Year Inducted: 2007
Home Town: Montreal
More about John Kitchen:
Born in Montreal, Quebec in 1920 John was at an early age when his family moved to Oshawa. John excelled in baseball, softball and hockey where he was a member of many championship teams at the Juvenile, Junior and Senior levels. In 1938-39 he was a member of the Oshawa Junior B's that won the Eastern Ontario Championship and were Ontario Hockey League Provincial finalists. From 1941 to 1945 John served in the Canadian Army and upon his return played for the Ontario General Motors Colts in the Toronto Beaches Major Fastball League, capturing the league title in 1946 while playing third base and leading the league with a batting average of .423. In 1948 and 1950, he played for the Toronto People's Credit Jewelers and won Canadian Championships both years plus winning two more league batting titles with .416 averages. In 1949 and 1951, John played for the Oshawa Merchants who captured Inter-county League Pennants, and after the 1951 season, he retired from baseball. In 1953 he joined the Oshawa Curling Club where he was a successful competitive curler and active member for over 50 years. Being a superb athlete, a dedicated team player, and a lifelong sportsman, John Kitchen has rightfully earned his place in the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame.
Year Inducted: 2003
Home Town: St. Catharines
More about John Lewis Armstrong:
Born and raised in Toronto, Jack (Army) Armstrong came to Oshawa in 1952 to play for the Oshawa Generals. In 1953, he moved to St. Catharines and helped the Tee Pees win the 1954 Memorial Cup. Jack returned to Oshawa and played hockey for the Whitby Dunlops in their 1955 Allen Cub team.
An outstanding fastball player, Jack played 2nd base for both Oshawa Tony's and the all Ontario Intermediate A Championship Bad Boys.
After his playing career, Jack went right into coaching positions where he achieved even further success. As a coach, he won Ontario Provincial Championships with the Oshawa Midget A hockey team, with the Pam International softball team, and with the Oshawa Tony's Senior A fastball team.
Jack Armstrong passed away suddenly on March 8, 1976 in his 43rd year. He had been involved in sports all his life and had become a very integral part of the Oshawa Sporting Community. Jack will long be remembered for his outstanding achievements, both as a Player and a Coach.
Year Inducted: 1999
Home Town: North York
More about John Part:
John was born in North York in 1966 and graduated from Upper Canada College. John moved to Oshawa in 1992. It was in 1989 at the Motor City Open that he played his first dart tournament. Since then he has played in the British Isles, Scandinavia, Europe, Australia and the U.S.A. John has 66 Singles titles, 4 Pairs titles and 2 Mixed Pairs titles, as well as 29 Cricket Singles titles.
Career highlights include being the first non-Briton to win the Embassy World Professional Championship in 1994; World Pairs Championship (with Carl Mercer) in 1993; World Cup International Open Champion in 1995; Ontario Champion 1992, 1993, 1995 and 1998; Canadian Singles Champion 1995; Canadian Pairs Champion (with Doug Scanlon) 1994, 1995 and (with John Verwey) 1996; Pacific Cup Pairs Champion (with Carl Mercer) 1994; Pacific Cup Mixed Pairs Champion (with Patricia Farrell) 1994; Pacific Cup Mixed Pairs Champion (with Patricia Farrell) 1994; and Canadian Mixed Pairs Champion (with Audra Veres) 1995.
Year Inducted: 1986
Home Town: Oshawa
More about John Thomas Ryan:
John became the first Oshawa native to play baseball in the International League, the highest calibre of baseball outside the major leagues, when he joined Syracuse in 1964. He later played for Rochester and Toronto of the International circuit. Ryan won a Silver Glove Award in 1967 as the best fielding third baseman in the league. He also won Toronto's MVP award that season. Ryan turned professional in 1959 with the Detroit Tigers, and was an all-star while playing minor league ball in Decatur, Illinois; Duluth, Minnesota and Knoxville, Tennessee. He also won the TOPPS all-star third baseman award for the International League, American Association and Pacific Coast League in 1967. Ryan, who graduated from Oshawa Collegiate, played for the 1955 Ontario champion Oshawa Legion Midgets and the 1957 Ontario Juvenile A Champion McCallum Transporters. He attended Michigan State University earning Bachelor of Arts and Masters Degrees, and later joined the University of Jacksonville as a coach.
Year Inducted: 1989
Home Town: Cobalt
More about Joseph Francis (Jo Jo) Graboski:
Jo Jo's career saw him play on several Allan Cup Championship teams - Brockville in 1935-36, Kirkland Lake in 1939-40, and Quebec City in 1941-42. He was an English League Champion with Wembly in 1936-37, an American League Champion with Hershey in 1937-38, and a Quebec League Champion in 1938-39 with Valleyfield.
Jo Jo's "Mike's Place" team won the Ontario Junior Softball Championship in 1931. He was truly a talented athlete deserving the recognition he received.
Year Inducted: 2001
Home Town: Oshawa
More about Joseph Matthew Piontek:
Born in Oshawa, Joseph (Oscar) Piontek had a most outstanding 30-year softball career and hockey career, as both a player and player/coach.
Joe achieved many individual awards with a number of local softball and hockey teams. In addition, he made a major contribution to softball in Oshawa as an excellent teacher and leader.
Joe experienced two different 5-year time spans of continuous success in the 50's and 60's. During those periods, his teams won 10 overall provincial OASA championships at the senior A and B level. His teams represented the City of Oshawa with distinction across the Province of Ontario and the United States. He was a member of the 1956 Tony's Fastball Team that finished third at the world championships in New Bedford, Illinois.
Jim Piontek is truly an Oshawa softball hall of famer.
Year Inducted: 2023
Home Town: Oshawa
More about Karen Nelson Walters:
Karen Nelson Walters, a former Oshawa resident, represented the city at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.Born in Jamaica, Karen grew up in Oshawa and began a remarkable track and field career at Grandview Public School and Donevan Collegiate. A seven-time gold medalist at the OFSAA provincial championships in hurdles and long jump, she led Donevan to the overall girls’ championship in 1982 and the senior girls’ team title in 1983. Karen still holds many regional records from LOSSA, COSSA and OFSAA competitions.Karen was a six-time Canadian senior national champion in long jump and 100-metre hurdles, and the Canada Games national champion in both events. She placed fourth at the 1982 Commonwealth Games in the 100-metre hurdles and was a finalist in long jump before representing Canada at the 1984 Olympic Games in the hurdles.As a student at the University of Texas-Austin, she became a five-time NCAA all-American and was named to the Southwest Conference all-decade team for the 1980s. She was the recipient of the University of Texas team MVP award in 1987.
Year Inducted: 2019
Home Town: Oshawa
More about Ken Babcock:
Ken Babcock has been the athletic director at Durham College since 1995, and is the current president of Baseball Oshawa. In his leading role at Durham College, Ken has helped lead Durham Lords sports teams to an astonishing 42 provincial gold medals and 105 medals overall in the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) and an additional five gold and 22 overall medals in the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA). On top of those duties, Ken also served as athletic director for the first eight years of existence at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), where he oversaw the Ridgebacks’ first Ontario University Athletics (OUA) medal. A tireless worker, Ken has served a variety of roles on the executive of the OCAA, including president from 2001 to 2003, founded the Canadian Intercollegiate Baseball Association (CIBA) in 1994, created the Durham College Sports Hall of Fame in 1997, helped launch the OCAA Hall of Fame in 2003, and has drawn multiple provincial and national championship tournaments to Oshawa. He planned, developed and launched the birth of the UOIT varsity athletics program in 2003, and has been a driving force behind construction of athletic facilities on campus, which not only serve the students but also the wider community. A native of Brockville, Ont., and father of two, Ken has also given back to the Oshawa community beyond the campus, primarily through Baseball Oshawa, where he has coached since 2005 and served as president since 2012. He was a member of the organizing committee for the 2000 Ontario Summer Games, 2008 Ontario Special Olympics Spring Games, as well as the baseball portion of the 2015 Toronto Pan-Am Games.
Year Inducted: 2018
Home Town: Oshawa
More about Kevin Dillon:
A life-long Oshawa resident who excelled first as an athlete and then as a coach for nearly 30 years at his alma mater, Paul Dwyer High School. As a student at Dwyer, in 1977, he was the Ontario Juvenile 800 and 1,500-meter champion and set an Ontario record in the 2,000-Metre Steeplechase at the Canada Summer Games. The following year he won the Indoor 1,500 at the Ontario Championships and won both the 800 and 1,500 at the 1978 OFSAA championships.He represented Canada at the 1978 World Cross Country Championships in Scotland, where he finished eighth and helped the Canadian Junior team win the silver medal. He was also a bronze medalist at the Commonwealth Games trials and the Canadian Junior 1,500-metre champion.Following high school, Kevin accepted a scholarship to Villanova University in Philadelphia. There, Kevin made the Dean's List several times, competed at five NCAA championships in cross country and track, was part of an indoor world record two-mile relay team and a bronze medalist at the 1980 Big East Cross-Country Championship.In 1981, Kevin won the Canada Games 3,000-metre steeplechase in record time. At the 1983 Ontario Track and Field Championships he won the 1,500-metre race.A business, math and physical education teacher at Dwyer from 1986 until retirement in 2015, Kevin mentored and coached numerous athletes who excelled in track and field, and cross country and went on to bigger and better things. Most notably, Matt Hughes, NCAA and Pan-Am champion, Olympic finalist and Canadian record holder in the 3,000-meter steeplechase.Kevin also convened the LOSSA track and field championships for 16 years and played key roles at several other high school events, including bringing the OFSAA championships to Oshawa in 1993 and 2015.For his many accomplishments as an athlete and a builder, Kevin Dillon is an excellent addition to the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame.
Year Inducted: 1998
Home Town: Oshawa
More about Kevin William McClelland:
Kevin, born and raised in Oshawa, played in the Oshawa Minor system from 1971 to 1979. From 1979 to 1982 he continued his career with Niagara Falls of the OHL. Kevin's NHL career began in 1981 when he was drafted by the Hartford Whalers and continued with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Edmonton Oilers and Detroit Red Wings. His playing career ended in 1993 with the AHL St. John's Maple Leafs because of a serious knee injury. Kevin's illustrious career includes being named an OHL Molson Cup winner, four Campbell Cup Division titles, four Stanley Cups and a Player's Choice award for community involvement with the St. John's Maple Leafs. Kevin served four years as honorary chairman of Edmonton's Cancer Society and participates in charitable events in aid of the C.N.I.B., Children's Wish, Muscular Dystrophy and the Cancer Society. Today Kevin resides in Barrie with his wife and three sons where he serves as the assistant coach of the OHL Barrie Colts.
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