Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame announces class of 2024

The 2024 class of the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame will see seven new inductees.

The class features three inductees in the athlete category, two builders, and two teams.

Athletes:

• Ray Mitsuing (Loon Lake) - Rodeo
• Carl Olson (Fir Mountain) - Rodeo
• Chelsea Stone (Mazzei) (Regina) - Taekwondo

Mitsuing is the first inductee whose sport is chuck wagon racing. He competed for 36 years in the sport and qualified for the Calgary Stampede 36 consecutive times. In 1992 he won the Aggregate Championship at the Stampede and also earned the fastest time award on three occasions. Mitsuing won the Canadian Professional Chuckwagon Association Championship seven times.

Olson became the first Canadian born cowboy to win a World Rodeo Championship in Saddle Bronc in 1947 where he competed at Madison Square Garden in New York. He also won the first Canadian All-Around Rodeo Title in 1945 and again in 1948. Olson won the Saddle Bronc national title three times and also earned a National Steer-Wrestling title. He was inducted into the Canadian Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1982. Olson passed away in 1983.

Stone (Mazzei) won 19 consecutive national championships in her weight class in sparring. She was on the national team for 18 years and served as Team Canada’s captain at five international competitions. In 2002 she was the Canadian Taekwondo Federation International Athlete of the Year and the Saskatchewan Female Athlete of the Year. Stone medaled four times at Junior Worlds and medaled twice at the International Taekwondo Federation World Championships.

“I was completely honoured and excited, I was also very surprised. I know there’s an incredible amount of athletes and teams in Saskatchewan so to be chosen as one of the inductees this year was a great honour,” Stone said.

Stone said that she was sitting at home with her newborn when she got the call.

“It’s always been something that I hoped would happen one day,” she said. “To be honest I don’t really think about it too much [what I’ve accomplished]. Sometimes it surprises me to remember everything I’ve accomplished. It’s been a really good opportunity to reflect on everything I’ve done,” she shared.

Stone also went on to share some of her biggest memories in the sport.

“The one that probably sticks out the most was my very first World Championships. It was held in all places, North Korea. So to go as a 15-year-old to North Korea is definitely not something very many people will experience. On top of that, probably 2017, Ireland was my last World Championships. I won a bronze medal in sparring and it was the only medal in sparring that Canada won that year.”

The martial arts athlete added it is exciting to be inducted for a less common sport and to represent the Taekwondo community in the province, especially as a female.

Builders:

• Karen Howard (Melville) - Figure Skating
• Wayne Hellquist (North Battleford) - Volleyball

Howard is an international figure skating judge who has served at the highest level. She was a judge and referee at the 2014 Olympic Games, three World Figure Skating Championships, and four Junior World Figure Skating Championships. Howard has been involved as a judge and evaluator for more than 40 years.

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Hellquist served as a board member and executive at the national and provincial level in volleyball. He helped bring Canada’s Women’s national team to Regina in the 1980’s. He spent 14 years on the board of the Canadian Olympic Committee and was even the first person from Saskatchewan to ever serve as President. Hellquist also expanded the sport of volleyball by helping create the para-volleyball program and in 2000 was the Chief Commission for the Canadian Paralympic Team.

Teams:

• 2003-04 University of Saskatchewan Huskies Men’s Volleyball Team
• Sherry Anderson Senior Women’s Curling Rink

The 2003-04 Huskies men’s volleyball team won the school’s fourth men’s national collegiate volleyball title. After the beat the University of Alberta in five sets to claim the USPORTS National Championship. They were the top ranked team in the country after securing the Canada West title. During their pre-season they defeated the Brigham Young University, the American school to win the collegiate title that year. Six of the seven of their starting lineup hailed from Saskatchewan that season.

Anderson’s Senior Women’s Curling Rink that consists: of skip, Sherry Anderson, third, Patty Hersikom, second, Brenda Goertzen, and lead Anita Silvernagle formed in 2016. They won six consecutive provincial senior curling titles, five consecutive national senior curling championships and three World Senior Curling Championships. All of these feats have set a record. They are based out of the Nutana Curling Club in Saskatoon. This past year their rink was inducted into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.

“Excitement. I mean it’s always very much an honour to be recognized for your achievement in sport, especially in the province where you compete and try to represent. It was quite an honour,” Anderson said on finding out her rink was part of this year’s induction class.

However Anderson added she was still surprised.

“I was a little bit because we had just gotten the announcement for our induction into the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame. So it was a little bit of a shock but very much appreciated.”

Unlike many of the Hall of Fame’s inductees, Anderson’s rink is still very much involved in their sport.

“I mean it’s nice that we can still do it. You know at senior age and still compete and manage to finish a season off and our bodies are still in tact,” Anderson said with a laugh. “Nobody’s throwing in the towel yet. Our plan is to compete again in the fall and try to get back to the Canadian National Championship.”

Anderson added that it would be nice to add a few more accolades to her rink’s Hall of Fame induction, but said it’s amazing to see other accomplished athletes in the sport of curling that have come from the province and to be a part of that list.

The 2024 Induction Dinner and Ceremony will take place on Saturday, Sept. 28 at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina.