This was another eventful year for the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame and Museum (MBHOFM). The continued development of our site in the Duckworth Centre at the University of Winnipeg has been a huge success. Manitoba is still the only province in Canada that has a permanent site for a basketball hall of fame. The following were the highlights :
- from April 1, 2017 to April 29, 2018, we recorded 19,628 visitors ; this number continues to increase each year
- our 16th Induction Dinner was held on September 30, 2017 where our newest inductees were honoured - John Cook and Deb Steele-Kretschmer (players), Dennis Alvestad, Mike Hill, Larry Marquardson and Wayne Ruff (builders) and the 1991 Team Manitoba 19U Women's Provincial Team and the 1983, 1987and 1988 Vincent Massey Trojans Varsity Girls (teams)
- the continued growth of our heritage inventory collection ; this year we saw some tremendous additions in uniforms and other memorabilia
- the development and display of 31 new photographs, with captions, representing individuals in our basketball history dating back to the 1940s
- the further organization of all printed materials and photographs in our collection with the use of the labeled hanging folders and vertical magazine racks
- the addition of ASUS Chromebit CS10 Sticks to our video monitors and the acquisition of a perpetual license for Google Chrome kiosks
- our continued support of the University of Winnipeg Scholarship Fund with our annual donation
- an agreement with Brandon University Athletics to establish a sponsorship partnership that will have our Hall of Fame involved in Bobcat basketball activities
- we continued to get great support in our on-going fundraising campaign with donations from our honoured members and friends through the National Sports Trust Fund (NSTF)
- we continued as a Level 1 Museum by the Community Museum Grants Program which results in financial support of $1350.00
- on a sad note, we lost two well-known and valuable members of our Hall of Fame committee - Mrs. Gerry Ilchyna and Irv Hanec both passed away this past year - they will be missed
Our MBHOFM is open every day during the year with the exception of statutory holidays. It is open from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. daily. The members of our organizing committee are : Ross Wedlake (Chair), Janet McMahon (Treasurer), Vic Pruden (Past Chair), Jerry Ilchyna, Wes Crymble, Morris Glimcher, Jerry Hemmings, Carol Ploen-Hosegood, Ken Opalko, Susan Johnson and Adam Wedlake (Recording Secretary - Ex-Officio).
For 2018 the following are planned :
- the replacement of the sliding glass doors on all five display cabinets
- the exploration of establishing an endowment fund that will be administered by The Winnipeg Foundation through the Manitoba Heritage Trust Program ; this would guarantee long term sustainability for our Hall of Fame .
In conclusion, we need to mention the tremendous and continuing support we get from the University of Winnipeg. Our Hall of Fame and Museum would not exist without this support and the support of our extended basketball community through Basketball Manitoba.
Respectfully submitted by
Ross Wedlake, Chair, MBHOFM