At the 41th Annual Induction and Awards Dinner, the following were inducted into the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame:
- A North Bay native, Geoff Burton made tennis his game starting at the local Granite Tennis Club at an early age and winning numerous events locally in the under 12 to under 18 categories and then duplicating those feats in the north and provincially in Toronto and Sarnia among other centres. In 1986 he was ranked 10th in Canada in the Under 16 division. In 1992 he attended the University of South Alabama on a Tennis Scholarship and played for the school for three years – mostly as the #6 in singles. The team won the Sunbelt Conference title in 1994 and was ranked in the top 25 in the States. After University he moved to Massachusetts to pursue his life’s work and didn’t return to serious competitive tennis until he was over thirty. In 2005 he had a New England #1 ranking in Mixed Doubles and in 2006 started a string of three straight New England #1 rankings in Over 35 Singles. That same year he won the Over 35 Singles title at the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona. In 2007 he achieved a #6 National Ranking by the USTA in Over 35 Men’s Singles. Also in 2007 he was a finalist in singles and doubles in the USTA National Indoor Over 35 division and achieved #29 ranking, his best, on the International Tennis Federation’s Over 35 Singles listings. Competing in Canada he won the Eastern Canadian Over 35 Singles and Doubles titles in Montreal in 2009 and went on to win the Canadian Over 35 National Doubles Championship and was ranked #1 in Canada in Over 35 Doubles that same year. In 2010 he was selected to represent Canada in the Over 35 World Team event – the Italia Cup in Mexico City where Canada finished 7th and Burton himself won 4 of 7 matches. He was the second individual to be elected to the NBSHF on his tennis feats.
- George Couchie, a lifetime resident of North Bay, played a number of sports in high school and began to compete in regional and provincial junior powerlifting events in the late 1970’s.Couchie began a 33 year career in police work in 1981, serving with North Bay, First Nations, Anishnabe and the OPP. He continued his powerlifting after he joined the North Bay Police Force and in 1985 qualified for the National Police Games. In the 1980’s and 1990’s these Games were an important athletic event in Canada with over a thousand competitors from Canada and the U.S. taking part. From 1985 to 1992, when he retired after some 17 years in competitive powerlifting, he racked up seven gold medals and a silver in powerlifting and bench press in the Police Games. In his first year he took gold in the 82.5 kilo class and from 1986 through 1991 took top spot in the 90 kilo division. In 1988 he won the Best Lifter Award for the complete games. In 1990 he took silver in bench press. The National Police Games annually attracted between 80 and 90 top powerlifters from across the country.He played organized softball from 1975 to 1990. He was with the Merchants in 1983 when they won an NSA Intermediate ‘AA’ banner and played oldtimers ball until 2011. In 1976, at the age of 17, Couchie began a better than 15 year stint as a Special Olympics volunteer coach, tutoring young people in floor hockey, ball, track and weight lifting in a program that, in its day, was one of the most productive and inclusive Special Olympics programs in Ontario. In 1988 he was awarded a Calgary Olympic Celebration medal for his outstanding coaching in the Special Olympics field.He coached in the North Bay Minor Hockey system for 14 seasons from 1992 through 2005 and was involved in minor baseball for several years. He worked with the North Bay Centennials OHL strength training crew for a decade – directing the program from 1987 through 1991.He was long recognized for his ground breaking work with youth at risk, using recreation and traditional aboriginal beliefs as two of his tools.
- North Bay born Peter Gavan became involved in girls volleyball in 1970 with a grade four girls team and for the next 36 years he was deeply immersed in the sport as a coach, organizer and official and helped bring girls volleyball to the forefront in North Bay and Northern Ontario by raising the level of competition in the sport; helping create the All Ontario Catholic Girls tournament; bringing National Coaches to North Bay for workshops; working to create the city’s first Club volleyball team in 1980 and bringing the Canadian National Mens team to the city to play exhibition matches against the Polish and American National squads in 1979 and 1981. He started coaching at the high school level in 1975 at St. Joseph’s College winning two NDA and one NOSSA crown in his first two seasons. Under his leadership St. Joseph’s and later St Joseph’s/Scollard Hall won ten NOSSA gold medals in Junior and Senior girls events, including five in a row from 1986 through 1990, and qualified for OFSAA six years in a row. St Jos took silver at OFSAA 1979. In 1980 his Club squad took silver at the OVA and were ranked 7th in Canada. He coached in a couple of Ontario Winter Games and started a tradition of local players attending summer volleyball camps. In the first seven years of the All Ontario Catholic Girls tournament, St Joseph’s won six golds and a silver. He became a level three OVA coach and after retirement officiated for five years. Peter Gavan was a coach, mentor and pioneer in girls volleyball.
- North Bay’s Rose James was proficient in artistic gymnastics, power tumbling, trampoline and ultimately double mini trampoline. She competed across this country and in Europe in a career that started when she was three and ended 22 years later in 2006. Locally, she competed for both Apollo and Gymtrix Clubs, successfully auditioned for Cirque du Soleil and specialized in Power Tumbling until discovering Double Mini Trampoline – a combination of tumbling and trampoline. She competed regularly through high school at Widdifield and University at Guelph successfully juggling gymnastics and education and winning many local, regional and provincial honours. As a Junior she took 4th in the DMT national trials, was named to the Canadian Junior team and earned a 5th in the World Age Group Championships in Germany as well as taking bronze in Tumbling at Junior Nationals. She began competing at the Senior level in 2004 where she placed 2nd in Canada in Senior World DMT trials, was named to Team Canada and took 4th in the Canadian Championships. The following year she won silver at the DMT Canadian finals and a silver at the Ontario Trampoline Championships. She was on Team Canada as it placed 3rd in the 2005 World Championships in the Netherlands. In 2006, her final year of competition, she won the Canadian Senior Women’s DMT title in Laval, was 6th in Canada Cup and 8th in the World Championships in Belgium and won a coveted International Award from Gymnastics Canada.
- North Bay native Mario Spina played football, basketball, soccer and golf but football was his main game. Attending Scollard Hall the “pony” back helped the Bears to three NDA football titles in four years – scoring touchdowns and kicking field goals and converts – in 1974 he picked up 88 points doing just that. Twice athlete of the year at Scollard he won awards for football, basketball and soccer. Advancing to the Northern Football Conference in 1976 he played three years for the Ti Cats piling up over 1500 yards on rushing, kick returns and pass receptions while scoring 74 points. He won NFC Rookie of the year honours and was named to the All Star team as a running back and punt returner. The NFC was a summer league and in the fall of 1976 he enrolled at Concordia University and played 2 1/2 years varsity football. After being named Freshman Athlete of the Year he took a year off to travel then missed his whole sophomore season with a shoulder injury before playing a full year in 1979. The 5 foot 7 inch 180 pounder scored 61 points and amassed over 5300 yards for his alma mater on rushing, pass receiving, punt and kickoff returns and punting. Over 4000 of those yards were on punting where he averaged 35 yards a kick. He set a Canadian Intercollegiate record with a 109 yard pass and run play while with Concordia. His promising football career ended prematurely when he suffered a serious knee injury early in the 1980 season and he was never able to play again although he spent the 1981 and 1982 seasons as an assistant coach with the Stingers.
