Year Inducted: 1996
Home Town: Oshawa
More about Frank Edward Ball:
A lifelong resident of Oshawa, Frank excelled in the sport of cycling. As a member of the Victor Cycle Club, Frank won gold, silver and bronze medals in many Provincial, Canadian and International championships and competitions from 1935 until he retired in 1953.
His active sporting career was interrupted by six years of service in the R.C.A.F. While representing Canada at the Caribbean Olympics in Georgetown, British Guiana, Frank received a special award from the Canadian Wheelman's Association for highest point total in all races during the 1949 season.
Frank was a member of the selection team that chose cyclists for the 1956 Olympic Games as well as the British Empire Games in 1958. He was elected president of the Dominion Racing Board in 1958 and is a Life Member of the Canadian Cycling Association.
His active participation as a player-builder in the sport of cycling ensures Frank a place in Oshawa's sporting history.
Year Inducted: 2008
Home Town: Oshawa
More about Frank Jay:
Frank was born in 1950 in Oshawa and played in the Oshawa Minor Hockey system throughout his youth. He was the goal keeper on Oshawa's 1966-67 All-Ontario Midget AAA championship team.
Frank turned his hockey efforts to scouting for the St. Catharines Black Hawks in 1973, and has since gained a reputation as one of the most astute Amateur scouts in his pursuit of Major Junior and College talent for National Hockey League Teams (NHL). Frank became the Oshawa Generals chief scout in 1976 and remained with the team for many years. During this tenure, the Generals led the Canadian Hockey League in NHL draft choices. Frank also held the title of General Manager when the Generals won the Memorial Cup in 1990. Throughout his Ontario Hockey League scouting career, which ended with the Erie Otters, he was associated with five championship teams. Frank has spent twenty-three years as a scout for NHL teams, including eleven with the New Jersey Devils and eight and a half with the Ottawa Senators as their Director of Amateur Scouting. He is presently scouting for the Montreal Canadiens. Many of his player selections went on to star in the NHL.
Frank's lengthy and highly successful career in hockey makes him a distinguished Builder and honoured addition to the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame.
Year Inducted: 2011
Birth Date: November 29, 1940
Home Town: Oshawa
More about Frank Sobil:
Frank was born in Oshawa on November 29, 1940. He was the first of four children for Frank and Goldie Sobil. His brothers and sisters are Larry, Lorna and Diane. In 1965 Frank married Marianne and had two children, Michael and Tracey.
While attending school in Clearwater, Florida, Frank took up tenpin bowling. Upon returning to Oshawa, George Brabin enticed him to bowl in the Oshawa Classic League. In a span of 25 years, Frank was high average in the League four times and second nine times. In 1969, Frank teamed up with Herman Prakken to win the Ontario Championships 10-pin doubles events. In 1974 he won the Provincial All-Star event held in Oshawa. Then, in 1997 Frank qualified to be a member of Team Canada to bowl in the Tournament of Americas. In this Tournament, he won two silvers and two bronze medals. Franks best average was in 1998/99 when he averaged 209.
Frank has two perfect games in 10-pin and one hole-in-one in golf at Pebblestone Golf Course.
Franks other sport was soccer where he became a builder. He participated in the Darlington Soccer League winning Championships in both the Junior and Senior divisions while playing for Zion (Mitchells Corners). In 1975, Frank helped start up the Oshawa Kicks Soccer Club and became President of the Club from 1979 to 2006 and the Oshawa Soccer Council, 1994-2006. During this time, the Kicks won five Provincial Championships. The Kicks renamed their Annual Spring Tournament to The Frank Sobil Spring Classic and is now one of the biggest Tournaments in Ontario. In 2007, Frank was honoured with receiving the first Durham Region Soccer, Volunteer Recognition Award.
Year Inducted: 2019
Home Town: Oshawa
More about Fred Greenwood:
Fred Greenwood was a seven-time National Champion in Box Lacrosse and World Field Lacrosse Champion in 1978. Fred started his athletic career in Oshawa playing minor fastball, hockey and lacrosse. He spent a year as ball boy with the Oshawa Green Gaels junior lacrosse team in 1963 before moving on to win four Jr. A Minto Cup national titles as a player from 1965 to 1968. Rather than accept an offer to play field lacrosse at Cornell University in the United States, Fred earned an Honours Degree in Physical and Health Education at the University of Western Ontario, where he also played rugby for four years. While at Western, he was a pick-up for the Windsor Warlocks lacrosse team and was named the series MVP in leading the team to a Sr. B national championship in 1970. He also served as a coach with the Western women’s varsity hockey team and took the team to the provincial finals in 1973. Upon graduation, Fred was invited to play for the New Westminster Salmonbellies senior lacrosse team, where he scored 91 goals and 175 points in 80 games over three seasons and won two Mann Cup national championships. He was drafted by the Quebec Cariboo in 1974, but rather than play professional lacrosse, he started his teaching career, where he would coach a wide variety of sports over 30 years. In 1978, Fred was selected to play for Canada at the world field lacrosse championships, where he played defence and midfield and helped the team pull off a major upset over the United States in the gold medal game. He retired from active lacrosse after helping the Durham Knights to an Ontario final in 1979, when he won the province’s top defensive award, and has since coached tennis and officiated volleyball and field lacrosse.
Year Inducted: 2009
Birth Date: January 29, 1934
Home Town: Oshawa
More about Fred Whalley:
In 1951, Fred was a player with the Central Collegiate basketball team after which he began a twenty-five (25) year involvement in Oshawa sports. In 1955 when he became Manager and Coach for the Ontario Junior A basketball team and served as President of the Oshawa Industrial Basketball League as well as playing, coaching and managing basketball teams till 1962. During those years two highlights were serving as president and manager of the Ontario Intermediate B Basketball Championship team (Oshawa Shopping Centre All-stars) in 1959 and coaching and managing the Oshawa Hawks basketball team to the Ontario Intermediate A crown in 1962. Switching over to lacrosse a year later, Fred became manager of the Oshawa Green Gaels Junior A club teams that won the Canadian Junior Championship Minto Cup for four years from 1963 to 1966 and during that time he also coached the 1963 Green Gaels for four games when coach Jim Bishop was ill, and in 1964 he was elected to the Ontario Lacrosse Association executive and took over the position of Vice-President. In 1967 he became the General Manager and Coach of the Senior A Brooklin Redmen who won the Eastern Canadian title following that up as finalists in the Mann Cup for the Canadian Senior A championship. Taking on the job as the general manager and coach of the Montreal Canadiens professional lacrosse team in the National Lacrosse Association in 1968, he also served on the executives of the Ontario and Canadian associations in different capacities. After his pro lacrosse ventures came to an end, Fred turned to Minor Lacrosse and served on their executives in 1969 and 1970.
Year Inducted: 1999
Home Town: Oshawa
More about Frederick Harding:
Fred was born in Oshawa and received his education at Centre Street Public School and O.C.V.I. He began his amateur boxing career in 1944 and continued to 1949. During this time Fred had 62 bouts and won 49 of them.
To gain experience and conditioning, Fred was forced to fight out of his division because there were so few boxers in the bantamweight class. One of his most memorable bouts was when he fought the Featherweight Champion of Manitoba at Maple Leaf Gardens and won with his famous left hook.
Fred, who was nicknamed 'Baby Face', was rated as one of Canada's best amateur and bantamweight boxers. His name appeared on boxing cards in main and semi events across Ontario and Quebec, including Maple Leaf Gardens and Massey Hall in Toronto.
Fred earned the following achievements - 1948 Ontario Bantamweight Champion; 1948 - Canadian Olympic Trials Finalist (Bantam); 1949 - Southern Ontario Bantamweight Champion; and 1949 - British Empire Games Finalist (Bantam).
Year Inducted: 2002
More about Frederick Keith Etcher:
Beginning in 1943, Fred played through the Oshawa Minor Hockey system before joining and winning a Junior B Championship and a league scoring title in 1951. After two seasons with the Oshawa Generals, Fred helped the Oshawa 'Truckmen' to an Ontario Senior B championship, then joined the Whitby Dunlops. From 1955 to 1961, Fred made significant contributions to one Ontario Senior B title, two Canadian Senior A championships (Allen Cup), and one World Championship - all with Whitby.
In 1960, Fred was selected to play for Kitchener, Waterloo, who represented Canada in the Winter Olympics. The Team won the Silver Medal and Fred won the scoring championship with 21 points in 7 games. In so doing, he established Olympic scoring records, some of which still stand.
In both baseball and fastball, Fred was known as an excellent hitter and a solid infielder. He on-field talent contributed to an Intermediate title in 1953 and a Toronto League Championship in 1954. From 1958 to 1962, Fred was a .300 hitter while playing for Oshawa Tony's in the Toronto Beaches League.
Year Inducted: 2015
Home Town: Oshawa
More about Gaylord Powless:
In most any centre when lacrosse became a discussion, in most every case the attention would turn to Gaylord Powless, considered one of the best to ever hold a stick. While a resident in Six Nations, highly-touted lacrosse coach Jim Bishop came calling in 1964 and coaxed this natural phenom to load up the suitcase and play junior with the Oshawa Green Gaels.The transition to a competitive junior level was a natural for Powless, who helped the Gaels to Canadian Minto Cup titles from 1964 to 1967. Indeed, he was recipient of the Jim McConaghy Memorial Trophy as the Minot Cup's most valuable player in both 1964 and 1967. His contribution and respect gained over the years translated to Powless receiving the Commemorative Medal for the 125th anniversary of Canada's Confederation in 1992.He paid his dues and then some, dating back to his earlier days at Six Nations when Powless won the Tom Longboat Award as the First Nations athlete of Canada when he was only 17 years of age. Powless, following junior, turned his lacrosse attention to professional and senior levels and was later recognized during his induction to the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1990 and becoming one of the first inductees into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame at St. Catharines in 1996.
Year Inducted: 2006
Home Town: Oshawa
More about George Brabin:
George Brabin, a lifelong resident of Oshawa, was truly an all-round athlete who excelled in four sports:
Baseball
1951 - Peterborough Petes - Senior A Viaduct League, league leading .420 batting average
1952 - Signed professional contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers - played for Cocoa Indians of the Florida State League
1953 - Oshawa McCallum Transporters; All Ontario Champions
1955 - Whitby Larry B.A.'s; All Ontario Champions
2000 - Selected to Oshawa's Baseball Team of the 1950's & the Century as a left fielder
Softball
1962 - Oshawa Pic-O-Mats; All Ontario Champions
1963 - Oshawa Bad Boys; All Ontario Champions
Hockey
1947 - St. Catharines Lions; All Ontario Juvenile Champions (borrowed from Oshawa's Beaton's Dairy Team)
1948 to 1955 - Played Junior B in Oshawa, Junior A in Winnipeg, Senior B in Peterborough and Intermediate in Bowmanville
Bowling
1968 - Ontario Ten Pin Singles Champion - Fifth at Canadian Championship
1988 - Inducted into Oshawa & District Ten Pin Bowling Hall of Fame
2000 - 'Participation Award' from American Bowling Congress, awarded for bowling in forty national tournaments
After his playing days, George coached the Tony's Fastball Club. He was Treasurer of the Oshawa Legionaires Junior Hockey Team and served on the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame Selection Committee. With six All Ontario Championships to his credit, George is a very worthy inductee into the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame.
Year Inducted: 1986
Home Town: Oshawa
More about George Easton:
George Easton, or “Geordie” as he was known in the Oshawa sporting community, was born in the little Scottish town of Broxburn – a few miles from Edinburgh on February 18, 1895. A Scottish Eastern Division boxing champion in the 118-pound class, Easton arrived in Canada in 1928. “Geordie” travelled to Oshawa that year to play soccer for the Oshawa General Motors team. Soon, however, his talents were recognized, and Easton became the most sought-after trainer in the city. A prominent member of Oshawa’s sports community for over 50 years, the World War I veteran served as a trainer for the Oshawa Generals hockey club, the Colts and Tony’s in softball and numerous other hockey, softball, football and soccer teams. A legend in Oshawa, Easton was honoured by the City of Oshawa in 1970 for his “50 years of unselfish and dedicated service” to the City’s sports fraternity. A park, located at the northeast corner of Adelaide Avenue and Harmony Road, is named in his honour.
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