Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame athletes

The Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame Induction ceremony is taking place Friday at 6:50 p.m. A number of local athletes from SW Alberta will be celebrated. Paul Kingsmith, board chair with the Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame, says there are six inductees this year.  

“We have Ashley Patzer, who was an Olympic medalist in rugby, born and raised in Lethbridge, and went on to represent Canada on the national stage. Lanny Tron, is our other athlete inductee. He made his name in track and field, competed at Harvard, so he from his Lethbridge roots went on and did some really great things. In the builders category, we have Brian Donaldson who was really instrumental in building the sport of wrestling in Lethbridge. And so it’s great that we can honor him as well. The other builder inductee that we have is Mitch Ball, who was an umpire in Lethbridge. He passed away too young, but he really made an impact during his life, so it’s great to get him into the hall. Also on the baseball note, we do have the 1979 Lethbridge Senior Little League team who won a national championship, went all the way to the Senior Little League World Series. So deserving there. And our 6th and final, but definitely not least Inductee is Rufus, Goodstriker, who has a fascinating story as a rodeo competitor in horse racing and in boxing, and coming from Kainai and the Blood Tribes. So a really impressive group of Inductees this year.”

Kingsmith says the Kinsmen Sports Persons of the Year will also be honoured. They are Ridley Greg who played for the World Junior Hockey Team and Jinaye Showmachuk who is a weight thrower at the University of Lethbridge.