Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame nominations close October 15
There is just over a week left to submit nominations for candidates to be considered for induction into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame, with the window set to close on Thursday, Oct. 15.
The Ottawa Sport Hall seeks to honour athletes, teams and builders who have brought distinction to the Ottawa region thanks to their outstanding achievements.
Full details on categories, procedures and how to submit a nomination can be found at OttawaSportHall.ca/Nominations. That's also where the nomination form is available for download, which can then be emailed to chair@ottawasporthall.ca once complete.
The Sport Hall's board of directors will review nominations this fall, with the Ottawa Sport Hall Class of ’26 scheduled to be announced early in the new year in advance of the induction ceremony in late spring.
Hats off to retired long-time Hall director Sue Kavanagh
Guests were always happy whenever they saw Sue Kavanagh at the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame induction ceremonies. Yes, that was often because she was the one who delivered the news that they'd won a great prize, but it was also because she was the familiar figure who'd greeted them upon arrival to the festivities over the course of the past 25 years.
"She was the go-to person for not just the board, but for a lot of people around the Hall," notes Ottawa Sport Hall Board Chair Dave Best. "She's always in a good mood, always very positive, always so welcoming and attentive."
After a quarter-century of involvement with the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame, Kavanagh has retired from her role with the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame board of directors, which coincides with retirement from her professional career.
It was her job that first brought Kavanagh out to a Hall meeting in 2002. As a paralegal with Perley-Robertson, Hill & McDougall LLP, she joined a lawyer who was on the board to help take minutes and send out reminders.
"There were many different chairs, and different board members came and went, and I was still there," recounts Kavanagh, who was officially appointed as board secretary after eight years of involvement, although note-taking became a very small part of what her role evolved into.
Kavanagh was instrumental in all aspects of event planning, including coordination with the host venue and caterer, plus managing auction items and ticket sales. She was relieved when "technology caught up" and eliminated the need to collect cash and cheques in exchange for printed tickets.
One task that still isn't quite fit for a robot yet is determining who's coming with who and crafting a seating chart.
"I would have a spreadsheet of all the tables and who was buying tickets," Kavanagh explains. "Then I would take my schematic out of what the room looked like, figured out where the tables were going to be, fit in who was going to sit where, and then keep my fingers crossed that I didn't annoy anybody."
Best says it was crucial for the Hall to have someone as skilled as Kavanagh powering the Ottawa Sport Hall engine behind the scenes. Kavanagh was instrumental in transforming the Hall of Fame inductions from a wine and cheese reception to a full-fledged sit-down dinner for nearly 500, he adds.
"Sue was our rudder. She's so organized, and she kept us organized. She could do a lot of jobs. She took care of, you know, 15 different things, so we've got to replace her with 15 different people," Best smiles. "We're so grateful for everything Sue's done for the Hall.
"We were really blessed to have such a great worker and supporter for so long, and she just brings such great energy to the absolute end. We're really, really going to miss her."
Kavanagh says she enjoyed meeting and working with "lots of great people who served on the board." She found it particularly rewarding to see how much the honour meant to inductees, along with their families and supporters.
"A lot of the people in the Hall are not people who ever played professional sports, but they all deserved the recognition that they would get," highlights Kavanagh, who is looking forward to golfing and spending time with her grandkids in retirement. "It was always so heartfelt when you'd see someone get up there and they're so happy and deserving of the award. It would just warm your heart."
Ottawa Sport Hall adds Rob Stanton to board of directors
The Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame is very pleased to welcome a new member to its board of directors, Rob Stanton.
Rob is the Executive Vice-President and Co-Founder of NATTIQ Inc., a leading Indigenous-owned Canadian firm that offers strategic advisory, workplace, logistics and implementation services.
The Hall is bolstered by Rob's 40 years of experience in business development, process improvement, negotiation, strategic planning, client relationship management, logistics, team-building, charitable initiatives and community development.
Born and raised in Ottawa’s Glebe neighbourhood, Rob previously worked as Executive Director for Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa, Fundraising Director with The Children's Aid Foundation, and for the Ottawa Rough Riders.
Rob has served on the boards of several Ottawa-area non-profit organizations, including Camp Fortune Ski Club and the Irish Society of the National Capital Region. A dedicated sports enthusiast and community supporter, Rob has been involved with the Ottawa Senators Alumni since the group's inception and is a longtime season-ticket holder for the Ottawa Senators, Ottawa REDBLACKS and Ottawa 67’s.
Rob and his wife, Jolene, have three children – Emilie, Adelle and Thomas – who share the family’s passion for competitive sport. Emilie is a Lead Coach with Camp Fortune Ski Club, Adelle competes internationally in Irish dance, and Thomas plays competitive hockey.
Outside of his professional and community commitments, Rob enjoys playing hockey, alpine skiing, golf, tennis and pickleball, as well as travelling and spending time with family and friends.
Ottawa Sport History Highlight: Nepean United Spirit became Ottawa's first Canada Soccer national champions in 1997
Ottawa has a long and proud sport tradition, and in this ongoing series, we present highlight moments and figures from our local sport history. The Ottawa Sport History Highlight series is produced collaboratively by the Ottawa Sports Pages and the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame, which has welcomed almost 300 inductees dating back to its establishment in 1968.
Ottawa will soon be hosting Canada Soccer’s 2026 National Championships from Oct. 8-12 at Julian de Guzman Park and Matt Anthony Field, with the host Gloucester teams set to compete for the men's amateur Challenge Trophy and the women's amateur Jubilee Trophy. In this Ottawa Sport History Highlight Series feature, we look back on the first time a local team captured a Canadian crown with the 1997 and 1998 Nepean United Spirit.
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When Kim Gamble and Whitney Forsyth remember the 1997 Canada Soccer National Championships in Calgary, they’re both abruptly possessed by the frosts of yesteryear.
“It was freaking cold. It was so gosh dang cold!” Forsyth recollects.
The Ontario Cup-winning Nepean United Spirit were greeted with an uncordial snowstorm in early October upon touching down out west. Their first practice was a mad rummage through “a couple feet” of snow.
Forsyth’s goalkeeper’s mitts did little to insulate her from that blasted cold. She was made to wear one of those insulated warmers quarterbacks unashamedly clip around their waists despite their close resemblance to unstylish fanny packs.
All in all, it was tremendous fun.
The Spirit were the first Ottawa team to win the Ontario Cup and represent the province at national championships on either the men’s or women’s side. Soon after, they became the first Ontario team to claim the Jubilee Trophy, besting the defending champion Vancouver UBC alumni in a hard-fought final.
“The real essence of sports was still there,” Gamble said in a retrospective interview with the Ottawa Sports Pages' Keiran Gorsky. "A lot of great people, a lot of great memories… it was just one of those special teams.”
Given their exceptional firepower, Nepean might not have needed a great goalkeeper to top the province – in 17-year-old Forsyth, they got one anyway. Originally suiting up as a baseball catcher, Forsyth showed a distinct lack of fear for being pelted with spherical objects. The transition to youth soccer with the Gloucester Hornets came quite naturally.
The youngest on a team largely composed of active and graduated University of Ottawa Gee-Gees like Gamble, Forsyth was one of a handful of players the team would lose the following season to NCAA programs. For now, she was a gut punch to any team that made the unlikely trek into the Spirit's third.
“We ride on Whitney’s shoulders,” co-head coach Andy Nera told the Ottawa Citizen’s Lisa Burke (now Wallace) before nationals.
She never felt babied or belittled despite the 10-year age difference between her and the oldest players on the Spirit – perhaps because she was one of the bigger players on the team; perhaps because she was willing to loudly direct the backline.
At times, there wasn’t a great deal to do. Nepean went a perfect 15-0 during their regular season in Ottawa. Forsyth recorded five consecutive clean sheets in the Ontario Cup, culminating in a 3-0 rout of St. Catharines in the finals.
In practices, though, the team was content to give her a proper workout. Forsyth had the likes of national university MVP Julie Gareau and future Canadian international Danielle Vella to contend with, not to mention a young Kristina Kiss the following season.
“It was a great experience for me being the younger one and learning from them and playing with them,” said Forsyth, who now lives in Aurora, Colorado, but still keeps in touch with her old teammates.
A number of Spirit players have continue to serve in soccer coaching and administration roles following their high-performance playing careers, helping to shape the sport locally.
Kiss, who enjoyed a Hall of Fame career and helped Canada to its best-ever finish at a FIFA World Cup, is the best known of the bunch and currently serves as Technical Director of Ottawa Rapid FC.
Gamble helped run the Boston Renegades and Cape Cod Crusaders in Massachusetts. She also helped found the original Ottawa Fury of the USL W-League, which absorbed much of the Spirit’s personnel upon its establishment in 2000. The 2012-champion Fury women were also inducted into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame in 2025.
“I love the game and I love what the game can bring to your life,” Gamble highlighted. “The people that you surround yourself with, the memories that you have, and the bonds you create, those can't be changed.”
