Summit centre to house sport memorabilia

HUNTSVILLE - Don Lough had a slight smile on his face as he passed the Huntsville Sportsman of the Year trophy to a grinning Jack Bionda.
However, if you are taken aback that a presentation between the two late Huntsville sports legends could be happening, you needn’t worry.
The awarding of the trophy, and many other sports events like it, will soon be memorialized along the walls and walking areas of the Canada Summit Centre, starting this summer.
The town is nearing completion of a sports memorabilia project that started more than two years ago by the municipality’s then-named parks and recreation department.
Armed with about $30,000 that had been donated to the town by various sports groups for the creation of a second arena pad, the community services department, along with help from an ad hoc committee, is preparing to sort through more than 450 trophies, banners, pictures and other items in the hopes of assembling a tribute to the region’s top athletes and teams.
The previously mentioned presentation between the two sports legends actually happened possibly in 1957, when Lough, the former town mayor and staunch recreation supporter, passed the trophy to Bionda – who many regard as the greatest lacrosse player of all time – as that particular year’s award recipient. Lough, as the previous year’s winner, was presenting the award to Bionda.
The presentation is captured in a photograph that will be part of the town’s sports memorabilia collection that will adorn the centre’s walls.
What makes that picture so unique is that the town’s two arenas are named after Lough and Bionda.
The ad hoc committee consists of the town’s manager of arts, culture and heritage Teri Souter, community services committee chair and Coun. Tim Withey, community services and economic development director Kari Lambe, Muskoka Heritage Place collections co-ordinator Sara White, and community services committee members Rick Wearing and Kelly Holinshead.
“Various organizations and staff were bringing things in over the years with no rhyme or reason, and that’s okay because that was how most arenas would operate,” said Souter. “Now with the centre, we have a world-class facility, we have a real opportunity to showcase and even celebrate our community with our sports memorabilia. It’s all part of our history and we want to take these authentic stories right to present day.”
She said she wants to make sure all sports and recreational events are celebrated within the programs. “Soccer, baseball, basketball ... all these sports, along with some individuals, like Jack Bionda and Don Lough.”
There will be a special section reserved for Hattie Briggs, a Huntsville-born speed skating champion who was denied a shot at winning gold at the 1936 Winter Olympics because Nazi ruler Adolf Hitler cancelled the event hosted that year by Germany when the German champion was too ill to compete.
Many of the displays will be stored within a specially made case, located at various points around the centre.
The pictures will be scanned and displayed digitally, allowing for visitors to view the photos in high resolution. There are plans to put in place a program that would allow people to purchase the digital pictures for their own use.
“There isn’t a lot of real estate (for the displays) but we have some really, really great areas,” said Souter.
Each display area will have detailed information for the visitors to view, along with historical facts and current information.
Souter said the committee is asking for a moratorium on donations from the public and the various sports groups so town staff can catalogue the hundreds of pieces it already has stored at the Canada Summit Centre.
“We have inventoried everything we have and we still don’t have some sports and groups represented. The moratorium is in place so we can deal with the (present) backlog,” she said. “We have asked the sports groups to help us with the memorabilia to say what is important to be displayed.”
She said that residents will be able to see the displays coming together throughout the summer and the moratorium will be lifted at a later date.

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