The newest inductee into the Ringette Canada Hall of Fame builders’ category is humbled by the honour.
“It’s a great privilege. It’s a form of recognition for the number of years of involvement in a good sport,” said Jim Dawson of St. Albert. “It’s gratifying to do something and be recognized by people you respect. It makes you go, ‘Hey, you did something worthwhile.’ ”
The hall of fame acknowledges outstanding contributions to the development of ringette and the achievements of ringette athletes, coaches, officials and administrators across Canada.
Joining Dawson in the 2012 hall of fame class is Phyllis Sadoway of Smoky Lake in the coaches’ category and athletes Jennifer (Willan) Krochak and Megan Todd of Edmonton.
The induction ceremony is June 9 at Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in Calgary, as part of Ringette Canada’s annual general meeting and conference.
“It will be pretty emotional,” Dawson said. “I kind of teared up when I was presenting someone else to be inducted. I’m much better standing in front of a crowd and talking about ideas and numbers than I am about people or myself.”
Dawson credits his wife of 38 years, Kathy, who passed away on Jan. 31, and daughters Lisa, Vicky and Coleen for embracing his passion for ringette. He spent more than 23 years in ringette as a parent, coach and visionary administrator.
“It’s something that certainly I don’t think I could’ve done without very strong support from my family, and in particular my wife. Without her support and encouragement I doubt I would’ve been involved nearly as much or as long as I was,” Dawson said. “Many, many years ago my wife and I felt it’s important when you’re in a community to get involved in volunteer things. She was certainly active in her way and I was in mine.”
His introduction to ringette started in St. Albert.
“Kathy got me involved initially. She was at Safeway with one of our daughters back in ’88 or ’89 and the St. Albert Ringette Association had a barbecue going and was recruiting people to join them. We looked at it and thought that would be a good thing for our kids to do. We thought it was important for the girls to be able to play a team sport that looked like a lot of fun and it certainly was. In fact, I’ve still got one daughter [Coleen] playing.”
Dawson quickly volunteered his services to the St. Albert association.
“We have a family view that when you get involved in something you just don’t drop your kids off, you watch them and participate if you can a bit,” he said. “I found out pretty early on I wasn’t a very good coach and I knew instinctively I wouldn’t be a good referee so I kind of got into the administrative side of things.”
Dawson served on the St. Albert board of directors for several years, including a stint as president. He was also president of Ringette Alberta and spent 10 years with Ringette Canada as president, vice-president of promotions and vice-president of administration.
“The neat thing is the people you meet and what experiences they have to share,” he said. “I’m really fortunate that I know people all across the country that I would consider to be good friends.”
Dawson was instrumental in the implementation of Ringette Canada’s current governance structure and the development of the organization’s strategic plan.
“Restructuring Ringette Canada to move it from the kind of organization it was for many years to a professional board and to a governance model allowed us to really move forward and do a lot more things and get a lot more people involved.”
Dawson was also the founding chairman of the National Ringette League.
“I was fortunately enough to be involved with a bunch of people like George McKenzie when we started the National Ringette League, which is still alive and thriving and growing. Starting a league is always fun.”
In 2010 Dawson completed two consecutive terms as Ringette Canada president.
“The last year I was president I think we had the largest enrolment across Canada we’ve ever had in ringette. We did some good growth things.”
The owner of Prints Galore in St. Albert is no longer involved at any administration level in ringette.
“It’s been about three years that I’ve got out of it but I still keep in touch with a lot of people,” he said. “It’s good to move on. It’s good to bring in new people with new ideas.”
