Canada

Sharyl Ann Milligan

Sharyl Ann Milligan has been a trailblazer in Lawn Bowling for over 50 years; as a national team player, official, coach and administrator. She has performed all of these roles, with much success and achievement, on the Local, Provincial, National, and International levels. Throughout the 1980’s and 90’s, while also serving as the Secretary for the Ladies Provincial Lawn Bowling Association/Ontario Lawn Bowls Association, Sharyl Ann was a fixture in District, Zone, and Provincial Lawn Bowling Competitions in both singles and team events. The Provincial Ladies Champion in 1990, she also was a valued member of the National team during this same time period, representing Canada in the 1st Atlantic Rim Championship in 1993 and capturing the North American Challenge in 1994. SAM, as she is known to family and friends alike, was a member of the 1995 Pacific Rim Bowls team that placed 4th in New Zealand. In addition to her playing commitments, in 1993 she was selected to the National Officiating team for the Mazda Pacific Bowls Championship as well as the 1994 Commonwealth Games, held in Victoria, B.C. In 2002, she was chosen as Canada’s only Technical Official in Lawn Bowling at the Commonwealth Games held in Manchester, England and also began an eight-year tenure on the World Bowls Laws Committee. That same year after retiring from working with youth over 40 years, Sharyl Ann made it her task to revive the Cobourg Lawn Bowling Youth Club which had been shuttered years before. Beginning with the simple credo to give back to a sport that had already given her so much joy, Sharyl Ann soon arranged to go to local schools and arrange indoor orientation in the sport, in the hopes that some of the students would sign up for more at the Club in the summer. In time, this happened and Sharyl Ann introduced a new generation to Lawn Bowling. Thanks to Sharyl Ann’s guidance and coaching the club’s more advanced students have played in a number of open youth tournaments held across the province and throughout Canada and she has personally coached local youth who have medaled on the world stage. One of her pupils, Baylee van Steijn, the 2014 and 2015 Ontario youth bowler of the year, won the Gold Medal at the 2019 Ontario Youth Singles and represented Canada at the 2023 World Outdoor Bowls Championship. That same year, in recognition of her service and dedication to the sport Sharyl Ann was inducted as a ‘Builder’ into Ontario Lawn Bowls Sports Hall of Fame.

Jake Maarse

Seldom had the Netherlands experienced the level of cold that accompanied the winter of 1963. Held against that frigid backdrop was the Eleven City Race (the Elfstedentocht). A long-distance tour skating competition that takes place on natural ice, the race is almost 200 kilometers long; and is the biggest ice-skating tour in the world. The race is held in the province of Friesland in the north of the Netherlands, leading past all eleven historical cities of the province. Held at most just once a year, and only when the natural ice along the entire course is at least 15 centimeters thick, since 1963, the race has only been held three times. The Elfstedentocht of 1963 has passed into history as "The hell of '63" when only 69 of the 10,000 participants were able to finish the race, due to the extremely low temperatures of -18 °C, powder snow and a harsh eastern wind. The 1963 winner, Reinier Paping, who needed 11 hours to finish the race, became a national hero. Conditions were so horrendous that many of the contestants had frostbite, broken limbs, and damaged eyes. As a result, the race would not be contested for the next 22 years. Residing in Holland in 1963 an eight-year-old Jake Maarse was captivated and began skating. Emigrating to Canada in 1976, Jake and his wife eventually settled life near Cobourg as a horticulturist, while also renewing his love of long-distance skating, with Jake competing in various events throughout North America and Europe. In 2001-03, he was the only skater competing in all three distances at the Lake Placid marathons, winning all three (10K, 25K, & 42K) in 2002. In 2004, Jake co-founded “Marathon Skating International”. That same year Jake helped with the establishment of the MSI Race Series with seven events contested throughout North America. In 2011 and 2016 Jake participated in the Alternative Eleven Cities races which were held in the Weissensee, Austria. Ten thousand skaters come together there every year to celebrate long distance skating. In 2018 Jake helped organize Friendship races with about 100 skaters from Canada, the USA and the Netherlands. Since 2018 till present Jake is still an active skater and is involved in fundraising skating events for charity every year through the Rotary club of West Ottawa.

Chris Crooks

In Grade 7, Chris started wrestling and this would have a profound effect on his future life and on the lives of countless others. On the University of Guelph Wrestling team, he was a 4-time All-Canadian, a 2-time CIAU gold medalist in 1983 and 1985, a 2-time CIAU silver medalist in 1982 and 1984, and a CIAU bronze medalist in 1981. He was named team MIP in 1980-81 and team MVP in 1984-85. As a graduating athlete, he was also named the W.F Mitchell Sportsman of the Year in 1984-85. He also helped lead Guelph to 3 consecutive national team titles in 1981, 1982 & 1983, and won the 1981 Canadian Junior Championship where he was MVP. He earned a bronze medal at the Junior Pan American Championships in 1981. Chris won the 1984 Ithaca New York Invitation and was MVP and won the prestigious 1985 Michigan Open. At the Senior Canadian Wrestling Championships in 1987 Chris placed 4^th. In recognition of all his accomplishments in 2007, Chris was inducted into the University of Guelph Sports Hall of Fame. Upon graduating in 1985 he was an Assistant Coach at the University of Guelph and Mount Allison University. Chris began his teaching career in Ajax in 1987 where he coached wrestling, both at school and for the Durham Region Wrestling Club (currently known as “Team Impact”). Chris moved to Northumberland County in 1990 and taught and coached for the next 25 years. While teaching at CDCI West and East Chris coached cross country, wrestling, rugby and track & field where he had numerous students qualify for OFSSA. As a coach at the Kawartha Wrestling Club Chris coached several provincial champions and national medalists. Chris has always been more than a coach mentoring youth and encouraging them to do their best in school and life. Chris “retired” in 2015, and took a teaching job in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. There he started the Cambridge Bay Wrestling Club, a program that used wrestling as a vehicle for growth and social development. The program involved Inuit youth who had experienced trauma through various incidents, including suicide. The goal of the program is to develop discipline, resilience, leadership, teamwork, sportsmanship & improve mental health. The wrestling program produced Nunavut’s first gold medalist at the 2022 Canada Summer Games. Chris is presently President of Wrestling Nunavut and the Cambridge Bay Wrestling Club.

Many nicknames are bestowed, but fewer are earned, and rarer still are the nicknames that become universal. Justin Williams has earned his. Known throughout the hockey world simply as “Mr. Game 7”; a sobriquet he earned by playing in nine game seven playoff games in his NHL career. His team’s sported an 8–1 record in those games. He currently is tied for the most-ever goals in these games with seven, and has the outright record for most game seven points, with fifteen. Born on October 4, 1981 in Cobourg, Williams was drafted in the first round, 28th overall, by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Traded to the Carolina Hurricanes on January 20, 2004, Williams NHL career blossomed. 

That spring he was chosen to represent Canada in the 2004 IIHF  World Championships in Prague and came back with a Gold Medal. Two years later with Carolina he set career highs with 31 goals, 45 assists, and 76 points in the regular season, before adding 18 points in 25 playoff games that spring, helping the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup. 

He made his first appearance in an NHL  All-Star game at the 2007 NHL  All-Star Game in Dallas and also played for Canada in the 2007 IIHF World Championship, in which he won his second gold medal. Traded to the Los Angeles Kings on March 4, 2009 Justin scored 15 points in the 2012 playoffs, helping the Kings win their first Stanley Cup and his second. Williams won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the 2014 playoffs, where he won his third Stanley Cup and second with the Kings. He scored nine goals and 15 assists during the playoffs, including points in all three Game 7 contests the Kings had enroute to the Finals. Returning to the Hurricanes in 2017, on September 13, 2018, Williams was named as the team’s captain. 

On October 8, 2020, he announced his retirement from professional hockey after a 19-season NHL career and in 2024, he was inducted into the Carolina Hurricanes Hall of Fame. Despite all of his success, Justin has never forgotten where he came from, fundraising money for Northumberland Hills Hospital, lending his name and time to local youth hockey camps, and most notably, bringing the Stanley Cup to Cobourg in 2006 and in 2014; and sharing it with our community.

Chances are that if you played a competitive game of basketball in the last 5 decades either locally, provincially, or at the national level Bruce Covert refereed one of your games. After playing both football and basketball at C.D.C.I. East for 5 years, Bruce, a lifelong resident of our community, turned his sporting attentions to the officiating side of the game which has resulted in a distinguished 50-year career. Locally Bruce was one of the founding members of the Cobourg Board of Basketball Officials. Over the years he has not only officiated but served in a variety of executive roles as well. 

Provincially Bruce was member of the OUA Basketball Panel for 30 years; a designated crew chief for 24 of them. He refereed more than 600 OUA league and exhibition games, more than 75 OUA playoff games and 12 Wilson Cup games (OUA Men’s Provincial Championship). 

He has officiated for 40 years in the OCAA and worked 4 OCAA Men’s Provincial Championships. Bruce officiated 10 OFSAA High School Championships. Nationally Bruce officiated 16 Championship tournaments: 14 U Sport Men’s, 1 Premier Men, 1 Premier Women, officiating 4 Gold Medal Games and 2 Consolation Finals. As well from 2010-2016 he had a 6 year stint with the National Basketball League of Canada. Internationally Bruce was an official at the 1985 World Masters Games in Toronto. For 10 years he refereed games involving Canada vs other countries traveling throughout Ontario. 

As well he officiated the Iqaluit Aboriginal Games, the Barbados Invitational, and the Nassau Bombay Shootout. In 2012 he was only the 7th Canadian official to be awarded IAABO Life Membership. In addition to his on-court work Bruce has served as an OUA supervisor, a provincial and national evaluator, and most importantly, as a mentor to fellow officials. 

For 25 years Bruce was the director of all OABO summer camps, training more than 1000 OABO officials, including over 90% of the current OUA and OCAA officials in Ontario, plus countless other officials from outside of the province. Bruce has left an indelible imprint on the sport of Basketball in Ontario. In 2016, Bruce was the recipient of the John A. (Wink) Willox Award from the Canadian Association of Basketball Officials in recognition of “outstanding contributions made to basketball and basketball officiating”. He also received the Ontario Association of Basketball Officials Life Membership. The highest award the association can give.

Art Ravensdale was born on January 5^th, 1911 in Bolton, a town in Greater Manchester in England. At some point, Art made his way to Cobourg, attending the Cobourg Collegiate Institute (CCI), where he was an academic and athletic standout. His name appeared regularly in results from track meets at CCI and other schools. The Ravensdale Trophy was created in his honour and was presented to the top all-round male athlete each year until 1960. In 1929 Art won the 120-yard hurdles at the Canadian Championships in Banff. He won again in 1930 in Toronto, 1931 in Winnipeg, 1932 in Hamilton, 1933 in Fort William and 1934 in Montreal. 

Art's career was almost tragically derailed when he broke his hip while playing rugby at CCI, but with a combination of determination and hard work, he recovered completely. In 1930, in addition to winning the Provincial and Dominion Interscholastic Championships Art competed for Team Canada at the British Empire Games, held in Hamilton. Art graduated CCI in 1929 and took up studies at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Representing Marquette, he ran the 120-yard low hurdles in 13.2 seconds, giving him a share of the World Record. The Milwaukee Journal stated “Ravensdale, a hurdler… set municipal records that will probably stand for years.” He also set a new Canadian record at the Dominion Championships, beating the previous record by 4/10’s of a second in the 120-yard low hurdles. 

In 1932, Art took home first place at the Canadian Track and Field Olympic Trials in the 100-meter hurdles and with that, he went on to represent Canada at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics later that year. In 1934, Art once again represented Canada at the British Empire Games in London, finishing fourth in the 120-yard hurdles. One year later, Art retired after being recognized as the Canadian Hurdling Champion for seven consecutive years (1928 to 1934) and returned to where it all began, CCI, where he coached the next generation of track and field youngsters. Years later, Art received a very special honour from the Town of Cobourg, when Ravensdale Road was named after him. 

In his 1990 induction to the University of Toronto Sports Hall of Fame Larry O’Connor was cited as “the outstanding hurdler in Canada during the 1930’s setting many Canadian records”. “Larry” was born in Toronto on September 22, 1916. When Larry was 13, his father was appointed to the bench as County Court Judge of Northumberland and the family moved to Cobourg where Larry enrolled at Cobourg Collegiate Institute (CCI). Larry’s reputation as an extremely talented athlete preceded him and he immediately began training with fellow Cobourg resident Art Ravensdale – a hurdler already setting records. Larry was chosen for further training at the Ontario Athletic Commission Camp on Lake Couchiching where he distinguished himself by being the first boy to swim to an island one mile away. He competed at track meets in the area. 

After graduating from CCI in 1934 Larry attended the University of Toronto. He joined the Toronto West End YMCA Club and the Varsity Blues Intercollegiate Track and Field Championship Team where he trained alongside Jim Worrall. Both competed at the 1936 Berlin Olympic Summer Games. In the 110m hurdles Olympic final Larry would finish in sixth-place establishing a personal best time of 14.8 seconds. After the Olympics, Larry’s career took off as he went on to set Canadian records in the 110-meter-high hurdles, the 120-yard-high hurdles, and the 220-yard low hurdles. In 1937, at the annual Maple Leaf Gardens Track Meet, Larry set a new world indoor record in the 60-yard-high hurdles. At the 1938 British Empire Games, held in Sydney, Australia, Larry was a gold-winning member of the 4x110 yard relay team and a silver medalist in the 120-yard-high hurdles with a time of 14.2 seconds, the third-fastest in the world that year and a Canadian record that stood until 1963. 

A year later, Larry raced to a time of 14.8 seconds in the 110-metre-high hurdles, setting a new Canadian record that stood until 1964. Larry was awarded the Norton Crow Memorial Trophy (for the Canadian Amateur Athlete of the Year) and the John W. Davies Trophy (for the Outstanding Track Athlete of the Year). He was inducted into the Canadian Amateur Athletic Hall of Fame in 1967, Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1968, University of Toronto Sports Hall of Fame in 1991, and Athletics Ontario Hall of Fame in 2013.

Fran Jay never played a sport, but it would be impossible to tell the story of Baseball and Hockey in our community without her. In our community and beyond, she played a critical role in the growth and acceptance of woman’s hockey. A lifelong resident of Cobourg, Fran married Ron Jay on October 26, 1963. Ron was heavily involved in Baseball locally, and it didn’t take long for Fran to gravitate towards the administrative side of the sport. Joining the executive of the Cobourg Baseball Association, Fran took on countless tasks; organizing tournaments, running fundraisers, housing and feeding visiting umpires, arranging accommodations for visiting teams, working the canteen to name but a few.

 In 1987, after many years of service, she was awarded the “Curtis Products Award”, given to the person judged to have contributed the most to the Cobourg Baseball Association. While attending a Toronto Blue Jays game, Fran and Ron were featured on the stadium Jumbotron in recognition of their contributions to Baseball and were referred to as “Mr. and Mrs. Blue Jay from Cobourg”. Fran and Ron had two children, Brian and Brenda. When Brian played hockey, Brenda always tagged along. When Brenda was old enough to play in Cobourg, she wasn’t allowed a chance to play with the boys and there was no girls team. So began Fran’s legacy as an advocate for girls’ hockey. 

Although she didn’t start girls’ hockey in Cobourg, she spearheaded the creation of the United Counties Hockey League (later known as the Lakeshore League) which provided girls’ teams a chance to play against girls’ teams in other towns. In 1982, Fran became the first ever Girls Governor on the CCHL executive and brought her administrative talents to her newest passion. Later she would be elected a Life Member of the CCHL in recognition of her efforts. Eventually, Fran would join the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association executive as a Regional Director. A board member from 1993 to 1999, she was the team liaison for international teams and organized the 1997 and 1998 Senior AAA Women’s Provincial Championships that were held in Cobourg. She also helped to organize the 1997 Women’s World Championships, held in Kitchener, and was involved with the Canadian Women’s Olympic Hockey Team. 

Growing up in Colborne, Kristen Fawcett came from a sporting family. A provincial “Wintario Grant” awarded to the town of Colborne in 1974 resulted in track and field equipment being available at Colborne Public School. It was a time when interest in the upcoming 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics was very high. This infusion of equipment had an immediate impact on Kristen’s athletic trajectory, and she enjoyed particular success throwing the discus in high school at ENSS. Continuing her studies at York University Kristen made both the varsity volleyball team and the track and field team. In volleyball she was part of 3 OWIAA (OUAA) Championship teams and 2 CIAU (USport) bronze medal winners. 

Upon graduating, she had the opportunity to be a pioneer in two sports. A coach at York saw Kristen throwing discus for fun and asked her to join a group learning to throw the hammer. Kristen would become one of the first women in Canada to train and compete in the hammer throw. She captured the Ontario championship in 1990, represented Canada at the Harry Jerome Track Classic in 1991, and competed at other international events - events progressive enough to include new events for women. In addition to competing, Kristen spent a great deal of time training, teaching full time and writing letters to federal politicians in order to get parity and equality for women in track and field events. After much lobbying and convincing, Hammer Throw officially became a new track and field event for women along with pole vault and triple jump – nationally recognized in 1990 and internationally recognized as Olympic events in 2000. 

Thanks in large part to Kristen’s advocacy, Canada emerged as a leader in officially recognizing new events in track and field for women and was one of the first countries to stage these events at our national championships. Kristen was also a trailblazer in women’s rugby. After playing for the Ajax Wanderers she played second row for the very first Ontario Women’s Rugby team. In its second year of existence, her Ontario Team won bronze at the Canadian Championships. Today women's rugby flourishes across Ontario and the Canadian International Women’s Team is among the top teams in world competition. 

Like many youngsters of his generation that grew up in Cobourg and the surrounding area, sports formed an important part of Jim Bradford’s childhood. And like many he didn’t limit his activities to one sport as he participated and excelled in Softball, Baseball, Hockey, Skiing, Football, Volleyball, Cross-Country Running and Basketball. Amongst his playing accomplishments on the diamond, Jim was a valued member of the 1962 Legion Bantam Ontario Championship Softball Team, the Winchester Western Jr. Provincial Championship Team’s in 1963 and 1964, and the Cold Springs Cats All-Ontario Championship squad in 1975 and 1976. 

It was thanks to the inspiration (and a drive to a Basketball officiating clinic) from Jerry Lawless, the Physical Education Head at the Cobourg West Collegiate, that Jim took an alternate path. Not only would he officiate the sport for many years, but would help found the South Kawartha Basketball Association. It was on the diamond where Jim achieved his greatest success as an umpire. In 1968, Jim began his umpiring career, mainly working local games and tournaments. Over the next three-plus decades, Jim would earn a reputation as the top umpire in our area and without question, the most accredited. 

Jim would work the Pan Am Games in Indianapolis, the Canada Senior Men’s Fast Pitch Championships in Fredericton, New Brunswick, the National Midget Boys Fastball Championships in Napanee; the Women’s World’s in Newfoundland, and numerous provincial championships, while also acting as an umpiring supervisor in various national competitions. Jim founded the South-Central Umpires Association and served for many years as the Vice-President of the Cobourg Men’s Softball League. Over his career Jim convened countless umpiring clinics, sharing his wisdom and experience with the next generation of arbiters. 

In 2000, Jim became the first-ever umpire in Canada to receive his Level 5 status in both softball disciplines: Fast-Pitch and Slow-Pitch. Three years later, Jim was elected into the Canadian Amateur Softball Association Hall of Fame as well as into the Softball Ontario Hall of Fame.