Six Nations well represented at Hall of Recognition

BRANTFORD — The new and interactive Brantford and Area Sports Hall of Recognition was officially reopened last Saturday at the Wayne Gretzky Sports with pomp and fanfare, and rightfully so. The newly designed Hall proclaims to thousands of visitors every year the sports accomplishments of people who called Brantford, Brant and Six Nations home.

Along with memorabilia of the most obvious area resident inducted, the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, are dozens of others who made it to the echelon of sports achievement.

Six Nations is well represented as well with inductees Gaylord Powless, Ross Powless, Bill Isaacs, Jay “Tonto” Silverheels, Emos Williams, Roger Smith, Tom Longboat, Stan Jonathan, Bev Beaver, the 1971 Brantford Warriors, 1992 Minto Cup Six Nations Arrows, the 1994, 1995, 1996 Mann Cup Champion Six Nations Chiefs, the Minto Cup 2007 Arrows, and others.

Several past Hall inductees mingled with guests and media and all were obviously proud of being a part of such a collection of stars.

Six Nations Elected Chief Ava Hill congratulated the City on behalf of the Six Nations athletes honoured.

“The Hall of Recognition will be a fitting place to showcase the immense talents of our athletes, teams and builders,” she said. “The City of Brantford, the County of Brant and the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory have a rich history of athleticism. Many of our athletes have competed on the world stage and we are honoured that they are being included in the Hall of Recognition.”

The idea of creating the Hall began in 1982 and after two years of collecting memorabilia and gathering potential inductees, the first temporary Hall of Recognition was opened June 29th, 1984 with Wayne Gretzky on hand to cut the ribbon. The first renovation was in 1991. At that time the temporary display was made permanent until 2010 when major renovations and pretty well an entire rebuild of the Gretzky Centre began.

In its 13th year, the Brantford and Area Sports Hall of Recognition now boasts 89 inductee members plus 36 individuals and 32 teams added to its honour roll.

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