Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2024 Inductees 

The Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame has also selected the Kinsmen Sports Persons of the Year. The Kinsmen Sports Persons of the Year acknowledges individuals for outstanding performance or participation in sports while representing or from Lethbridge.

The female recipients are Canadian national 3-on-3 basketball champions Paige Crozon and Kacie Bosch, and the male recipient is rising lacrosse star Conner Cook.

The induction ceremony will take place on May 3 at the Canadian Western Bank Lounge in the ENMAX Centre. The theme of this year’s banquet is speed skating, as the sport’s history in the city will be celebrated.

2024 Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame inductees:

Athlete

Carmen Rinke – boxing

Carmen Rinke is a decorated amateur boxer, who represented his home country on his home soil at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. Rinke, who hails from Lundbreck and boxed out of the Crowsnest Pass and Lethbridge Boxing Clubs, made it to the quarterfinals at the Olympics before losing to the eventual gold medalist. Rinke also represented Canada at the Commonwealth and Pan-Am Games.

Brad Wall – kickboxing

Brad Wall is a two-time world middleweight kickboxing champion, who won numerous Muay Thai Kickboxing championships at the national, international and world levels. Wall fought across the world winning numerous titles, including World Kickboxing Association Canadian Golden Gloves Middleweight Kickboxing championship in 2001and represented Canada at the International Federation of Martial Arts Championships on three occasions.

Builders

Randy Bardock – soccer

Randy Bardock has been a mentor and leader to generations of soccer players in the city. As the head coach for the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s soccer team for more than 30 years, Bardock is credited with keeping the Pronghorns program running when it was threatened by budget cuts in the 1990s. Bardock has also coached at a variety of levels throughout his career, including stints with Alberta’s Under-16 provincial team, Canada’s World Student Games teams in 2009 and 2013, Whitecaps Academy and Lethbridge FC.

Cooney Family – speed skating

When the Cooney Family arrived in Lethbridge in 2002, they bolstered a Lethbridge Speed Skating club that had fallen to just four participants. Tim, Nicole and their four children doubled the size of the program, while Tim stepped in as head coach with Nicole taking the role of lead administrator. In over 20 years leading the club, Tim and Nicole built a thriving organization with dozens of members and accolades. On the ice, three of the Cooney children made the regional level, and two of them competed at a national level. One of the children, Paul, remains the head coach of the program today.

Michael Tamura – judo

Mike Tamura was trained by legendary Sensei Yosh Senda and has built on Senda’s legacy by holding major roles at the local, provincial, national and international levels. A former national junior champion, Tamura has created opportunities for hundreds of athletes. A brief synopsis of Tamura’s career includes bringing the National Regional Training Centre to Lethbridge, and serving as President of both Judo Alberta and Judo Canada, is one of only two Canadians ever appointed to the International Judo Federation Executive Committee, and has served as General Secretary for the Pan American Judo Confederation. He was awarded the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2022.

Special

Judge John A. Jackson – multisport

Judge John A. Jackson was a district court judge in Lethbridge from 1913 to 1945, who had a love for sports and used his influence to help bring athletes to the highest levels. He was a founding member, and later President of the Alberta Football Association. He was also President of the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada, which was, at the time, a high-profile position that oversaw amateur sports across the country, including the Olympics. He oversaw the Canadian team at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. He remained involved in a number of sports locally in Lethbridge, including as President of the Lethbridge Rugby Club and gave the opening address for the Lethbridge Country Club in 1932. He passed away in 1951.

Kinsmen Sports Persons of the Year

Kacie Bosch and Paige Crozon – 3-on-3 basketball

One half of the world’s top 3-on-3 women’s basketball team, Lethbridge residents Kacie Bosch and Paige Crozon had another stellar season, repeating as FIBA Women’s Series champions at the world championships in Mongolia in September. Bosch and Crozon, along with teammates Katherine and Michelle Plouffe beat France 16-15 to earn the championship, with Crozon hitting the buzzer-beating winning shot. Canada was the top seed in the regular season and the team is currently working to qualify for this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.

Conner Cook – lacrosse

Conner Cook is a pioneer when it comes to lacrosse players from southern Alberta. The Lethbridge product is the first player from the region to be selected in the National Lacrosse League draft, being selected 49^th overall by the Calgary Roughnecks. The selection followed up a great junior season where he captained the Calgary Mountaineers to a second place finish in the province and an appearance in the Minto Cup – Canada’s national junior championship. This summer he’ll play with North America’s oldest lacrosse club, the New Westminster Salmonbellies, before pursuing a pro career.

Tickets for the Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony are now available through the Enmax Centre box office.

The Lethbridge Sports Hall of Fame has inducted more than 330 members since its formation in 1985 as part of the City of Lethbridge’s Centennial celebrations. The mandate of the hall is to identify and honour not only contemporary individuals, but also those who have excelled in sport at some time since the founding of Lethbridge.