For biographical information and details on the sporting
achievements of the inductees please click a picture below
or the link to the "Full Story".
ATHLETES
Don Siler
Don Siler moved to Wetaskiwin with his family when he was 12 years old.
With an athletic older brother involved in sports it was only natural
that Don do the same. As a youngster he was involved in hockey,
fastball and track and field. It wasn’t until high school that he
participated in football. After graduating from the Wetaskwin
High School Sabre football program, Don continued his football career
and played Junior Football with the Calgary Mohawks and then University
Football with the Calgary Dinos. As the Dinosquarterback, Don led his team to
their first ever Canada West Championship, their first Atlantic Bowl
Championship and first Vanier Cup Final.
Martin Sonnenberg was
born and raised in Wetaskiwin and from the time he started playing
hockey when he was five years old, it was evident that Martin was
going to excel. Martin played in Wetaskiwin’s minor hockey system up to
the Bantam level, played Bantam and Midget Hockey in Leduc and then
Junior Hockey with the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL. In 1998 Martin
turned professional and signed with the Pittsburg Penguins of the NHL.
Martin played in the NHL and AHL for eight seasons and then played in
Europe for five seasons. His accomplished twelve year professional career
took him to two continents, five leagues and twelve different teams.
In 1981 Elvin Kopp married his wife Jan and they settled at their newly
purchased “That’ll Do Ranch” near Westerose Alberta. Raising cattle was
one of their ventures and after time Elvin decided that he would like to
have some help dealing with his cattle. Consequently, a year after he
started his life as a rancher Elvin attended a dog training clinic
(1982). When he saw what a stockdog could do he was “hooked”. He
bought a Border Collie pup at the clinic and started training his protege. In 1984, two years later, Elvin entered his first competition
and three years after that (1987) he was the World Sheepdog Champion, a
meteoric rise to the top. During his time competing, Elvin trained
eleven different dogs to championships.
Bob Hartnell is being recognized for his volunteer work in recreation
and sport in Wetaskiwin. Bob was chairman or a member of many
recreation committees; was President or Governor of numerous sport or
hockey related organizations and leagues; coached and/or managed many
hockey teams; initiated many innovative programs and organized countless
hockey activities. Through his involvement Bob has made significant
contributions to the citizens of our community. The people of our
community and especially the youth have benefitted immensely from the
volunteer commitment of Bob Hartnell and acknowledge his outstanding
efforts andaccomplishments.
For two fastball
seasons, a group of talented 17 and 18 year old young men brought
excitement and recognition to the small community of Falun by capturing
the Provincial Juvenile Fastball Championships. Twenty-one players
composed the two teams and eleven of those players played on both
teams. The head coach both years was Clayton Managhan with Keith
Andersen serving as assistant coach in 1968 and Frank (Francis) Reglin and Lorne
Ganske in 1969. The Pigeon Lake Playboys of 1968 and 1969 were the
first Falun teams to win Provincial Championships and were the teams
that began the Falun dynasty that continued for the next 25 years and
led to Fastball Alberta calling Falun the “Fastball Capital of
Alberta”.
