Adam Prudhomme
Beaver Sports
Five of Greater Napanee’s most iconic names will be enshrined in the Greater Napanee Sports Hall of Fame next Thursday in the first induction ceremony in nearly a decade.
A special ceremony will be held at the Strathcona Paper Centre that night on 6:30 p.m. where Karen Mills and Al Whitfield will be honoured along with the late Andy McGarvey, Kay Myers and Eleanor Ramshaw.
Mills, who has served as director of Softball Napanee since 2001, made her first contribution to Napanee’s sporting community in 1975, when she was NDSS’ representative to the Ontario Athletic Leadership Camp. She founded both the Napanee Recreational Volleyball and Greater Napanee Mixed Three Pitch leagues, while serving as president of the local ladies slo-pitch league in the early 1980s. She coached with the Express from 1997-2015, winning provincial titles with her Junior Express in 2004 and 2005.
Whitfield also made his contributions through softball, coaching eight different clubs to OASA championships between 1976-1983 and earned a silver medal in 1988. In 2002 the Ontario Amateur Softball Association presented him with the Fever Award for outstanding service to the game of softball.
Myers, who passed away earlier this year at the age of 96, contributed to the Greater Napanee community through three encompassing roles.
She was a high achieving athlete in basketball, softball, golf, curling and bowling. As a volunteer she coached minor hockey, established the Youth Bowling League in Napanee, was an advocate and mentor for the Special Olympics and made many contributions to the Napanee Golf and Country Club.
Last but not least, she was noted as the ultimate loyal fan, cheering on family from the stands.
McGarvey contributed both to hockey and softball, coaching the Napanee juveniles to an Ontario championships from 1986 through 1988 and then leading the Napanee Raiders to their first Schmalz Cup championship as a coach and general manager in 1993.
He served on Softball Napanee’s executive for 29 years and coached both girls and boys teams. He was also behind the bench for both the Napanee Stars and Napanee Crunch through the 2000s. He was a committee member for both the development of the SPC as well as a founding member of the Richard Dickson and Terry Gray Sports Association of Greater Napanee.
Ramshaw stood out on two different ice surfaces as an executive with both the Napanee Figure Skating Club and Napanee and District Curling Club, starting in 1977.
A skilled curler, she was an Ontario Curling Tankard zone winner in 1979, 1983 and 2005, reaching the finals in 1979. She was a member of the social committee when the NDCC hosted both the Ontario Tankard in 2010 and the 2012 Canadian Junior Championships. She earned volunteer awards for her dedication to both skating and curling.
The Dec. 14 induction ceremony is open to the public and everyone is welcome to attend.