Five new members join McGill Sports Hall of Fame today
The 1962 McGill Redmen football team, which will celebrate the 50th anniversary of their magical Yates Cup league championship this week, headlines a new cast of five inductees scheduled to enter the McGill Sports Hall of Fame at 12 noon today, bringing the list of honoured members to 112 since the pantheon opened in 1996.
Honorees in the athlete category include football defensive lineman Mark Joncas (BEng '82) of Val d'Or, Que., soccer goalkeeper Aldo Braccio (BA '85, MA '87) of Montreal and swimmer Carol Chiang (BSc '99) of The Pas, Man.
Selected posthumously was Air Vice-Marshal Frank McGill (BCom '15), a native Montrealer who starred in football, hockey, water polo and swimming. He was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1959 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1965.
The induction luncheon, scheduled for 12 noon today, kicks off the University's Homecoming Week celebrations.
Joncas, a co-captain and two-time all-Canadian, was the conference nominee in 1981 for the J.P. Metras Trophy as most outstanding lineman in the nation and was drafted by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1982. He was credited with 21 quarterback sacks in 21 starts over his last three years.
Braccio, a four-time all-Canadian 'keeper, guided the Redmen to a national title as a freshman in 1982 and posted a 47-1-6 regular season career record with nine shutouts in 54 starts over his five campaigns.
Chiang, a four-time all-Canadian sprinter, won 18 gold medals over five Quebec conference championship meets and collected 10 CIS medals (2 gold, 5 silver, 3 bronze) in her five national championship appearances.
The 1962 Redmen captured the Senior Intercollegiate Football League championship before a CBC-TV audience with a 15-13 come-from-behind, last-minute playoff victory over Queen's in Kingston on Nov. 17, 1962.
The team was guided by head coach Bill Bewley and assistants Tom Moran (backfield), Ron Murphy (line) and Dave Copp. They featured a team record 11 honorees on The Canadian Press all-star team, including Tom Skypeck, the team captain who received the Omega trophy as league MVP. The alternate captains were Don Taylor (tight end) and Willie Lambert, the latter whom merited all-star status at both running back and defensive back.
McGill trailed by five points with two minutes remaining and had the ball on their own 7-yard line. Skypeck then completed five straight passes for 103 yards, hitting Lambert for the game-winning 25-yard TD toss with 59 seconds left on the clock as McGill rallied to defeat their arch-rivals.
Other all-conference selections were Eric Walter, who led the league in scoring with eight TDs in six games, plus Andy Connor (OT), Dick Feidler (DT), Allan McKenzie (DE), Russ Zelko (DE), Steve Longstaff (LB) and Tony Blair (LB).
Rounding out the 35-man roster was Leon Abbott, Fraser Allen, John Bowler, Ewart Budgell, Stewart Davis, John DiFederico, Ian Grant, Peter Halmay, Bruce Ingram, Bruce Johansson, Wade Kenny, Ray Lawson, Sal Lovecchio, Brian Marshall, Saul Miller, Ian Monteith, Dave Morton, Brian Pilgrim, Gordon Potter, Richard (Whitey) Reimer, Larry Sheehan, Graeme Strathdee, George Telesh, Allan Wallace and Gavin Wyllie.
The support staff included Dick Nicholson (manager), Dave Smith (asst. manager), Jim Adams (trainer), Al Duguid (asst. trainer) and Fred Dupré (equipment manager). The team physicians were Dr. Everett Crutchlow, Dr. Hugh Brodie and Dr. Ted Percy.
The selection committee, chaired by Richard Pound, was composed of a group representing students, administrative staff, university officials and alumni, including Prof. David Covo, Mike Nelson, Dawson Tilley, Sally McDougall, Gael Eakin, Bob Winsor, Colin Adair, Gayle Noble, Robert Watt, Stephen Lloyd, Matthew Chesser and Leanne Roach, plus Drew Love (secretary), Kathryn Weaver (recording secretary), Tom Thompson (resource member) and Earl Zukerman (research coordinator).
