1994 Inductees

Howard Atkinson has been a builder and contributor to all levels of baseball and hockey in Yorkton, and in Saskatchewan, since 1960. That year, he helped found the Yorkton Minor Sports Association. He served as its president, and its referee and umpire-in-chief. He helped operate the Yorkton Senior Terriers before becoming a senior hockey referee. 

He was trainer for the Junior Terriers, and successfully coached both bantam baseball and bantam hockey teams to provincial finals in 1961. He spent 14 years coaching minor ball and hockey. 

He was the Yorkton representative on the Saskatchewan Baseball Association for 10 years and served as the SBA president for three years. During that time, he served on the committee that established SaskSport. From 1966 to 1968 he was the president of the Western Canada Baseball Association, and brought that organization into the Canadian Federation of Amateur Baseball. 

Howard was elected to the Saskatchewan Baseball Association Hall of Fame in 1992, and has been named the SBA Sportsman of the Year and Yorkton's Sportsman of the Year.

Len Bode followed his considerable athletic accomplishments as a student with an ongoing contribution to sports, particularly track and field, during his adult years in Yorkton. Len dominated local and regional cross country running and track events during his high school years, and represented the province many times at national cross country and track events. For a time, he held the Canadian half-mile high school record. 

But he did not rest on his laurels as an athlete, and became a builder of sports in Yorkton and in the province. He coached high school students in cross country running, and was head coach of the Yorkton Legion Track Club for 12 years. He has been a provincial cross country coach and co-ordinator. 

Len is recognized as the founding father of the Yorkton Indoor Games. In 1975 he was the instigator behind the establishment of the games, and for a decade he continued to be the force behind the organization. 

In 1982 and 1983 he was the chairman of the provincial Special Olympics organizing committee. The 1983 Games in Yorkton are still remembered as extremely successful, and the Provincial Games Handbook which Len prepared that year is still used today. 

Len has also been active as a coach and organizer in minor hockey, curling, soccer, fastball and broomball. He has been honoured as Yorkton Sportsman of the Year. 

Vic was one of the small group of men who were instrumental in bringing the sport of horseshoe pitching to Yorkton in the 1960s, and he was one of the charter members of the Yorkton Horseshoe Club in 1974.

He has long been a prominent member of that club, co­ordinating men's play, making the draws, maintaining results and statistics, raising funds, and performing public relations work for the organization. 

He was a builder but also an athlete, participating in the Canadian Horseshoe Championships in 1970 where he won one of the events with a record of 15 wins and one loss. In 1972 he became the provincial men's champion. 

Vic was also active in baseball in Yorkton, as coach and manager of both junior and senior teams for two decades, starting in 1950. He is a member of the Saskatchewan Horseshoe Hall of Fame selection committee. 

Gordon Johnson has achieved excellence in curling and baseball, primarily as an athlete but also as an organizer and instructor. Since joining the Yorkton Curling Club in 1961 he has been a keen competitor and popular opponent, epitomizing the true nature and character of a "curler's curler". 

He has been this region's representative in 17 provincial men's curling championships, a record matched by few in Saskatchewan, and none in Yorkton. In seven years of competition in provincial senior championships, he has advanced to the finals three times, winning the title in 1994. He and his rink have also participated in one provincial mixed championship. In 1992. 

Gord received the Scotty Richardson Memorial Award from the Saskatchewan Curling Association for his outstanding contribution to the sport. He is a winner of the Yorkton Sportsman of the Year award. He is a past president of the Yorkton Curling Club; has helped organize provincial and national curling events in Yorkton, and assisted as an instructor and promoter of junior curling. 

For 10 years he was the catcher of the Cardinals senior baseball team, also serving as captain and coach. During that decade, he was voted all-star catcher four times, and was a member of one Southern Saskatchewan League Championship team. 

For nearly three decades, Dorothy Parker was a driving force and gentle, encouraging friend for figure skating in Yorkton. She was involved from the very beginning when the Kinette Club established a figure skating club in 1955. 

In subsequent years, she was involved in every aspect of the sport, from chairing the music committee of the local club to travelling throughout the province in her capacity as a skating judge, which she was for 20 years. 

Because of her work and perseverance, the local club was formed and affiliated with the national association in 1962; because of her persuasion, the Yorkton club came to host the annual Jean Norman Competition in 1974; because of her determination, Yorkton hosted the Western Canadian Divisional Championships in 1980, and that same year, she was instrumental in beginning a precision skating program. The Yorkton club's annual international precision skating competition bears her name. 

She has been a dedicated and loyal supporter of the sport, a builder of great determination, and a benefactor to many young children who otherwise would not have been able to participate in figure skating. 

Dennis Pomeroy's name was synonymous with volleyball in Yorkton. For 18 years he coached junior high school teams, midget and bantam teams, and senior men's teams. But of particular note is his accomplishment in coaching 13 high school boy's teams from the Yorkton Regional High School to provincial titles.

As well, in 1985 he was the assistant coach for the Saskatchewan team that won a gold medal at the Canada Games. His players have gone on to participate in volleyball as members of Canada's national team, and as coaches at the university level. 

He was a provincial official for volleyball for 20 years, having taught both players and officials at clinics. He was a recognized national official, and after serving as the regional officials chairman for 10 years, was appointed the national officials chairman of Volleyball Canada in 1994.

Dennis has also made contributions to curling as a high school coach, the regional representative for SaskCurling, and the Saskatchewan representative to the national junior curling championships. Dennis is a recipient of Yorkton Sportsman of the Year honours. 

Vince Ziglo was closely involved in the establishment of ringette in Yorkton in the 1980s as a major winter sport, and at the same time devoted much of his summer time to the operation and expansion of the junior golf program at Deer Park Golf Course. 

Among his contributions, Vince was an executive member of the Yorkton Men's Recreational Hockey League, and a vice-president of Yorkton Minor Sports which organized pee wee hockey, and coached baseball and softball. 

He was a founding member of Yorkton Ringette, and its president for five years. He was a certified coach and referee in the sport. 

During the golf season, he devoted much time to junior golf as chairman of the Deer Park Junior Club from 1983 to 1991. This involved a wide range of activities, including organizing tournaments, golf clinics, and lessons; driving young golfers to tournaments; and providing encouragement and support for young players.