2023

Klempner Erwin

June 21, 2024 by

After playing junior football with the Regina Rams and winning the 1973 Canadian championship, Klempner began a teaching career in Uranium City before retuming to Regina and coaching high school football for 30-plus years at Campbell, Thom, Usher, Johnson and Balfour. Campbell won two provincial championships. Usher qualified for two city finals and, while Balfour’s head coach, his team won the city title in 1994 and made the final in 1995.
Klempner joined the Rams’ staff in 1996, before the team transitioned to university football in 1999, serving as defensive coordinator for the national junior champs in 1997 and 1998 and again in 2000 for a Hardy Cup victory and a loss in the Vanier Cup. He was head coach, of the Regina Thunder junior team from 2005-12, helping to fortify the franchise by Working fundraisers and recruiting players such as future CFLers Stu Foord, Dan Clark and Zach Evans. Chosen PFC coach-of-the-year in 2009, his team advanced twice to the conference championship while laying the foundation for its 2013 national crown.
One of the first Level IV football coaches in Saskatchewan, he scouted junior players for the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, coached softball, basketball and wrestling, contributed to football Canada’s long-term athletic development program and served on several volunteer committees staging amateur events in Regina.

June 21, 2024 by

Won 1995 Canadian championship in Hull, Quebec, after finishing first in an 18-game round-robin with 113 of a possible 144 points. Quebec beat the Saskatchewan representatives 6-2 in the first playoff match but the Regina-based squad rebounded to win the decisive match 6-2.
Team members were Frank Fochesato, Rob Salmond, Don Clearihue, Kevin Clark, Bev Prosolski, Brenda Cuthbertson, Otilia Frei and coach Wayne Fiesel.
In the 10-zone provincial playdowns, Regina did not lose a round-robin match while earning 118 of 144 points before beating Prince Albert 6-2 in the gold-medal showdown. Clearihue’s 271 average and Salmond’s 263 earned them provincial all star honours. At the nationals, Fochesato made the men’s all-star team and Cuthbertson the women’s squad for averaging 272 and 253 respectively.

June 21, 2024 by

From Saskatoon, Strumm was hired by a new ownership group to be the Regina Pats’ general manager and a part-owner in With Bryan Murray as his new head coach an_d led by three Regina players w o would become first-round NHL draft choices (Doug W1ckenheiser, Darren Veitch and Mike Blaisdell), the Pats won the 1979-80 WHL championship.
In his six seasons as GM, the Pats posted a 328-178-6 record and won three East Division Strumm also coached for two seasons, compiling a 91-51-2 record. His teams set numerous scoring records led by offensive wizards like Dale Derkatch, Jock Callander and Mike Sillinger while rebuilding the franchise’s legacy with a focus on recruiting local players.
Strumm was the general manager ol Canada’s first gold medal-winning hockey team in 1982. He also served as GM of the WHL”s Billings Bighorns and Spokane Americans, coached the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves, introduced pro hockey to Las Vegas as GM of the International Hockey League’s Thunder and worked in the personnel department of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings.

June 21, 2024 by

A product of Campbell Collegiate and the University of Regina’s School of Journalism, Vanstone joined the Regina Leader-Post as a sports writer in 1987, became assistant editor in 1995, columnist in 1996 and sports editor in 2001, until joining the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2023 as their senior writer and historian.
Covered nine Grey Cups, two Olympics, three Memorial Cups, the 2002 Little League World Series in Wilhamsport, Pa., and numerous Canadian men’s and women’s curling championships. Wrote four sports books and received the Regina High Schools Athletic Association Merit Award, Murray Sawa Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to amateur football and the WHL Bob Ridley Award for Media Excellence, plus he collected and sold memorabilia as a fundraiser for Raise-A-Reader.
Although he wrote about high-profile teams like the Roughriders and Regina Pats, often displaying his penchant for historical facts, Vanstone equally enjoyed covering the Regina Intercollegiate Football League, LIT high school basketball tournament and other local, amateur sports.

June 21, 2024 by

After a playing career that included winning provincial high school championships with Miller in 1978-79 and five seasons with the University of Regina, Poncsak became a basketball official who also instructed clinics, supervised and served as an administrator and executive locally, provincially and nationally until his 2021 death at age 59.
In addition to officiating professional basketball leagues in Saskatchewan, he also refereed Canada Games and university championships, with the highlights being gold medal assignments at the 2005 Canada Summer Games in Regina, the 2000 CIAU women’s final in Edmonton and the 2009 USports women’s final in Regina.
Poncsak was on the Saskatchewan senior men’s team handball squad from 1986-99, afterwards becoming a Level IV coach with the national team and, as technical director and executive director of the Saskatchewan Team Handball Federation, helping to develop local senior leagues, a high school program and the long-running Heritage Classic tournament.

June 21, 2024 by

Shinmura practised judo for 12 years in Japan before moving to Regina in 1977 and being asked by the city to start his own dojo, the Seidokan Judo Club, which operated until 1998. He was head sensei from 1998-2016 at the Regina Y Judo Club and also formed the Avonhurst Judo Club in 2000.
.he provincial senior champion from 1976-82, he was awarded his Godan (fifth degree black belt) in 2012. Also served as a national A-level referee, led the officials’ development committee, was a member of the Judo Saskatchewan grading board and a certified coach for 39 years, teaching top-level athletes like Kim Bergey Kaip, Kalem Kachur, Paul Yuen and Janna Pratt. Many of his students have become coaches, including a group intending to open a club named in his honour.
Conducted self-defence classes and judo demonstrations throughout Regina, earning the inaugural Award for Long-term Dedication to Judo in 2016