CHARLOTTETOWN – The P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame has announced its Class of 2017.
Kim Dolan (curling), Ken (Trixie) Dunn (builder baseball/hockey), Debbie MacMurdo (builder figure skating) and the 1964-65 Saint Dunstan’s Saints (hockey) will be inducted during the P.E.I. Mutual Insurance Company induction dinner at the Rodd Royalty Inn in Charlottetown on Friday, Nov. 24.
A reception will begin at 6 p.m., with the dinner at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available at Sport P.E.I.
Kim Dolan
Born in Charlottetown on April 12, 1958, Dolan is one of the greatest curlers P.E.I. has ever produced. She has also been a tremendous ambassador for the sport and home province.
She started her career at the Charlottetown Curling Club in 1974, and won her first of three P.E.I. junior women’s championships that year. Dolan played lead on Gloria Basha’s rink, which repeated in 1975. Dolan played third stone on Anne Merklingler’s 1976 provincial champions.
Dolan was a member of 10 provincial women’s curling champions. Her first trip to the nationals was in 1983, followed by appearances in 1985, 1987, 1990, 1992, 2012 and 2014. She skipped in seven of those appearances. Her best finish was fourth in the 1995 Scott Tournament of Hearts with the Rebecca Jean MacPhee-skipped rink, which also won in 1997 and 1999.
Dolan also chaired national curling events, including the 1999 and 2011 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Charlottetown, and was involved in an active curling school program.
Debbie MacMurdo
Born in Summerside on May 23, 1956, MacMurdo would become one of the most influential people in figure skating not only on P.E.I., but across Canada.
She began skating as a child on outdoor rinks in her backyard in Kelvin Grove, and, when the Kensington Figure Skating Club was formed in 1968, she began taking skating lessons.
Her interest grew in the sport, which would lead her to local competitions, Canada Games and a role as an amateur coach, judge, official and later board director and committee chair at the provincial, national and international levels for three decades.
MacMurdo was named an alternate for the P.E.I. figure skating team for the 1975 Canada Games as a 15 year old. She was also a member Team P.E.I. at the 1975 Games and in 1983 was manager of the Island team for the Winter Games.
MacMurdo acted as a judge at the 1987 and 2011 Games, and a technical representative at the 1991 Canada Games in Charlottetown.
The highlight of her career was being one of the first volunteers assigned to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics as on-ice supervisor.
She was involved in Skate Canada for 27 years, before stepping down in 2014 as a board member.
Ken (Trixie) Dunn
Dunn was called Morell’s “Mr. Everything.”
He acted as a player, coach, umpire and referee for over 45 years. His passing on Sept. 21, 2017, after a battle with cancer at the age of 74, ended an era, but one that will never be forgotten.
Dunn put a lifetime into his community in sports and as a volunteer. He played all sports, including hockey and baseball as a student at Morell Elementary and Morell High.
He graduated in 1961, and went on to play varsity football at St. Dunstan’s University in Charlottetown. He went to work in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia for a few years, but returned home in the late 1960s, where he played for Morell and Scotchfort teams in the Eastern Kings Hockey League and the Morell Seniors in the Kings County Baseball League (KCBL).
In 1970, he established the Paturel/Trixie’s Cubs’ midget baseball team that would dominate the Island and Maritimes for much of the decade. The team won the 1971 Island championship, and lost the deciding game of the Maritime final.
When the team lost its sponsor, Dunn bought new uniforms out of his own pocket, and kept the Cubs going.
In the 1980s, he turned his attention to senior baseball – first with the Morell Legionnaires in the Island Baseball League, and later in the 1990s with the Morell Chevies of the KCBL. He managed and coached the Chevies to league titles in 1991, 1993 and 1995.
Dunn was the KCBL founder, and the only secretary-treasurer the league would know.
Dunn also coached Morell midget hockey teams from the early 1970s into the ‘80s, and officiated thousands of games at the senior, minor and recreational levels at the Morell Rink. He even formed a recreational fun hockey league for players in the Morell area.
Saint Dunstan’s Saints
The Saints were a talented group of hockey players in the mid-1960s that would win a silver medal at the 1964-65 national championship – the highest finish for any Island university team.
The Saints, who featured 11 Prince Edward Islanders, were bolstered with the arrival of Bill MacMillan from the St. Michael’s Majors of the Ontario Hockey League. The junior star returned home and led Saint Dunstan’s to its first conference title since 1947.
MacMillan led the Maritime conference in scoring with a record 22 goals and 41 points.
There were several other star players on the Saints under coach Jack Kane Jr. Saint Dunstan’s went 10-1 to capture first place, and finish six points ahead of second-place St. Francis Xavier.
Five members of the team would later become coaches with the UPEI Panthers. Players Jack Hynes, Vince Mulligan, Bill MacMillan and Gordie Whitlock would all return as coaches.
MacMillan (forward) and Mulligan (defence) were named first-team all-stars in the Maritime conference. Gordie Whitlock was a second-team all-star at forward.
The Saints began the season 9-0 (won-lost), but lost on the final weekend of the regular season to St. Thomas. A 6-5 victory over St. FX in Antigonish, N.S., clinched first place and the Maritime conference.
There were no playoffs, and the Saints travelled to Winnipeg for the national championship.
Saints goaltender George MacNeill was outstanding in a 3-1 come-from-behind effort against Sir George Williams of Montreal in the opening game. The Saints reached the final against the host University of Manitoba, which featured a big team. The Bisons skated to a 9-2 victory, but a silver medal was something to be proud of for the Saints.
