Two new names were added to Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Sports Wall of Fame on Friday, honouring youth soccer coach Kurt Hamm and former Ontario Hockey League player Gary Friesen at a ceremony at the Meridian Credit Union Arena in Virgil.
Hamm was recognized for nearly 40 years of coaching and organizing youth soccer in town. Friesen was recognized for a hockey and lacrosse career that took him from Niagara-on-the-Lake minor sport to four OHL seasons and a gold medal with Team Ontario.
Both men still coach children in the community where they grew up.
Hamm started coaching at 19, after his father volunteered him to help with a family member’s soccer team. The two coached side by side until his father retired at 75.
Hamm went on to serve more than a decade on the Niagara-on-the-Lake Soccer Club’s board of directors. He is now the club’s sponsorship director.
Carrie Plaskett, past president of the Niagara-on-the-Lake Soccer Club and Hamm’s nominator, said during the ceremony that she estimates he has coached about 4,000 children over the decades.
Hamm, teary-eyed, told the audience what has guided him through four decades of coaching.
“We focus on the kids. It’s all about them, the kids. Nothing else, nothing else matters. No one else matters but the children,” he said.
He also asked residents to follow him into coaching, and urged anyone frustrated by a difficult parent, player or board member to stay.
“Don’t let that one person ruin it for you,” he said. “Don’t be discouraged. Just keep on going.”
Friesen grew up playing hockey with the NOTL Wolves and lacrosse in town. He was named Niagara Falls Minor Hockey Association MVP in 2002-03, and the Oshawa Generals took him in the OHL Priority Selection.
In 2003, he helped Niagara District Secondary School win an OFSAA field lacrosse championship. The next season, he won gold with Team Ontario at the U17 World Hockey Challenge.
Friesen played four OHL seasons with Oshawa and the Sudbury Wolves, then finished his hockey career with the Brock University Badgers. He also played Junior B lacrosse with the Niagara-on-the-Lake Thunderhawks.
He now coaches minor hockey and lacrosse in town.
“Some of the best memories of my sporting life happened right here in Niagara-on-the-Lake. The camaraderie of being on a team and making so many friends over the years,” Friesen said.
“Today I have the opportunity to coach kids in the same community where I grew up. I hope I can give some of these same experiences that I had to the next generation.”
Joe Pillitteri, Friesen’s cousin and nominator, brought laughs to the Virgil arena when recounting Friesen’s playing days before turning serious about what came after them.
“We are celebrating Gary Friesen as an athlete tonight, but I’d like to say that we’re celebrating Gary and Kurt, above all, as human beings,” Pillitteri said.
Niagara Falls MP Tony Baldinelli, MPP Wayne Gates and Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa presented certificates to the inductees.
Ken Rive, chair of the Sports Wall of Fame committee, said the annual ceremony runs on donations and asked attendees to help keep it going.
“Sport matters,” Rive said. “Games end, but the impact of sport lasts a lifetime.”
