The Soccer Hall of Fame celebrated its 10th annual Induction Banquet on Saturday night at the Club Link Country Club in Woodbridge, ON. Four players, three builders, one Pioneer Award winner, and one Team of Distinction were celebrated in front of friends and family.
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\u200bCanadian Soccer Association President Dr. Dominic Maestracci was on hand to offer his words of thanks and congratulations to the inductees and the Team of Distinction. He also formally presented the Association’s Life Membership award to the The Soccer Hall of Fame’s founding chairman Bill Hoyle.
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\u200bThis year’s builders were soccer historian Colin Jose, FIFA referee Bob Sawtell, and New Brunswick administrator Derek Wisdom.
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\u200bThe 2009 Pioneer Award winner was former player, coach and official Ted Slade. The late Mr. Slade was represented this evening by his son.
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\u200bThe four inducted players were Neil Ellett, Mike Stojanovic, Joan McEachern, and John Limniatis. All four played with distinction at the national and club levels.
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\u200bThe final recognition was saved for this year’s Team of Distinction, the Canadian team that played at the 1986 FIFA World Cup Mexico\u0099. A number of players and staff were in attendance and coach Tony Waiters delivered his message via video. Waiters 1986 staff featured assistant coach Bob Bearpark (deceased), manager Les Wilson, trainer Joe Parolini, equipment manager Kevin Muldoon, physiotherapist Barry Crocker, and doctors Tom Fried (deceased) and Ed Johnson. The 22 players were Ian Bridge, Paul Dolan, Gerry Gray, Paul James, Bob Lenarduzzi, Tino Lettieri, Colin Miller, Dale Mitchell, Terry Moore, Randy Ragan, Randy Samuel, Branko Segota, Mike Sweeney, Carl Valentine, Bruce Wilson, Pasquale DeLuca, Sven Habermann, Greg Ion, James Lowery, David Norman, George Pakos and Igor Vrablic.