Eight inaugural inductions for PEC Sports Hall of Fame

Eight Prince Edward County athletes who have represented Canada on the national or international stage have been selected to be the first inductees into the new Sports Hall of Fame, to be opened Saturday, Oct. 27 at the Wellington arena.
“The Prince Edward County Sports Hall of Fame is thrilled with the number of nominations it received in its inaugural year,” said president Hugh Parliament. “Some are record holders, all have performed with distinction, bringing honour and pride to Prince Edward County.”
Parliament notes there are still many County athletes who were not nominated.
“If you believe someone has all the credentials to be in the hall, take the time to nominate them,” he said. “It is an amazing process when you go back and dig out the information on someone you think you know, it may be a learning process.
Some who were nominated but don’t appear on the inaugural list will be added to next year’s selection process.
Parliament and founding members of the committee sought council approval early this year to create the Hall of Fame on the east wall of the Taskforce Lounge in the Essroc Centre. The purpose is to honour individuals who have obtained prominence or distinction in any field of sport as a representative from Prince Edward County. Recognition includes a plaque and a short history to be displayed on the wall.
Tickets for the event ($65) are available by calling Parliament at 613-399-3227.
The 2012 inductees are:

Debra Faye Roblin
Faye Roblin was born in Picton on April 22, 1964. While attending Sophiasburgh Central School, she was encouraged to compete in track and field competitions by her teacher, Bob Webb. She participated in all sports, including baseball and hockey. When she started high school at Prince Edward Collegiate, she concentrated on the field events of javelin and shot put, under the tutelage of teacher Don Cumming.
She was awarded Ontario Championship certificates in 1981, 1982, and 1983. She participated in the Junior Pan American Games in Venezuela in 1982, earning a fifth place finish with a javelin throw of 44.94 metres. The following year, she won the Bay of Quinte and Central Ontario Championships with throws that remain records to this day. She won the Ontario Junior title in 1983, and won silver at the Canadian Championship.
She attended California State University in Fresno in 1983, and won bronze at the NCAA Championships in 1984. She represented Canada at the Commonwealth Games in Scotland in 1986, and was national champion in 1987.
She currently resides in The County with her husband, Jeroen Verhoog.

Keith MacDonald
Keith MacDonald was born in Prince Edward Country on July 18, 1927. He attended West Lake School and Albert College in Belleville. A life long farmer, he still tills the soil settled by his ancestors in 1822.
He gained his love of sport from his father, and excelled in many different athletic areas. In the early 1940s, he won the tennis championship at Albert; however, Keith is to be recognized for his prowess on the baseball diamond, and in the hockey arena.
As a member of the Belleville McFarlands, Keith won the World Championship of hockey in 1959 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. He won the Allan Cup with the team in Kelowna, British Columbia, in 1958. He worked his way up to the Senior “A” level through various junior and intermediate teams in The County, and with the Senior “B” teams in Belleville.
In the summer, MacDonald played on several fastball and baseball teams in The County, and in Belleville. He won the Eastern Ontario Intermediate “C” Championship with the Bloomfield Silver Ribbons. In 1954, he played third base for the Belleville Batas, winning the All Ontario Baseball Championship.
Always a fierce competitor, Keith MacDonald was a valued member of every team he played for, and an important member of the community in Prince Edward County.

Samuel Charles Mulholland
A County resident for more than 50 years, “Sam” Mulholland was born in Kingston, October 10, 1929. He attended Frontenac Public School and Kingston Collegiate Vocational Institute. He led the football team to the Kingston Championship in 1944. He competed in many events in track and field championships, often placing first in the events. In 1943, he starred with the KCVI Commandos when they won the collegiate championship.
In 1945, he played for the Kingston Victorias at the Junior “B” level. In 1946, Sam signed on with the Galt Rockets. He played one season in Galt, and was called up to the Philadelphia Rockets of the American Hockey League, making his professional debut at the age of 19. He played for several other professional teams before retiring in 1952.
Sam was also an outstanding softball and baseball player, and was invited to attend the Brooklyn Dodger camp in Vero Beach in 1949. He led many Kingston teams – Ponies, Athletics, Locos, Alcans, Optimists, to name a few, to titles at the Cricket Field and at McGaffin Stadium.
In 1953 he moved to Prince Edward County, and continued playing and coaching the sports he loved best. He also trained and drove harness racing horses for years at all of the major tracks in Ontario.

John Stanley Sibthorpe
John “Shakey” Sibthorpe was born March 1, 1932, in Blyth, Ontario. He attended public school in Blyth, and secondary school in Clinton, before apprenticing as a barber in Owen Sound. He moved to Prince Edward County in 1953 and began barbering at the Globe Bowl-O-Drome.
Not long afterward, Sibthorpe became involved in boat racing. He helped start the Picton Outboard Racing Club, organizing and timing races. But he also had his own boat, and raced from 1958 to 1968 in The County, and also in Upper New York State and Lakeland, Florida. In 1960, he organized water ski shows in the Picton Harbour, and won a 35 mile race from Waupoos to Picton!
He is best known for his work with the Gold Cup Races from 1972 to 1992. He worked with Jack Lyons, Al Lytle, Ron Denard, Jack Wells, John B. Cole and others to revive motor boat racing in The County. In 1977, he helped introduce Grand Prix Power Boat Racing to Mexico, along with a strong contingent of helpers from The County.
In 1968, he helped clear the land and organize the Macaulay Mountain Ski Club in Picton.
He maintained his barber shop, the nerve centre of the Gold Cup Races, on Main Street for almost 40 years.

Garry Gordon Lavender
Born in Picton on June 4th, 1946, Garry Lavender was a life-long resident of Prince Edward County. He attended CML Snider School in Wellington, and Prince Edward Collegiate in Picton. He then attended the University of Toronto.
Garry, along with his brothers Tom, Bob, and Paul, formed the nucleus of several sports teams in The County. They won the All Ontario Pee Wee Baseball Championship in 1959. They won softball championships from 1960 to 1966.
In 1964, Garry won the All Ontario OHA Juvenile Hockey Championship. In 1968, he was the player-coach of the Wellington Dukes Intermediate “D” hockey team. From 1971 to 1985, he coached the Dukes at the Junior “C” level.
Garry spent hours in the rinks and on the fields as a referee, manager, convenor, organizer, and executive with many teams. He refereed lacrosse for five years in The County and in Napanee. Under Garry’s leadership, the Wellington Dukes represented Eastern Canada at the Royal Bank Cup in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
Garry always had time for a game of golf, and won the Barclay Trophy in 1974, and the Jenkin Evans Award in 1975 at the Picton Golf Club.
He was posthumously awarded the Paul Harris Fellow Award for his dedicated service to the community.

August Earl Marvin
Earl Marvin was born in Hancock, Minnesota, on February 25, 1901. His father was a County native, and four years later, he moved the family to Prince Edward County. Marvin attended Elementary School at Boardman’s School in Hillier Township. In his early days, he spent 11 years sailing on the Great Lakes, and earned his engineer’s papers.
In 1938, he became Chief Constable of Wellington. He stayed at his post until 1968, when the provincial police took over the policing of the village.
Marvin began trap shooting in 1957. He entered his first major competition in 1967, winning nine trophies. He also received a Dominion of Canada award for shooting 100 out of 100 at the Prince Edward Rod and Gun Club. As a veteran shooter, he won singles awards in Ontario seven times, from 1964 to 1977. In 1978, he travelled to Vancouver where he won the Canadian Trap Shooting Association award for the high, overall, veterans’ trophy. He won the Ontario Provincial Trap Shoot Association veterans’ doubles trophy in 1979 in Hamilton.
He died on December 30, 1989, in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Paul Douglas Rosebush
Paul Rosebush was born in Prince Edward County on July 5, 1975. He attended Pinecrest School in Bloomfield, and CML Snider School in Wellington. He then graduated from Prince Edward Collegiate.
Paul Rosebush is a product of the Prince Edward County Minor Hockey System. He moved on to play successfully for the Wellington Dukes at the Junior “A’ level. In 1996, he was the Most Valuable Player in the Metro Junior Hockey League. He then attended the University of Guelph, and won the National Championship in 1997. In 1998, he played with the Canadian University All Stars against the American All Stars. He also won a bronze medal at the World University games that same year. From 1999 to 2006, he starred with the Bakersfield Condors of the East Coast Hockey League. His jersey was retired in 2007.
Rosebush won three Ontario Amateur Softball Championships while playing for minor teams in The County. In 1996, he won the Canadian Junior Championship with the Napanee Express. In 1999, he won a Gold Medal in Fastball at the Pan American Games for Canada. With Owen Sound Selects, he won the Canadian Senior Championship in 2000. He won the World Championship in 2007 with Madison, Wisconsin. He was selected to the World All Star team in 2005.

Douglas J. Thompson
Born in Picton on September 4, 1936, Doug Thompson began racing boats in a serious manner when he was 19 years old. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Doug Thompson powered his 350cc “B-Racing” Hydroplane Boat to many victories in North America, establishing speed records which have yet to be broken.
In 1972 in Valleyfield, Quebec, he set a Canadian record on a five mile circuit with an average speed of 69.189 miles per hour to win the Schenley Gold Medal Award. Two weeks later in Dupuis, Illinois, he broke the North American record for Class B racing hydroplanes. The boat was owned by Don Channel. Chief mechanic was Bill Wannamaker, assisted by Mark Wannamaker and Jim Smith. Thompson was also the American National Champion for B-Hydro boats in 1972, the only Canadian on the list of forty categories. He established a “Straight away Speed Record” over a mile course in 1972 with a speed of 85.709 miles per hour.
Thompson won the Canadian National High Point Title in 1962 and 1963, and held the title for five straight years from 1970 to 1974. In 1977, he won the American Power Boat Association Championship in Hinton, West Virginia. With that victory, he established himself as the North American Champion.