Sports Wood Buffalo celebrates 2026 Hall of Fame awardees, receives $15,000 grant to fund accessible sporting programs

Community members gathered at the Suncor Energy Centre for the Performing Arts for an evening reserved to honour the leaders, contributors and supporters of sport in Wood Buffalo.

Recently endorsed as a sub-brand of the association, the Sport Wood Buffalo Hall of Fame aims to preserve the stories of community members that have shaped sport in the Wood Buffalo region. The local non-profit says it is committed to honouring “athletes, builders and teams whose achievements and contributions have made a lasting impact on the sporting community.”

Last Friday, the association received a $15,000 grant from Canada Post to facilitate a Mobile Sports Equipment program.

Christina Baker, a spokesperson for the Sports Wood Buffalo Association, said the funds will help “break down barriers to participation by bringing equipment, programming, and opportunities to try new sports to children and youth who may not otherwise have access.”

The funding is part of a larger $1.3 million grant commitment from the Canada Post Community Foundation to charities, schools and community groups across the country.

13 recipients from Alberta were awarded this year, including the Calgary Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Edmonton-based Thrive Charitable Foundation and We Together Strong community, amongst others in Okotoks, Lethbridge and other Albertan communities.

The program aims to bring sport and recreation opportunities directly to rural, remote, Indigenous and underserved northern Alberta communities which Canada Post said will “reduce participation barriers” and “promote active, healthy lifestyles for children and youth” in the region.

Five inductees in the 2026 Hall of Fame class were presented with plaques of honour at the Hall of Fame induction: Collegiate sports builder Wayne Thomas, World Cup athlete and two-time Olympian Brooke Voigt, 1989 NHL Entry draftee Trevor Buchanan, 1930s equestrian champion Violet Bode May (post-humous awardee) and Local football team, the Fort McMurray Monarchs.

Thomas – one of the inductees – shared his gratitude to the Sports community in Fort McMurray.

For him, the Hall of Fame induction is a testament to the collective effort from the student athletes that ensured sports programs continued in the region.

“It’s not an honour just for myself. It’s an honour for what we’ve accomplished specifically in Keyano College, in terms of developing the student athlete and student program,” he said. “But at the base of it all, through it all, has been student success, and making sure that they’re student athletes, and they get their programs, and get everything else, and get their athletic experience, so they can move on with life. This type of evening is what makes Wood Buffalo, so special.”

Thomas was a key figure in establishing collegiate sport in Wood Buffalo. He joined Keyano College in 1981 and led the school’s successful application to the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference in 2009. While serving as Keyano’s first athletic director, he contributed to developing sports programs for the Huskies—the official collegiate sports team—and made notable contributions to the development of Syncrude Sport & Wellness Centre since its opening in 2007.

Thomas recalled the college’s humble beginnings in sport. Starting out with what he described as “basic sports, like badminton and curling,” to now making winning national championships, he said the college has seen massive growth in the past decades.

Rashpal Khakh, Executive Director of the Sport Wood Buffalo Association, said it is important sports are celebrated in the region.

“Celebrating sport in Wood Buffalo matters because every athlete we recognize is the result of years of development, built by coaches, officials, families, and volunteers who invested in them long before anyone was handing out awards. When we honour that work, we strengthen the pathway for the next young person in this region to pick up a stick, a ball, or a racquet and see how far sport can take them,” she said.

The plaques will be displayed publicly on the Hall of Fame walls in the Syncrude Athletic Centre at Keyano College.

This year, the organization also awarded 11 community members in the multi-sports award category, honouring recipients of a range of ages and abilities, including volunteers, athletes, coaches and leaders who have worked to build programs behind the scenes.

Here is a full list of this year’s Multi-Sports award recipients:

• Female Athlete of the Year: Stacy Bellefleur – Jiu-Jitsu
• Male Athlete of the Year: Reid Nicholson – Volleyball / Multi-Sport
• Team of the Year: U13 Fort McMurray Ravens – Football
• Coach of the Year: Farid El-Hayouni – Soccer
• Official of the Year: Dylan Routhier – Hockey
• Inclusive Athlete of the Year: Quinten Jaycox – Para Track & Field / Multi-Sport
• Indigenous Athlete of the Year: Amelia Savill – Lacrosse / Canoeing / Hockey
• Safe Sport Champion: Wood Buffalo Pride – Multi-Sport
• Sport Builder: Bob Niven – Lacrosse
• Unsung Hero: Caroyn Kelly-Rose – Ringette
• Community Sportsmanship: Keyano Huskies Athletics – Multi-Sport

The night rounded off with a keynote speech from Former NHL star, Theo Fleury, who shared a deeply personal account of experiencing child abuse in the sports industry at a tender age.

Fleury has been vocal about his experience and even published a top-selling non-fiction titled Playing With Fire in 2009.

Besides representing Canada at the Winter Olympics, where he secured a gold win in 2002, Fleury played for the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche, New York Rangers, and Chicago Blackhawks and went on to win the Stanley Cup with the Flames in 1989.

“There’s a kid being abused every second of every minute, of every hour, of every day,” he said, in an interview with Postmedia, pinpointing the importance for figures like himself to be a voice for children, players, and athletes who have experienced sexual abuse.

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