A sold-out crowd spent the evening bidding generously on silent and live auction items, helping the Tigers generate valuable funds for our teams. Following a delicious three-course dinner, CBC broadcaster Bruce Rainnie regaled the crowd with the accomplishments of this year’s class of inductees and Sandy Young Award winner.

Sandy Young Award Winner - Stewart McInnes

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Stewart McInnes was a senior partner in the law firm of McInnes Cooper from 1961 to 1999, and appeared before the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, the Federal Court of Canada and the Supreme Court of Canada. He also served as the president of the Nova Scotia branch of the Canadian Bar Association from 1983 to 1984.

McInnes earned his Bachelor of Arts from Dalhousie in 1958 and earned his Bachelor of Laws in 1961. During his time at Dalhousie, he was a member of both the hockey (1956-60) and football (1954-61) teams. In 2004, McInnes was inducted to the Dalhousie Sport Hall of Fame as a member of the 1954 Purdy Cup-winning football team. A proud alumnus, McInnes was a governor at Dalhousie University from 1982 to 1984, was named alumnus of the year in 1998 and received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2000.

While balancing his career as a well-known advocate and parliamentarian, McInnes, dedicated a great deal of time to sport at many levels. He has served as director of both the Pan American Wheelchair Games (1979-81) and the 1985 Canada Summer Games, and is a former member of the National Executive Olympic Trust of Canada and the Canadian Olympic Association Task Force. He has also coached minor league football and hockey.

McInnes has dedicated a great deal of time and effort to raising funds for worthwhile organizations. He has served as chairman for the Dalplex, Dalhousie, Atlantic Research Centre and Alta Gymnastics capital and annual fundraising campaigns.

While McInnes has shown great passion for advancing sport over the years, he has also contributed to other causes along the way. He was a director of the Duke of Edinburgh award program in Nova Scotia for three years and served as a director with Canada’s World Wildlife Fund from 2001 to 2015. In 2008, he received the Hedley G. Ivany Senior of the Year award for his lasting contribution to the betterment of Canadian society.

An active skier, avid gardener and golfer, McInnes was a provincially ranked tennis player and a provincial champion in squash. He is a member of the Jesters Committee to promote squash and was recently appointed captain of a Canadian team headed to South Africa later this year.

Hall of Fame Inductees

Robert Lewington, Athlete - Football

A versatile offensive and defensive player, Lewington received a number of accolades during his time at Dalhousie.

In 1966, Lewington was the star running back of the Canadian Junior Football League’s Burlington Braves. He was the league scoring champion and was being heavily recruited by Dalhousie’s coach, Harvey Scott.

Coach Scott was successful in his bid to bring Lewington to Halifax and Bob took the league by storm that next year. The Tigers rookie of the year, Lewington was the black and gold’s leading rusher, receiver and kickoff returner. He also completed three for five halfback options for 130 yards and three touch downs. In that six-game season, he also played defence as both a defensive back and corner linebacker.

Lewington continued to have a big impact in his second season with the Tigers, earning his first league all-star award as a running back. He was once again the Tigers leading rusher and receiver and recorded the league’s longest punt of 80 yards. He was the Tigers MVP in just his second season.

In his third season, Lewington was named team captain. A leader both on and off the field, he led the league in rushing and earned his second league conference all-star nod. The MVP for the second year in a row, he led the Tigers in kickoff returns and was second in receptions and punt returns. After a stellar season, he was an honourable mention on Sport Canada’s all-Canadian team.

The team captain in his fourth and final season, Lewington was plagued by injury, but still managed to lead the Tigers in rushing and receptions. At the end of his Dalhousie career, his average of 4.5 points per game puts him second all-time for the Tigers and he is currently sixth on the black and gold all-time scoring list.

In 1969, the North American Sigma Chi fraternity elected Lewington to the small college All-Sigma Chi football team. In 1970, he was one of the CFL's top 10 draft picks and was drafted by the Saskatchewan Roughriders and attended tryouts, but did not make the team.

When the opportunity arose to play with the Queen’s Gaels the next year to play a fifth season, Lewington elected to stay at Dal to finish his degree and be an assistant coach with the Tigers.

When the football program was revived as a sport club back in 2010, the Tigers offensive MVP award was named in Lewington’s honour.

Dr. Carolyn Savoy, Builder - Basketball

Dr. Carolyn Savoy dedicated her life to the sport of basketball and her legacy lives on through her players, colleagues and all who met her.

After a seven-year stint as the women’s basketball coach at St. Francis Xavier University, “Coach Savoy” took the reins of the Tigers program in 1977. She is the winningest women’s basketball coach in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) history with 858 wins and boasts a 75% winning record. She led the Tigers to 389 (of 530 games) regular season wins, nine conference titles and five conference championship titles.

A five-time AUS coach of the year, Coach Savoy held a 49 game conference win streak from 1979 to 1982 and had two undefeated conference seasons. She had a 100% graduation rate for players who played three to five years on the team. In addition to academic success, Carolyn pushed her players to succeed on the court, producing 16 CIS All-Canadians, six CIS tournament all-stars and coached nine players to Canada’s junior and senior national teams.

Along the way, Carolyn received many accolades. She was inducted into the Saint John New Brunswick Sports Hall of Fame in 2003 and the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame in 2012. She received the Progress Club Women of Excellence Award, the Basketball Nova Scotia Frank Baldwin Award and the Dalhousie University Sandy Young Award in 2012.

Carolyn’s passion and commitment to the sport of basketball reached far beyond her time with the Tigers. She was the sport psychologist of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols basketball team when they won the NCAA Championship in 1991. A former president of Basketball Nova Scotia, she was the technical chair for the Pan American wheel chair games in 1982. A member of Canada Basketball’s Board of Directors from 1981 to 1987, she was the chair of the National Coaching School for Women in 1988. A master course conductor and Canada Basketball level 4 coach, Carolyn was the head coach of Nova Scotia’s Canada Games women’s basketball team in 2001 and was an assistant coach with Canada’s junior national team in 1979.

An associate professor in Dalhousie’s School of Health and Human Performance, Savoy served on Dalhousie’s Faculty Association and published two books and many articles during her tenure. After retirement she focused on corporate coaching, speaking at countless workshops and symposiums in addition to working on mental skills training with local sports teams.

At the time of her retirement from coaching in 2009, Carolyn reflected on her time with the Tigers saying “I’ve been very fortunate to be in a job where I loved running practices, the individual sessions with players, seeing them grow from freshmen to seniors and now they are doctors and successful in business. I loved that and I love being part of their lives. As a coach you have those fond memories. Not just of who they are as players, but who they are as people. And some of them are still good friends of mine to this day and they are in their 50s.”

1995 Men's Soccer Team

The 1995 Dalhousie Tigers became the first (and only) Nova Scotia men’s university soccer team to win a Canadian university championship and 2015 marks the 20th anniversary of this fantastic achievement.

Following an undefeated regular season (8-3-0), the Tigers hosted the Atlantic University Athletic Association (AUAA) championship at Wickwire field to advance to the nationals with wins over UPEI (4-0) and UNB (1-0). The Tigers had been in the AUAA final five straight seasons, winning three of five titles, including 1995.

The Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union (CIAU) championship was hosted by the University of Quebec, Trois Rivieres. The Tigers first group game was against the Ontario champion Brock Badgers who scored the first goal of the match. Striker Mark Ellis notched the equalizer late in the game resulting in a 1-1 tie.

In the second group game, Trevor Chisholm was stellar in nets and the Tigers got goals from winger Paul English and midfielder David McFarlane, resulting in a 2-1 win over the McGill Redmen. The victory earned the Tigers a berth in the championship final against the highly-rated Alberta Golden Bears.

The Golden Bears breezed into the national final with a 6-1 victory over tournament host, Trois Rivieres. The Tigers stepped into their second-ever national final as the underdogs, yet still undefeated on the season.

The game commenced in appalling conditions, with driving snow and howling winds. Playing against the wind in the first half, the Tigers took an early lead with a goal from winger Chad Thorpe. The Golden Bears put a lot of pressure on the Black and Gold, but they couldn’t get past the solid defensive play of Chris Devlin and Stephen Cormier, so the Tigers went into the half with a one-goal advantage.

The snow continued to fall in the second half, but this time the Tigers had the benefit of the wind. The game was tight until the 67th minute, when the Golden Bears scored the equalizer. Despite this set back, the Tigers rallied and slowly started to take control of the game.  Following a prolonged period of pressure by the Tigers, Graeme Allerdice found the back of the net in the 81st minute to give the Tigers a 2-1 lead.  It was Allerdice’s first goal of the season that came on his 21st birthday. Mark Ellis put the game out of reach when he was brought down in the box and earned a penalty which he converted in the dying minutes of the game.

At the final whistle the Tigers celebrated in the snow, becoming the first and only Tigers team to win a men’s national soccer championship.

Mark Ellis led the Tigers in scoring that season with 10, including three during the AUAA championship and another two at the national championship. Striker Jeff Hibberts led the Tigers in the regular season, scoring seven goals in 11 games. Trevor Chisholm, Chris Devlin, Paul English, Ante Jazic and Marc Rainford were all selected as AUAA all-stars. Jazic was also the AUAA rookie of the year and a CIAU second team All-Canadian. English was selected as the CIAU tournament MVP, while he and David McFarlane were named to the all-star team.

Regular Season Statistics

AUAA Championship @ Dalhousie University

CIAU Championship @ University of Quebec, Trois-Rivieres

Roster