Mike Haigh
Mike Haigh is inducted in the athlete category for his outstanding career promoting and competing in armwrestling.
For most, armwrestling is considered a friendly test of strength amongst friends and a way to “settle wagers”. Not for Mike Haigh. For Mike, who moved with his family to Port Perry in 1972, armwrestling was a competition that required mental preparation, physical training, and strategizing equal to any other sport.
Mike’s career began in April 1985 with his first competition at Crandell’s in Port Perry.During 1986 Mike decided it was time to train full-time as he realized this was a passion for him and there were competitions beyond Crandells and Port Perry Festival Days. Mike had an illustrious career on the big stage in the late eighties and early nineties; starting with a 5th place finish at the Canadian Championships (Saskatchewan, 1987), 1st place in the World Amateur Championships (Hollywood California, 1988), 1st place in the Ontario Championships (Sutton Fair, 1991), multiple 1st place finishes and a 2nd place finish at the Marsville Guns tournament (Grand Valley Ontario, 1992), 1st place in the Ontario Championships (Sutton Fair, 1992) and a 2nd place finish at the Canadian Championships (Ottawa, 1992).
In addition to Mike’s participation in armwrestling, he has promoted the sport at a competitive level globally for thirty years. In 1987 Mike founded the Port Perry Armwrestling Club and in 1988 thru 1992 was awarded multiple achievement awards from the Ontario Armwrestling Association.Mike was elected President of the Ontario Armwrestling Association in 1992 and in 1999 was elected Chairman of the British Armwrestling Federation. In 2010 Mike was the very first inductee into the Ontario Armwrestling Hall of Fame as a builder and has been inducted into the Canadian Armwrestling Federation Hall of Fame in 2012.
Georgia Brock
Georgia is inducted in the builder category as a prime mover in building the sports of figure skating and tennis in the Township of Scugog.
Born and raised in Port Perry, Georgia played multiple sports in her public and high school days.After high school, she completed her Bachelor of Physical & Health Education, B.P.H.E. from the University of Toronto in June of 1956 where Georgia learned to play Tennis, Field Hockey, and Volleyball. She organized seeded tournament draws and convened intramurals at the University of Toronto. She qualified for Certified Officiating status in Basketball.
In 1958, when Mr. and Mrs. George Stone and children of the Stone family moved to Port Perry, Mrs. Marie Stone appealed to the public to support figure skating. Georgia responded and became the first president and first junior instructor of the Port Perry Figure Skating Club. Years later Georgia returned to figure skate and lead the figure skating club as its president in their 25th Anniversary year. The Port Perry figure skating club has had a proud history of Canadian champions, Olympic competitors and skating business successes.
In 1970, Georgia recognized there was nowhere to play tennis in Port Perry so she led the way again.With other interested people, Georgia started the Port Perry Tennis Club on the parking lot of the Port Perry High School. Then Georgia helped build the game of tennis in Port Perry by teaching a series of lessons to juniors in the mornings and adults in the evening. The Tennis Club has a proud history of assisting Juniors who earned tennis scholarships to U.S. universities and championing the wonderful game of tennis for Scugog Township.
The Greenbank Gamblers
In 1986, the OASA Intermediate C provincial competition was hosted by Port Perry and was held at the Lakefront diamonds. As winner of the number 4 Division the Gamblers joined the winners of the other 6 Divisions to play a double elimination tournament to determine the provincial champions.
Greenbank was undefeated going into Sunday’s games with wins against St Mary’s, Tavistock and Port Perry Legion. In the finals, Greenbank faced the legendary pitcher, Darren Zack, from Garden River. Garden River won the first game shutting down the Gamblers 3-0 forcing an extra game in the double knock out format. With a huge crowd watching, the Greenbank Gamblers took the provincial title with a 4-0 victory.
Again, in 1988, the Greenbank Gamblers enjoyed an outstanding season. The Gamblers entered the OASA Intermediate Open category where they would compete against cities and larger towns. To qualify for the finals, Greenbank first had to play two series of best of three games. First meeting Oshawa ACL, the Gamblers ousted Oshawa in two straight games, and then bested Peterborough in two straight games to win Division 4.The team travelled to London for the championship tournament and came home as the 1988 Ontario Champions. With near flawless play, winning another 4 straight games beating South Porcupine, Grimsby and Acton twice, the Gamblers took the provincial title undefeated in eight consecutive games.
Winning the OASA Intermediate Open category helped put Greenbank on the fastball map; a small rural community with some really great fastball players.