THUNDER BAY -- Former Olympic rower Liam Parsons heads this year’s class of inductees into the Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.
Joining Parsons at the Sept. 24 ceremony will be boxer Kathy Williams, hockey’s Ron Busniuk and Fort Frances football star Jeff Treftlin.
Going in in the professional builder category is late wrestling coach Todd Hinds, while Jim Johnson gets the nod in the volunteer builders’ category.
Parsons began his career with the Thunder Bay Rowing Club in the 1990s and won bronze at the 2008 Olympic Games.
Williams claimed provincial and national amateur titles in the ring during the 1990s and early 200s.
Busniuk spent more than two decades in hockey, winning back-to-back Calder Cup titles with the Nova Scotia Voyageurs and Cincinnati Swords in 1972 and 1973.
Busniuk played six NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres in the mid-‘70s, and spent five seasons in the World Hockey Association with Minnesota, New England and Edmonton, retiring in 1978.
He returned home to Thunder Bay and coached the Thunder Bay Twins to Allen Cup titles in 1984 and 1985.
Treftlin spend eight seasons in the Canadian Football League, winning a Grey Cup title in 1989 with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
As a wrestling coach, Hinds served with Canada’s national women’s team, helping develop Olympic medal-winning athletes. He died in 2015.
The late Johnson was a long-time minor league coach who helped found the Thunder Bay Kings program and was instrumental in the return of hockey to Lakehead University. Johnson was also the father of former NHLers Greg and Ryan Johnson.
Tickets for the induction ceremony are available by calling 622-2852 or at the Hall of Fame at 219 May St.
