Plenty of local ties among hall of fame’s inductees

Innisfail native and water skiing legend Kreg Llewellyn began competitive water skiing in the late 1970s. In 1979 he won his first Provincial Junior Boys Overall Title and set his first Canadian Junior Boys Trick Record.

In 1984, he became an integral part of the Canadian National Water Ski Team, and for the next 20 years competed in the Overall events of Slalom, Trick and Jump. Llewellyn held 24 Canadian Records and won seven individual World Championship medals, three Gold Team World Championship Medals, and 18 Pan American medals.

He also helped design and test the first ever Skurfer, which was a precursor to the evolution of wakeboarding.

Llewellyn won the first ever World Wakeboard Championships in Hawaii.

“The team elements are the ones I feel the most satisfaction when I look back. Competing for Canada, winning a world championship with a team, those are pretty awesome,” he said while acknowledging water skiing is largely an individual sport.

His brother Jaret Llewellyn was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 1994.

Kreg is proud to see his sport see some time in the spotlight.

“Water skiing compared to hockey is not quite the same level,” he admitted. “It’s a pretty amazing time to be a water-skier right now and to even go out and watch it, it’s the best time to start.”

Lyndon Rush, who grew up in Humboldt, Saskatchewan and now calls Sylvan Lake home, was honoured Friday for his stellar career in bobsleigh.

“Another one of those strokes of luck. My folks moved from Saskatchewan to Sylvan Lake while I was in University. I got recruited to do bobsleigh in Calgary. My family was already in Alberta, it seemed like a good fit,” he recalled.

Rush was originally recruited to be a bobsled brakeman, but a hamstring injury at training camp led him to instead train as a driver. In 2009-10, he became the new leader of the Canadian men’s team and captured his first World Cup gold medals in the two-man and four-man events.

He made his Olympic debut at Vancouver in 2010 and piloted his four-man crew to a bronze medal. Rush reached the podium at the 2012 World Championships where he raced to a second place finish.

He claimed his first World Cup Title when he took top spot in the overall two-man standings in 2012-13.

Rush retired from competition in 2014 after competing at the Sochi Olympics and is now a coach.

“It makes it sort of humbling for me,” the 38-year-old said of his hall of fame honour. “You hear these older guys who have been putting in so much effort for so long and I think back to my journey and how many unsung (people) there are..”

George Stothart, who grew up in Lacombe and went on to play a key role in the growth of deaf sport in the province, was honoured with this year’s Achievement Award. Stothart was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but fought hard to make sure he was on hand for Friday’s induction banquet.

Herman Dorin, whose legendary wrestling career saw him help build the sport in communities such as Winfield, Bentley, Eckville and Didsbury, was honoured with the Pioneer Award.

The rest of this year’s class of inductees includes:

Mike Rogers, Hockey Athlete

James Donlevy, Hockey/Football Builder

Dorothy Padget, Artistic Swimming Builder

Edward Thresher, Wrestling Builder

Randy Ferbey 2001 – 2005 Curling Team (Randy Ferbey, David Nedohin, Scott Pfeifer, Marcel Rocque)

Rob Kerr, Bell Memorial Award (media)

by Troy Gillard

Plenty of local ties among hall of fame’s inductees

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