon featuring Darrell Fox — younger brother of Terry Fox — talking about the upcoming 40th Anniversary of the Marathon of Hope. Among the other highlights will be a Friday afternoon conference of workshops in storytelling in sport, each designed to illustrate how storytelling can help support fund raising, sponsorships and overall community engagement.

Yet this year’s pilot is only the beginning. We plan to bring the BC Sports Hall of Fame Annual Summit to other communities throughout the province; communities that either already have municipal or sport-specific Halls of Fame and Museums or that plan to establish such important building blocks and tributes to the history and heritage of sport in BC. What’s more, we should have news soon on the hosting of our 2020 and 2021 Annual Summits and a formal bidding process that will over time ensure that the BC Sports Hall of Fame touches all bases and hubs of sport history and achievement throughout the province of British Columbia.

By taking this approach, we aim to not only bring our Inspiration 2020 strategic plan to life, but we are striving to:

  • Build collaborative relationships with the sport-specific and municipal sports Halls of Fame that serve as the very building blocks of history on behalf of the BC sports community (and where required, help establish new sport-specific and municipal/regional sports Halls of Fame);
  • Strengthen our connections to provincial sports organizations by helping them — and the multi-sport and local sports organizations that drive participation and performance in BC — tell their stories to broaden sponsorship, fund-raising and overall community engagement;
  • Create meaningful opportunities for our current and future partners to elevate the place that sport holds in communities throughout the province and, in the process, promote how the stories of our Honoured Members and Teams – and the events at which they create such powerful memories and legacies – can inspire the next generation of British Columbians and Canadians.

Visit www.bcsportshall.com for more information on this year’s Annual Summit Sept. 27th-28th and how you can get tickets to be part of the fun that weekend. It’s only the beginning of a new era of outreach for the BC Sports Hall of Fame, but we’d love you to be there from the ground floor; the first Annual Summit in New Westminster and Vancouver. It will give us another opportunity to join hands in honouring the past and inspiring the future.

Tom Mayenknecht is the Chair of the BC Sports Hall of Fame. A principal at Emblematica Brand Builders in Vancouver and a nationally-recognized sport business commentator and host of The Sport Market on TSN Radio, he is a strong advocate for the KidSport, Right To Play and other children’s charities. He is also a member of the Ringette Canada Hall of Fame as a builder.