The Class of 2018 has taken its place in the St. F.X. Sports Hall of Fame.
The induction ceremony for athletes Eugene Belliveau (football), Adele Belliveau (basketball, field hockey), Glenn MacDougall (soccer) and Randy Nohr (basketball), along with builder Jane Hanley-MacGillivray and the 2006 X-Women rugby team, took place Sept. 27 at the Schwartz School of Business Auditorium as part of St. F.X. Homecoming festivities.
“Tonight, we recognize some of the very best,” St. F.X. President Kent MacDonald said, while noting the “remarkable record of success” for athletics on the Antigonish campus.
When he took the podium, Director of Athletics and Recreation Leo MacPherson noted he had “goosebumps.”
“It is one of the biggest nights of the year,” he said.
MacPherson added the induction of the 22nd class “ensures your feats will always be remembered.”
Founded in 1976, the hall of fame ‘exists to honour those individuals who have contributed significantly to St. F.X. sports as athletes, teams or as builders.’
Inductees have ‘exemplified the spirit and ideals of Xaverian athletics in their professional and community lives.’
We are ‘grinders’
“You might leave St. F.X. but St. F.X. will never leave you,” Adele Belliveau said.
The Class of 1993 member and three-time conference all-star captained the X-Women basketball team for three of her five campaigns, while also competing for two seasons with the field hockey squad.
Named the 1983 female athlete of the year, she was the first X-Women basketball player to top 1,000 career points.
“It felt like home,” she said, recalling fondly meeting then football coaching staff member Johnny Pike and his Chihuahua, Misty, walking the halls of Oland Centre.
Belliveau followed her older twin sisters to St. F.X., still students when she arrived for her freshman year.
She remembered receiving a $500 scholarship, which she noted was “a lot of money” at that time, particularly coming from a large family.
“I didn’t get here alone,” Belliveau said, noting the contributions of – and relationships developed with former teammates, such as Deanna Corbett and Margaret Berthiaume, who are also hall of fame members.
She praised head coach Ann McGrath, who recruited her, along with Antigonish native Gail MacDougall, an assistant coach with the team in her freshman season.
“She may be this tall but, actually this tall,” Belliveau said, gesturing MacDougall’s (another hall of famer) actual and metaphoric height, when it comes to her more than four decades of contribution to women’s basketball.
There were also contributors, such as Terry ‘TC’ Curtis, who she noted made sure the team safely returned home from road trips in all kinds of weather.
She called then athletic director Father George Kehoe as a “second father.”
“We are not quitters; we don’t lay down here,” Belliveau said, labelling St. F.X. student-athletes as “grinders.”
‘Honoured and humbled’
Eugene Belliveau described his time at St. F.X. as “an awesome, awesome ride.”
A member of the Class of 1980, the defensive lineman with X-Men football garnered all-star status in three of his four collegiate campaigns before enjoying a stellar 10-year career in the Canadian Football League (CFL).
“I am truly honoured and humbled,” Belliveau said of his induction.
He noted his main sport was hockey before he discovered football in junior high school, where he said he “felt like a gladiator,” as soon as he put a helmet on and took the field.
Belliveau fondly recalled a trip he made with his father – in their 1948 vehicle – to visit universities.
“I loved it right away,” he said of St. F.X., their first stop on the planned tour.
Belliveau noted it turned out to be the only stop because the car broke down on Cape Smokey, along the Cabot Trail, before they headed to see the other schools.
He recalled his many great teammates and coaches – along with the many others who provided him with guidance along the way, including Father Malcolm MacDonnell, Ralph ‘Woody’ Hayes and Ernie Foshay, just to name a few.
Belliveau, who started his now more than 30-year career as a police officer after his football playing days, stressed the importance of living the St. F.X. motto ‘whatsoever things are true.’
READ MORE:
History making 2006 X-Women rugby team enshrined in St. F.X. Sports Hall of Fame
Pioneer for women inducted in St. F.X. Sports Hall of Fame
Antigonish soccer star joins St. F.X. Sports Hall of Fame
‘Heart of a champion’
In his two seasons at St. F.X., point guard Randy Nohr led the X-Men basketball team to national championships (2000 and 2001).
The St. F.X. male athlete of the year for 2001, who received All-Canadian status that season, was also a two-time conference all-star and MVP of both then-CIS championship tournaments.
Veteran head coach Steve Konchalski said Nohr was “the missing ingredient,” providing point guard leadership, to a “really talented” team that included the likes of Fred Perry, Dennie Oliver and Jordan Croucher.
“It was the start of a magical two-year period,” he added, while delivering the hall-of-fame citation for his former star.
Konchalski said he “epitomizes what it is to have a heart of a champion.”
Nohr remembered “the championship feeling” he experienced drew him to the X-Men program.
“There was something about it – there is no other place like St. F.X.,” he said.
“It holds a very special place in my heart.”
