2025 Inductees

Scott Borys played club and high school volleyball in Yorkton, and was already refereeing in 1981 while still in high school. But over the course of almost 45 years while active as a referee, he has also taken on organizational roles within provincial and national volleyball organizations.

He has been the Saskatchewan Regional Officials Chairperson for seven years, the Level III and IV Coordinator for more than 10 years, was a Referee Committee member from 1985 to 2022 and a Referee Committee Executive Member for 22 of those years.

Nationally, Scott was the Volleyball Canada National Referee Chairperson from 2012 to 2020, and returned to that role in September of 2023. He has been the Volleyball Canada Chair and member of the Level IV Promotions Committee since 2009; the Referee Supervisor, Mentor, Assignor and Clinician from the 1990s to the present; and was the Referee Supervisor at 18 college or university national championships.

As an active national referee and then as an international referee Scott travelled to most every province in Canada officiating many national age class, senior and university championships.

In 2007 he became only the second person from Saskatchewan to attain accreditation as an international volleyball referee, following in the footsteps of Don Pfeifer 31 years after Don attained that level.

Scott has refereed international tournaments, including the North, Central America and Caribbean Volleyball Confederation (NORCECA) Olympic qualification tournament in California. He has been the head referee at matches in the USA involving the Olympic medal winning USA men's volleyball team.

He is now retired from being an active referee, but his work with volleyball’s ruling bodies in Saskatchewan and Canada continues. As the Volleyball Canada national referee chair, he is the third one from Yorkton to take that role, following Don Pfeifer and Dennis Pomeroy. Quite an achievement for all three of those, and for our city. But we were, after all, the volleyball hotbed of Canada back in those days, in the 1980s.

Scott and his family live and work in Regina, but Scott has not forgotten his Yorkton roots. He has been known to say that the mentorship he received locally was one of the determining factors that led him to pursue a career in refereeing and administration of the sport after his playing days.

Scott received the Volleyball Canada Referee Lifetime Membership award in 2020, and was inducted into the Volleyball Saskatchewan Hall of Fame last year. As was stated when he was inducted provincially, “He isn’t one to look for recognition or accolades, he just gets the job done.”

Before Harvey was the owner/manager of Stebner Transport in Yorkton, he was in the navy for five years and was a Winnipeg police plain clothes detective. He moved back to the Yorkton area in 1972 becoming Chief of Police in Sturgis, and then running Stebner Transport in Yorkton. Harvey became active in the Yorkton sports community soon after his arrival back to Yorkton, having seen the need for fatherly involvement in sports, but moreso community involvement.

In 1972 Harvey was the prop chairman for the Yorkton Figure Skating Club and built all of the props for the winter skating carnival including Captain Hook’s pirate ship Jolly Roger.

1970-1975: coach for his children’s hockey and baseball teams.

1975-1976: joined the executive for the Yorkton Terriers serving as their finance chairman.

1976-1977: president of the Yorkton Terriers.

1977-1978: again president of the Yorkton Terriers making him the first two-term president. He was on the executive of the team until 1980.

1977: involved in organizing and coaching girl’s hockey. In those days at the start of girl’s hockey, the girls wore their figure skating skates as they had not yet developed hockey skates for girls.

1981-1982: one of the main drivers behind the organization of the Max Volleyball Club. The club was very successful, eventually winning a gold medal at the Canada Winter Games in Cape Breton in 1987.

1985-1986: on the Saskatchewan Winter Games committee hosting the games in Yorkton, as director of sports. He was responsible for obtaining venues and equipment and scheduling for all 15 sports.

1986: named Yorkton Sportsman of the Year.

1987: Harvey and his wife Joyce were given the Yorkton Regional High School Colonel Raider Award for high school sports involvement.

1987: elected to SaskSport Board of Directors for a three-year term.

1988-1989: elected vice president of Sask Sport responsible for Sask Lotteries.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s Harvey also sponsored a senior men’s volleyball team known as the Stebner Transport Buds. This team was comprised of players from Yorkton and area. Many of them had played university level volleyball and it was a very competitive team in Saskatchewan in senior men’s volleyball. The Buds participated in the Western Canadian finals and always was one of the top teams if not the top team in Saskatchewan for a number of years.

One of the players recalled, "As a young person at the time, I did not understand why Harvey would have supported a group of adult males playing volleyball but then realized that it was his commitment to sports. As his children aged, they played competitive volleyball both in Yorkton and at university and continued on playing with the Stebner Transport Buds and other related senior men’s teams in Yorkton. Harvey was a one-of-a-kind fellow, always supportive of young athletes, always interested in how the team was doing and considered a mentor by many of the players for his work ethic and dedication.”

By the end of the 1980s Harvey had earned retirement from his volunteer roles. After that Harvey’s role was as a supporter and fan of his grandchildren’s sporting endeavors.  He could often be seen at WHL hockey games and women’s fastball tournaments throughout Saskatchewan and Alberta.

If you have ever wandered into the curling rink during a hockey game or another event at the Gallagher Centre, chances are you have seen Neil out on the ice, preparing the sheets for the next set of curlers to enjoy. He is meticulous with his scraper and pebbles to perfection. Neil has been, and I quote, the most important person in the Yorkton Curling World for most of his career at the Yorkton Curling Club.

Neil started curling when he was 8 years old on the natural ice at the Tonkin Curling Club. His first love as a young man, was curling. Alongside Ed Adam, his brother David, and Ron Adam they took in bonspiels across the area, curling in the “big” rinks of Yorkton, Melville, Canora and Kamsack and grassroot spiels in Stornaway, Rhein, Willowbrook, Saltcoats and Chatsworth. Neil’s love for the game continued to grow over the years and his passion shines through, still today. 

Neil‘s passion for the game led him to a “winter” career of ice-making. From 1988-1998, he was the ice-maker for the Tonkin Curling Club and started in Yorkton in 1999. He continues to perfect his craft and his efforts have led to him making ice for several huge events!

Neil has been instrumental to the success of many men’s and women’s provincial and regional play-down events, numerous north and south provincial playdowns, district and regional playdowns for the SHSAA High school curling championships and many commercial provincial championships including RCMP, Legion, SaskPower, Sasktel, and the list goes on. 

His success led to opportunities to make ice for many national level competitions, as well. These events required ice in both the curling rink and in the arena. From 2000 to 2017 the Painted Hand Casino held a curling tour bringing in some of the best competitive teams from across Canada. And in 2015, 2018 and 2020, Yorkton hosted a Grand Slam of Curling event. In front of sold-out crowds for almost every draw, some of the best teams in the world would complete right here in Yorkton for the chance to raise that trophy. Neil and the ice-making crew had the huge responsibility of creating the perfect ice for the world-class tournaments. It is a huge task to monitor the crowd and temperatures, keep the ice clean, rocks sharp, and curlers happy. And Neil always did it with a smile on his face.

For the last 10 years, Neil’s title has been Manager of the Yorkton Curling Club, fulfilling duties of janitor, book-keeper, on ice arbiter, coach, instructor, scheduler, bartender, and the local PR representative. He is dedicated to the sport, and his efforts to make curling cool again with the youth in our areas is beyond commendable. It didn’t matter what skill level a child came with, Neil made it fun and engaging for them all. His patience, kindness, and encouragement kept those kids coming back week-after-week.