Class of 2022 includes six athletes, two builders and two teams

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The Owen Sound Sports Hall of Fame will add 10 more local sports greats to its Class of 2022 who will be inducted this fall.

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The class of 2022 includes six athletes, two builders and two teams.

Athletes heading to the hall in 2022 include Bill (William) Korz, Tim Abbott, John Vary, Peter Kazarian, Christopher David Minard and Andrew Brunette.

The builders are Fred Cathrae and Michael Myatt.

The teams are Owen Sound Farrow’s Haulage and Ready Mix Ltd Bantam A baseball team. 1969 and the 1996 Owen Sound Leon women’s fastpitch team.

Korz is a big hitter in the world of five-pin bowling. He qualified for the Ontario Open 25 times and won the Ontario singles title in 1985 while representing Grey-Bruce. He was inducted into the Ontario 5 Pin Bowlers Association Hall of Fame for his accomplishments and work in growing the sport in 2000.

Abbott played minor hockey and minor lacrosse in Owen Sound and represented the Owen Sound Legion Track Club. In 1973, he won the John F. Kennedy International Three-Mile Cross Country Meet in Pittsburgh. He then played hockey with the Guelph Platers and was a member of the 1977-78 National Centennial Cup Champions. He played Junior A lacrosse in Kitchener, then was on the Owen Sound lacrosse teams upon his return, including the 1977 and 1979 Owen Sound Hall of Fame Junior C Clubs.

Vary grew up playing in the minor hockey and lacrosse programs in Owen Sound. He was a member of the Minor Midget team that won the 1986-87 provincial championship. After playing with the Owen Sound Grays in Junior B, he was selected by the North Bay Centennials of the OHL with the seventh overall pick in the 1988 draft. He continued to play professionally for 13 years, including championships with the Wichita Thunder (CHL) and Muskegon Fury (UHL). He was the UHL Defenseman of the Year and CHL All-Star on multiple occasions.

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Kazarian excelled in lacrosse and played at the major A, senior B and professional levels. He won the President’s Cup as a senior national B lacrosse champion with the Owen Sound North Stars in 1989 and 1991 and a Mann Cup in 1996 with the Six Nations Chiefs. He was a co-recipient of the Outstanding Defensive Player Award for Junior B Lacrosse in 1986 and 1987.

Minard played minor, junior B and junior A hockey in Owen Sound prior to an NHL career with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Edmonton Oilers. He ended his career abroad playing in the German professional hockey league. He won an ECHL championship in 2004-05 with the Alaska Aces.

Brunette grew up in northern Ontario near Sudbury, but remains one of the best players to ever play with the Owen Sound Platers. He scored 295 points in three seasons with the club and led the league with 62 goals and 100 assists in the 1992-93 season. He is the franchise’s all-time leader in points-per-game average, although Bobby Ryan surpassed his all-time points record. He had 768 points during a 1,159-game NHL career and recently joined the New Jersey Devils as an assistant coach after stops in Minnesota and Florida.

Cathrae has coached ringette for over two decades and has been instrumental in the growth of the sport locally. He also volunteered as a statistician and organizer of local tournaments. He received the province’s Community Builder of the Year award from 2005-2006 and was named Regional Volunteer of the Year in 2006. He has also coached minor basketball, minor lacrosse and minor hockey. He then helped organize the annual Father’s Day Lacrosse Tournament in memory of Owen Sound Harry Kazarian and was named Volunteer of the Year along with his wife Wendy by Owen Sound Minor Lacrosse in 2009.

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Myatt founded the Owen Sound Minor Baseball Program in 1977 with his brother Peter – an organization that started with 120 children and grew to over 1,200 by 1993. He worked for the City of Owen Sound as a as program coordinator beginning in 1975. He was a part of the creation of Owen Sound’s now popular sports fields, including Tom Williams Park and the Owen Sound Kiwanis Soccer Complex. He also coached, winning an OMHA championship in his 25th year coaching minor hockey with his AE A midget team.

Owen Sound’s baseball team Farrow’s Haulage and Ready Mix Ltd. won the Ontario Provincial Championship in October 1969 in Forest, Ontario. They won the Western Ontario Athletic Association bantam league championship in 1969 with an undefeated 8-0 campaign.

The Owen Sound Leon women’s fastpitch team won gold at the 1996 provincial championships. The team’s gold medal win at the 1996 Provincial Women’s Softball Association Championship sparked some years of success for the small Owen Sound club. Several of the team’s players won individual PWSA honors in 1995 and 1996.

The city’s Sports Hall of Fame banquet is scheduled for September 30.