NLAA Hall of Fame announced

ST. JOHN’S, NL – The Newfoundland and Labrador Athletics association (NLAA) announced today by Joe Ryan, chair of the Athletics Hall of Fame Selection Committee, which also includes Don Coaker, Wulf Stender and Will Gough, that two former outstanding athletics and three builders (officials, coaches or volunteers) will be formally inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame at a November 29 ceremony at the Track and Field Building in Mount Pearl.

Allison Hobeika and Tracy Hussey will enter the hall as athletes, while Doug Halliday, Bill Pomeroy and Rosemary Ryan Forsey will be entering the Hall as builders.

Inductions to the Athletics Hall of Fame were first held in 2005 and then annually until 2014, after which this ceremony was held every second year.

Initially, 6 members were inducted each year, with the exception of 2008, when 23 individuals were recognized. Since 2012, the Hall of Fame Constitution calls for up to 5 individuals to be presented each year. These individuals can be athletes, officials, coaches or volunteers recognized as builders. This year’s additions to the 19-year-old Hall of Fame now bring to 94 the number of individuals recognized for outstanding achievements or contributions to the sport of athletics in the province.

Doug Halliday

Doug Halliday has enjoyed a distinguished career as an athlete, specializing in the 100 and 200 metres in sprints, for which he was the Provincial Junior and Senior record holder in in 1998, and the Atlantic 200m champion and 100m silver medalist in 1999. As an athlete he competed for Westerland Track, Memorial University and the University of Manitoba.

Doug’s great passion, however, was coaching, leading Holy Heart track teams to provincial 4A banners and introducing top athletes like Kate Bazely and Julia Howard to the sport.

In 2009 Doug began coaching at Pearlgate with a vision to create a sustainable running group that would compete and give back to the sport. In 2014, Doug’s athletes set 24 new provincial records, four of which were held by him, the most records for a coach in a single season in provincial track and field.

Over the years, Doug’s athletes have claimed many gold and silver medals at the Provincial and Atlantic championships and gold at the Hersey North American championships.

Doug’s dedication to the young athletes that he has coached was instrumental in their development and continued love of the sport. Several of his athletes have been voted Athlete of the Year at Mt. Peal, and in 2014, Doug was named Coach of the Year at the School of Human Kinetics.

From 2009 – 2016, Doug coached athletes to top placings at the provincial, national and international levels recording over 40 provincial records from the 100 metres 800 metres. In 2013, he coached Canada Games notable sprint athletes Daniel Kelloway and Jennifer Boland, allowing them to realize their potential in the 200 and 400 metre sprints, leading to many successes at the National and International levels.

Following his coaching position at Pearlgate where he was responsible for planning and implementing many club programs, Doug went on to a position with Sport NL where he was a Sport 4 Life Coach. In 2020, he joined the Coaching Association of Canada on its Board of Directors as Provincial/Territorial Coaching Representative.

As a coach, Doug was always available to his athletes providing them with outstanding support.

Allison Hobeika

Allison Hobeika was an outstanding long distance runner from the middle 1990’s well into the early 2000’s, and in fact, was still running very strongly as late as 2017.

In 1996, in the Miquelon 25 km distance race, Allison raced to a first place finish in the female division. That same year, she was a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Timex team that competed at the National Track and Field championships in Vancouver, BC.

In 2000, Allison enjoyed a tremendously successful racing year, recording first place finishes in the Tely 10 Road Race, the Provincial 20 km race, and the NL Provincial Marathon. 2001 was equally successful for Allison as she recorded first place finishes in a number of provincial road races among them the Shopper’s half marathon, the Provincial 20 km championships and the Tely 10. That same year she placed a very strong first place in the female division in the Saint John, NB., half-marathon.

In 2003, she again won the Shopper’s half-marathon, the Garnish 10 km road race and the Nautilus half–marathon, to name just some of her victories.

2004 was another banner year for Allison as she continued her winning ways, claiming victories in the Provincial 20 km championships and the Blueberry Harvest 10 kms.

First in the Provincial Marathon again in 2007, Allison also recorded victories in the inaugural and challenging Cape to Cabot 20 km race, the Turkey Tea 10 kms and the Provincial 20 km championships. That same year she raced to a first place finish in the female division of the Mississauga Marathon.

In 2010, Allison won her third Provincial Marathon. She continued to run strongly up to 2017, placing among the top three finishers in the tough Cape to Cabot race. In that same year she placed fourth in the Nautilus half-marathon.

In addition to her superb road racing career Allison was also the assistant cross-country coach at Memorial University in the early 2000’s.

Tracy Hussey

Tracy Hussey has enjoyed a long and successful career, both as an athlete and coach. Throughout the 1990’s, she excelled as a race walker in Provincial, Atlantic and National competitions.

In 1993, she won a gold medal in the 5000 metres race walk in the Atlantic Track and Field Championships. She repeated as the gold medalist in 1997, again in the 5000 metre race walk.

In the 1993 Canada Summer Games she had a 6^th place finish in the 5000 metre race walk which she improved to a 2^nd place finish and silver medal in the 1997 Canada Summer Games. She is noted for being the first female to win a medal for Newfoundland and Labrador in Athletics at the Canada Summer Games. At these Games, she was also the flag bearer for Team NL at the closing ceremonies.

In Provincial competitions in race walking, she was the first place female from 1992 to 1997. In 1997 she was named Athlete of the Year for Mt. Pearl and St. John’s and a finalist for the NL Athlete of the Year.

As an athletics coach from 1997 to 2000, Tracy was head coach of the O’Donel High School Cross Country male and female teams as well as being the head coach for the track and field teams.

From 2000 to 2002, Tracy was the assistant coach of the Memorial University Female Cross Country Team, the team placing third in Atlantic University competition each year.

Then for a period of seven years, from 2002 to 2009, Tracy moved on to the head coach’s position of the female team at Memorial University, coaching numerous athletes who went on to outstanding running careers, among them Ann Barrington Johnson and Kate Vaughan Bazely. In 2006, the female cross country team placed second in the CIS championships.

Throughout her coaching career, Tracy has coached dozens of female athletes who excelled in running in the early 2000’s and continue to participate in recent road races.

Tracy is a level 3 National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) athletics long distance coach and has inspired many, many athletes over the years.

Bill Pomeroy

Bill Pomeroy has been a tremendous promotor of the sport of athletics in this province both as a builder and volunteer for many, many years. Whether it be for road races, cross-country meets or track and field in general, Bill has been constantly there assisting organizers in countless ways on countless occasions.

With respect to those yearly road races, Bill certainly has been just about a jack of all trades, helping set up start and finish areas, making announcements, getting the runners to the start line, doing whatever needed to be done, even mixing batches of Gatorade for the race participants. And he often performed those various tasks while competing in the race himself.

When the cross-country season opened each year, Bill has frequently been there to help out with the course set-up, to assist the meet directors, to act as an emcee informing the spectators and race participants alike as to what was happening. He has also been noted for taking numerous pictures of the event to post on Facebook later. He has been noted for arriving on the scene of the race well before the meet organizers and has often been the last to leave, making sure everything was completed to conclude the event.

Bill is extremely well known in the running community and has tremendous knowledge of the sport. He has assisted many runners with training plans and suggested various routes they could train on. And as many trail runners in the Bowring Park area will remember, Bill often places a refreshment table with water on the trail or in his driveway. A kind gesture no doubt much appreciated by those long distance runners on warm and sunny days.

Bill’s expertise in setting up and preparing for road races or cross country events has often been called upon various athletic clubs, the NLAA itself, or the running community as a whole. He has indeed given a large chunk of his volunteer time assisting the greater good of the sport.

Not only has Bill been an incredible volunteer for many years, he has also been a very fine runner, participating in numerous road races and Tely 10 races throughout the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, his most impressive being his winning of the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Marathon in 2007, despite running extra distance after being misdirected off the course by his police escort.

Rosemary Ryan

Rosemary Ryan (Rosie) has had an extraordinary career for many, many years as a builder and coach for the sport of Athletics in Newfoundland and Labrador. She has worked tirelessly with countless athletes throughout that time and her impact has been far reaching on the local, provincial, national and even international levels.

Rosie has been President of the NL Athletics Association for the past 7 years and the Western Region representative for the past 20 years. She has been instrumental in growing and developing all aspects of athletics in the province for over three decades, whether it be track and field programs, cross-country running or even race walking.

In youth cross-country programs in the Bay St. George area of the province, Rosie’s impact on young runners has been immeasurable. Her local school teams have won more than 40 banners for Junior and Senior High School in both the male and female divisions.

Rosie’s involvement in track and field for local schools dates back more than 35 years. She has coached young athletes in Legion Youth Track and Field National Championships, NL Summer Games and Canada Games among others. Throughout her career as head coach for track and field, Rosie’s Junior and Senior High Teams have won numerous titles.

Rosie has also been the head coach for Team NL Athletics in partnership with the Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Circle for the North American Indigenous Games for the past 4 International Games, the most recent being the 2023 Games in Halifax, NS. In that competition, the NL Athletics team won 22 medals, had 49 top ten results and countless personal bests.

As for her involvement with the Canada Summer Games, Rosie has been a member of the coaching staff for the past 4 competitions, those hosted by PEI in 2009, Sherbrooke, Quebec, in 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba in 2017 and Niagara, Ontario, in 2022. On both the National and International levels, Rosie has coached Special Olympic teams, the most recent being those hosted by Berlin, Germany in 2023.

Throughout her coaching career, Rosie has been the recipient of numerous awards including Sport NL Female Coach of the Year, 2024, the Evan Ash Builder Award-Special Olympics NL, 2024, and the Petro Canada National Coaching Excellence Award, 2023, for having athletes excel at world championships.

Rosie’s impact on the sport of athletics in this province has been and still is second to none, and her commitment and dedication to the sport, to the athletes and to her coaching partners is most inspiring.

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