OTTAWA, ON – On Wednesday, September 27th at Lansdowne Park’s Horticulture Building, the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame is inducting five new members to its local sports shrine – Carol Anne Chenard (builder – soccer referee), Murray Costello (builder – hockey administrator), Tim Higgins (athlete – hockey), Earle Morris (builder – curling coach) and Jill Perry (athlete – boxing). Each Tuesday and Thursday until the event, the Sport Hall will post an article on an aspect of the event. Today’s article is on 2023 Inductee, Jill Perry.

2023 SPORT HALL INDUCTEE – JILL PERRY:

Jill Perry has strong memories of the first time she set foot into the boxing gym that would become an important part of her life for three decades.

“I was 28 years old when I first went to the Beaver Boxing Club,” she recalls. “I went there just to be part of a boxing workout. It was a bit intimidating at first. But I liked it.” 

Never in her wildest dreams did Perry see herself ever going into a ring and fighting. But she wound up competing in many bouts over the next dozen years, winning most of them.

Her interest in the sport kept growing and growing from that first visit. Three years after first punching the bags, she had her first bout with her club in Little Italy.

In another three years, Perry attended her first national championships and won a bronze medal. She remembers being so inspired by the event that she knew she just had to come back and win it the next year.

And that’s just what Perry did, winning her first national title in the women’s 57 kg category in 2005. She then came back and repeated as Canadian champion in 2006, which also earned her the title of the oldest boxer to win nationals at age 39 shortly before retiring.

When Perry entered the Beaver Boxing Club, her first coach was the legendary Joe Sandulo, inducted into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame himself in 1982.

Perry later took over from Sandulo as Beaver’s head coach, and she’s now set to join her mentor in the local Sport Hall as an athlete inductee on Wednesday, Sept. 27 at Lansdowne Park’s Horticulture Building.

“I’d like to think I’m making a difference in some kids’ lives,” highlights Perry, who’s since gone on to coach boxers provincially, nationally and internationally.

SEPTEMBER 27 OTTAWA SPORT HALL OF FAME INDUCTION EVENING

Tickets for the Wednesday, September 27th Induction Ceremony are available for purchase now!

In the lead-up to the banquet, full-length features on each of the inductees will be posted on the Hall’s new website at OttawaSportHall.ca and shared through the Ottawa Sports Pages, the Hall’s new partner.

Event tickets are $125 per person or $1,200 for a table of 10, while premium tables go for $2,000 and additional sponsorship opportunities are available. See OttawaSportHall.ca for more details.

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Contacts:

Dave Best
Chair, Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame
613-799-9415
Chair@OttawaSportHall.ca

Terry Marcotte
Director, Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame
terrymarcotte1@gmail.com

About the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame:

The Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame is a non-profit organization, which documents, curates and celebrates outstanding achievement in local sport heritage. The Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame is overseen by a volunteer Board of Directors which works in close partnership with the City of Ottawa to maintain and preserve Ottawa’s rich sporting legacies. Each year, the Hall of Fame Board receives nominations from the public, and selects new inductees to be represented in the Hall. The Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame is located at City Hall. It contains artifacts, photographs and memorabilia honouring our sporting heritage, as well as commemorative plaques honouring its more than 275 inductees.