The Barrie Sports Hall of Fame (BSHOF) has named its latest inductees to be enshrined.
They are swimmer Emily MacTavish, late figure-skating coach Jo-Anne Eyers, rugby and basketball coach Steve Porter, ice-dance partners Mitch Islam and the late Alexandra Paul, and National Hockey League referee Dan Marouelli.
MacTavish, who swims with the Special Olympics team out of Barrie, has won many ribbons locally in freestyle and back crawl.
"Emily is a very dedicated athlete who loves to train and never misses practise," the BSHOF noted in its presentation as the inductees were recently announced.
As she progressed to the provincial level in 2016 at the University of Guelph, she won a gold and silver in swimming competition.
"In continuing her quest for competition, she qualified to attend the nationals in Antigonish, N.S., and there she accomplished an impressive showing winning two gold and two silver in her swimming events," says the BSHOF.
As a member of Team Canada, she travelled to Dubai for the world championships where she medalled in all three of her races, including gold in the 4x50-metre medley relay, where she was the anchor swimmer, as well as silver in the 200-metre freestyle and bronze in the 100-metre.
Eyers, who passed away in May 2022 at age 60, will be inducted as the recipient of the John Crawley Lifetime Contribution to Sport award.
She was an accomplished skater in her youth before entering the coaching ranks with the Barrie Figure Skating Club and Mariposa School of Skating for 43 years.
The BSHOF says Eyers was "passionate" about teaching younger skaters and was consistently involved in the organizing team for the yearly skating carnival, which saw attendance from all over the region. She also skated with Olympian Brian Orser.
"Jo-Anne has played an instrumental role in developing the foundation for numerous young skaters, as well as power-skating training for Barrie Colts hockey teams," says the BSHOF.
Marouelli, who is being inducted in the builder/athlete category, was an NHL referee from 1982 to 2010.
Born in Edmonton, Alta., on July 16, 1955, he has been a Barrie-area resident since 1984.
Marouelli's first NHL game was Nov. 2, 1984, as the Winnipeg Jets took on the Detroit Red Wings in Motor City. His final game was April 10, 2010, as the Toronto Maple Leafs faced the Canadiens in Montreal.
In total, he refereed 1,622 regular-season games as well as 190 playoff games, including four Stanley Cup finals.
Marouelli was also the referee for the 1993 NHL All-Star game in Montreal, and the Heritage Classic outdoor game on Nov. 22, 2003, in Edmonton. He was also involved in the 2004 World Cup and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, before serving as the IIHF's disciplinary director for world, junior championships and world men’s championships from 2010 to 2015.
Ice-dance partners Mitchell Islam and the late Alexandra Paul are being inducted in the athlete category.
The local couple had been "active in sports for most of their lives, with their greatest successes coming in competitive ice dancing," says the BSHOF.
Paul, who passed away in an automobile crash in August 2023 at age 31, and Islam won the Canadian junior national title in 2010, and went on to earn silver medals at the 2010 ISU World Junior Figure Skating Championships that same season.
Together, they would claim three senior Canadian national bronze medals over their career. After winning their second national bronze in 2014, the two qualified to compete at the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, where they placed 18th in the ice-dance event.
The pair competed for Canada at two ISU World Championships, with their best result coming at the 2014 worlds when they earned 10th place.
"Alexandra and Mitchell were consistently at the top of their sport through the years of 2009 to 2016, competing at the highest international level," says the BSHOF. "They represented Canada at 21 international events, collecting five medals."
After their skating career ended, Paul became a lawyer, while Islam became an NCCP-certified figure skating coach through the National Coaching Certification Program. He was recently named ice-dance director at the Mariposa School of Skating in Barrie.
Porter, who is being inducted into the BSHOF as a builder, taught for 30 years in Simcoe County as an elementary and secondary teacher and was involved in many sports as a coach, an official and an executive member.
He coached at numerous levels, from high school to Barrie Royals basketball to Georgian College. Porter coached provincial teams for Ontario Basketball for two years and Ontario Rugby teams for six years.
Porter also had a hand in coaching six rugby players and 11 basketball players who went on to play for national teams, as well as NCAA and CIS athletes in football, rugby and swimming.
The BSHOF says Porter was "instrumental in building policy and procedures" for sport governing bodies in high school as an executive for Georgian Bay Secondary Schools Association (GBSSA) and provincially with the Ontario Federation of Secondary School Association (OFSSA) as an executive.
Porter was named coach of the year by the Barrie Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and was awarded the Marr Ross Award in 2019 for his dedication to high school sports at all levels.
Porter's championship resume includes numerous GBSSA and OFSAA titles in rugby and basketball, as well as Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) crowns in rugby.
The 2023 Simcoe County Rovers men's team will also be honoured by the BSHOF after winning the men’s Premier Division title in Ontario.
The 2024 induction ceremony will be held Wednesday, Oct. 2, beginning at 7 p.m., at Allandale Recreation Centre, where the city's sports hall of fame is located.
