The Sault Ste. Marie Sports Hall of Game honoured its three newest members on Thursday night at city hall.
In the builder category, former Sault Star sports writer and editor Alex Mitchell was honoured posthumously.
Mitchell, who died in March 2016 after a lengthy battle with cancer, spent over 30 years at the Star and was a member of Sault Ste. Marie’s Hockey Hall of Fame Committee.
“It’s well deserved. I’m really happy that he was nominated and inducted,” Mitchell’s wife Royanne, who spoke at the ceremony on Thursday evening, said. “He was lucky to work at a time when they had some creative licence and could fill three to five pages of local sports. He loved to get an interesting story, something other than just the score.”
Also inducted were Brian Mealey (Alpine Skiing – Coach/Builder) and Mike Lebel (Baseball – Coach/Builder).
“It’s quite an emotional thing for me,” Mealey said. “I started in 1967 and coached for so many years and there were some long, hard days. There were many times where it was four times a week and working a day job. To come in here now and be recognized is quite an emotional thing.”
Mealey spent 46 years coaching alpine skiing locally and co-founded the Soo Ski Runners, an organization he coached from 1967 to 2012. He has coached numerous successful skiers including Brigette Acton, Steve Roch, John Mealey, Lauren and Amy Lattimer, Bob Real and Mac and B.J. Marcoux. He also served as a mentor to national coaches such as Kip Harrington, who was the World Cup Tech Team head coach.
“I always wanted our team to represent northern Ontario, Sault Ste. Marie and Searchmont and the surrounding area and I wanted us to be proud of where we came from, but always be understated,” Mealey said. “I wanted us to not be recognized until we performed.”
Lebel was a mainstay in local baseball, which included 25 years as the president of Soo Minor Baseball. In addition to his time as the Soo Minor president, Lebel coached in the Soo Black Sox program as helped teams to six provincial championships and four finalists in various levels from mosquito to junior.
“It’s something pretty special and something that I wasn’t expecting,” Lebel said. “I never started out looking for these types of accolades. It’s something that evolved over the years.”
Lebel credited the many players and coaches he has worked with over the years in helping him get to the point he did.
In speaking of the players he coached over the years, Lebel said they’re all special in different ways.
“They’re all special to me in one way or another,” Lebel said. “Some were successful in baseball and able to move on to college and a few were fortunate enough to get drafted or play pro ball for a little while. Others became good citizens like doctors, lawyers and teachers. One of the greatest pleasures is to meet these people when they’re adults. They remember the good times and I remember the good times.”