35th Annual Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame & Athletic Awards Summary » Kamloops Sports Council
Kamloops, BC – On Saturday Night, at the Colombo Lodge, the Kamloops Sports Council hosted the 35th Annual Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame and Annual Athletic Awards Banquet. It was a fun and exciting evening as those in attendance enjoyed good food, company of friends, and celebrated the Hall of Fame inductees, the Award Recipients and Finalists, as well as celebrating Sport in Canada’s Tournament Capital. It was a truly special night with a lot of laughter, tears, and reminiscing for all of those who were in attendance.
The recipients of the Sports Council’s annual athletic awards were as follows:
Master Athlete of the Year Winner – Sponsored by Legion Branch 52
Sunette Lessing (Track and Field)
University Award Winner – Sponsored by TRU Athletics
Raiya Rumo (Soccer)
International Excellence Winner – Sponsored by PacificSport Interior BC
Ethan Katzberg (Olympic Hammer Throw)
Sport Person of the Year Winner – Sponsored by Nutech Fire protection and safety
Lyle Dos Santos (Kamloops United FC)
Team of the Year Winner – Sponsored by the Kamloops Sports Legacy Fund
Kamloops Riverdogs 18U College Prep Team (Baseball)
Coach of the Year Winner – Sponsored by Stags Head Liquor Store
Dylan Armstrong (Athletics)
Male Athlete of the Year Winner – Sponsored by Kamloops Minor Baseball
Ethan Katzberg (Olympic Hammer Throw)
Female Athlete of the Year Winner – Sponsored by LN Group
Maddy Gobeil (Basketball)
Presidents Award
TRU Men’s Volleyball Team (Volleyball)
The Presidents Award is only awarded on a special occasion when a team or individual achievements did not fit within our annual award criteria but needed to be recognized for their accomplishments. The TRU Men’s Volleyball team were awarded the President’s Award for their resiliency in playing their season after the devastating car crash to three of their team members.
Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame included three individuals and one team for 2025. Greg Hawgood was inducted as an athlete after a long professional hockey career. Hawgood had a tremendous junior career with the Kamloops Blazers having his jersey number retired and playing for team Canada’s world junior team twice. In 1986 Hawgood was drafted by the Boston Bruins and started his long professional career in 1988.
Catharine Pendrel was a cross-country mountain biker and was inducted as an athlete; Pendrel participated in 4 Summer Olympics and won and Olympic Bronze medal. Pendrel has plenty of accolades over her career including winning multiple World Championships.
Gary Oakden was inducted as a builder for his time as a boxing coach in Kamloops. Oakden helped start the Kamloops Boxing Club and was the head coach from 193-1979. He took his athletes to many highly prestigious boxing tournaments including Silver Gloves, Winter Festival of Sports, Buckskin Gloves, Golden Gloves, and Junior Gloves.
The 1980-1984 Kamloops Furtown was the team inducted for their achievements in the Mens BC Premier Soccer League. The Furtown (they also had the name Zinetto and Merchants during this time) won four league titles, five consecutive OVSL playoff titles, three Royal Cup Victories and qualified for the Provincial Championship semi-finals four straight years and finishing as Provincial Runners-up in 1984.
Congratulations to all of the Hall of Fame Inductees on your great sports career and we were so happy to be able to celebrate this moment with you. We also want to congratulate all the athletes who were nominated and won awards this year and the achievements you accomplished this past year.
Thank you everyone who attended the banquet to help celebrate our local athletes and all of their accomplishments. The support of the community means a lot to the athletes and having attendees join us for this banquet allows us to be able to celebrate our athletes. Thank you to all the sponsors who invested in this banquet and helping make it happen. Without the banquet we would not be able to make this event happen and we are truly appreciative.