A sold-out crowd spent the evening bidding generously on silent and live auction items, helping the Tigers generate valuable funds for our teams. Presented by Morneau Shepell, Sportsnet Central's Ken Reid regaled the crowd with the accomplishments of this year’s class of inductees and Sandy Young Award winner.
Sandy Young Award Winner - Dr. John McCabe
The Dalhousie A. J. Sandy Young Award honours an individual for their outstanding contribution to Nova Scotia sports. It was conceived by the late Dr. Sandy Young, a professor of sport history in the School of Health and Human Performance at Dalhousie.
Born in Moncton, N.B., Dr. John McCabe came to Dalhousie in 1975 as an assistant professor in what is now the School of Health and Human Performance. Before landing in Halifax, he earned degrees in physical education and psychology from the University of New Brunswick where he played varsity basketball and football. He went on to pursue a Doctor of Education, Human Performance from the University of Tennessee in 1973. While in Knoxville, he worked as a graduate assistant and honed his skilled performance talents with their athletic department for three years before moving on do the same in the University of Iowa’s physical education department for two years.
In his 37 years at Dalhousie, Dr. McCabe was a professor in the School of Health and Human Performance in addition to working as a senior ergonomist for the Centre for Work and Health. He volunteered as an assistant coach and skilled performance assistant with the men’s volleyball team from 1979-83 and the men’s basketball team from 2002 to 2013. He also spent time with many other student-athletes and teams, instilling the importance of the effects that practice had on learning and performing sport-specific skills. He focused on teaching techniques that would allow student-athletes to get the most out of their practice sessions in order to prepare for games. McCabe also made himself available for one-on-one sessions to help student-athletes develop individual strategies for reaching their athletic goals. Over the course of his career, he helped more than 500 student-athletes achieve their personal and team goals through his teaching.
A regular fixture at Tigers home games, McCabe has also volunteered with the Tigers in other capacities. He has been a member of the Jeff Bredin Memorial Volleyball Tournament committee since its inception in 1985 and has sat on both the Hall of Fame and Black & Gold Athletic Awards selection committees over the years.
McCabe retired from Dalhousie in 2012, but still consults with the men’s basketball team from time to time and has volunteered with the ALS Society of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and with the Canadian Heart Association.
Hall of Fame Inductees
Al Scott, Builder - Men's Volleyball
Al Scott came to Dalhousie in 1979 as head coach of the men’s volleyball team following a very successful five-year coaching career at the University of Victoria.
A graduate of the University of Calgary’s physical education program, Scott played varsity hockey for the Dinos before moving on to complete a Master of Science degree at the University of Oregon. A physical education teacher in British Columbia, Scott coached a multitude of sports before honing in on volleyball. As the British Columbian provincial team coach, he led them to two gold medals at the Canada Games.
In his 20 years as head coach, Scott moved the Tigers to the top of the conference winning 19 Atlantic conference championships during that span. He led them to the national championship 20 consecutive seasons, winning bronze in 1981-82, 1993-94, 1994-95 and a silver medal in 1996-97.
A five-time Dalhousie coach of the year, Al was selected volleyball coach of the year a remarkable 15 times by the AUAA (now AUS) and was the CIAU (now U SPORTS) coach of the year in 1988-89.
Under his guidance, Scott groomed a multitude of players to individual success. He had 65 AUS all-stars, 15 AUS MVPs, 16 AUS championship MVPs and 24 U SPORTS all-Canadians. Eight of those players went on to have success with the junior and senior national teams.
Scott believed that success could be achieved through hard work and preparation. He instilled the importance of those attributes in his players to help them succeed on and off the court. Known for his attention to detail, Scott never left much left chance in preparing for a match. His attention to detail wasn't just limited to team preparation as he was meticulous in running all aspects of the program. Whether it was fundraising, recruiting or organizing trips, he always put a lot of time into positioning the program to be highly successful.
“Al was the most prepared coach I've ever had,” says former player, all-Canadian Brian Rourke. “He would have us fill out detailed scouting reports on upcoming opponents and then we would watch film on them all. We would go through rotation after rotation in our little hotel rooms trying to gain an advantage over our opponents.”
“Playing for Al helped me to be ready for whatever came my way during my volleyball years and for life after,” Rourke continues.
Current Dalhousie men’s volleyball coach Dan Ota spent four years as an assistant coach with Scott and relished the experience. “It's a rare opportunity to be mentored by one of the most successful coaches in our sport's history, says Ota. “I especially benefited from the amount of responsibility that Al gave me during my time as an assistant coach. Not many coaches would have trusted their assistant to have such a high degree of influence on their team, but if not for that, my transition to the head coach role would have been much more difficult to manage.”
A master coach, Scott served on Volleyball Canada’s coach review board and was president of the CIAU men’s and women’s volleyball association for four years. He was also a guest coach with Canada’s senior national men’s team for six summers and led team Nova Scotia’s Canada Games boys volleyball team to a consolation final win in 1987.
He was the driving force behind the growth of Dalhousie’s annual high school volleyball tournament, making it one of the largest in Canada. Scott also established the Jeff Bredin Memorial Scholarship and co-ed volleyball tournament fundraiser, in honour of the former Tigers player.
During his time as head coach of the Tigers men’s volleyball program, Al also held a joint appointment with what is now known as the School of Health and Human Performance at Dalhousie. His primary area of focus as a faculty member was in teaching methodology for future physical education teachers, before leading the sport management course when the physical education program ended in 1996.
Scott took on the role of athletic director at the end of the 1998-99 season before retiring in 2009. As director, he had a number of accomplishments including starting the annual academic all-Canadian luncheon, creating full-time coaching positions and gender balance amongst Dalhousie’s teams by moving women’s hockey to varsity status.
David Fry, Builder - Swimming
David Fry dedicated his life to the sport of swimming and the athletes that competed for him.
He began his career with the Tigers in 1981, spending two seasons as an interim head coach while Nigel Kemp was on sabbatical (1981 and 1993) and assisting with the Tigers until 1998 when he was named Kemp’s successor. In his 16 years as head coach, he amassed 30 conference titles leading his teams to a nearly unblemished Atlantic University Sport championship record, earning titles every year with just two exceptions (men’s 1992-93, women’s 2000-01). David was named Dalhousie’s coach of the year four times, an AUS coach of the year 20 times and was named CIS coach of the year for the women in 2003 and for the men in 2007.
Originally from Halifax, Fry and his family moved to Wolfville when he was 12. He went to Acadia and swam for the Axemen while earning an arts degree. A team captain and MVP in his final year, it was at Acadia he decided he wanted to coach, which prompted his work with young swimmers during the summer while attending school.
After receiving a Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University in 1973, David began his professional coaching career with the Dartmouth Crusaders while teaching fulltime. He received a Master of Arts in coaching science from Lakehead University in 1977 and acted as an assistant coach with the Thunder Bay Swim Club.
After leaving the Crusaders club in 1985, he earned a law degree from Dalhousie in 1998 while coaching the Tigers and Nova Scotia provincial teams. A previous chair of the Nova Scotia Swim Coaches Association, David was a level 1 and 2 coaching certification instructor for over 15 years. In 1981 and 1997, he was the head coach for the Nova Scotia Canada Games teams and in 1984 he led the Canadian national junior team to the world championships in Scotland. He was also the Bermudian national swim team coach for three years that included a trip to the 2004 Olympics in Athens with former Tigers swimmer Kiera Aitken. Aside from coaching, David was a teacher for 35 years.
His knowledge of the sport and coaching talent was essential in the Tigers success in the pool. He led Dalhousie athletes to over 20 CIS championship podium finishes including multi-year medallists David Sharpe (three gold, three silver, one bronze) and Kiera Aitken (two silver, one bronze).
David’s easy-going, but direct rapport struck a chord with Tigers swimmers, including Katherine Dunn.
“David had many talents,” she says. “He was tough but rarely angry; confident but always humble; passionate, but self-composed under pressure; exacting but easy going; learned but not didactic. What stands out to me, above all, was the way in which could he read and understand people and respond to them as individuals. He was a champion of any swimmer in his orbit who was willing to work hard, listen, and give their best, regardless of their skill, talent or speed.”
When he retired in 2012, David was asked what he was proudest of during his time at Dalhousie.
“Certainly, the run we’ve had at the AUS level has been great,” he said. “And coaching several athletes to the top of the podium, individually, at the CIS level was very rewarding.”
“But it’s also about those athletes who aren’t the ‘stars,’ but who take a lot of pride in how far they’ve come from where they started. It’s so great to be part of that, and to know how well-balanced swimmers are as people: they have some time for fun, and most of them are solid students – which our high number of Academic All-Canadians reflects.”
Adrienne Power, Athlete - Track & Field
The name Adrienne Power is synonymous with success in track and field at Dalhousie.
A member of the Dalhousie women’s track and field team from 2000 to 2005, Power won 18 AUS events and earned nine CIS medals, making her the most decorated athlete in Dalhousie Tigers history.
A native of East Jeddore, N.S., Power attended Eastern Shore District High School where she excelled in many sports, earning team MVP status in basketball, badminton and track and field in addition to being named their female athlete of the year in grade 12.
Power entered Dalhousie’s Bachelor of Commerce program in the fall of 2000 and quickly made her mark at both the AUS and CIS levels. In her first season with the Tigers, she won both the long jump and 60m events at the conference championships, setting two new AUS records. An AUS all-star, she also won gold in both the 4x200m and 4x400m relays, earning AUS rookie of the year status. At the national championship two weeks later she earned her first CIS medal, a bronze in the 60m race.
In her sophomore season, Power continued her dominance in the sprints, defending her championship title in the 60m and 4x200m relay. The AUS track and field MVP, she went on to a sixth-place finish in the long jump, eighth in the 60m and ninth in the 4x200m at the CIS championships.
The 2002-03 season was a golden one for Power. She won her first of six CIS gold medals after finishing first in the 300m event, while also earning a bronze medal in the 60m. A CIS first team all-Canadian, she won four events at the AUS championship that year, earning athlete of the meet honours.
She continued her winning ways the following year, winning gold in the 60m and 300m races at the CIS championships in addition to a silver-medal performance as a member of Dalhousie’s 4x200m relay team. The all-Canadian was again the track and field MVP and was the AUS female athlete of the year.
Power’s fifth and final season was her best. After winning the long jump, 60m, 300m, 4x200m and 4x400m relay events at the AUS championships, she won gold in the 60m, 300m and 4x200m relay races at the CIS championships. Her winning time of 37.35 seconds in the 300m set a new CIS record that still stands today. Her performance helped lead the women’s team to a bronze medal finish, which is the only medal in the program’s history. She was named the CIS track and field female athlete of the year and student-athlete community service award winner. She went on to be named the BLG CIS female athlete of the year in recognition of her outstanding success. Power is the only athlete from the AUS to ever receive the honour.
In addition to her nine CIS medals and 18 AUS gold medals, Power was an AUS all-star in each of her five years, a three-time AUS MVP and still holds three AUS records. She earned Dalhousie’s track and field MVP honour all five seasons she competed and was named the Class of ’55 Award winner as Dalhousie’s female athlete of the year in each of her last three years. Power continues to hold and share five Dalhousie records.
A member of the national team for 10 years, she represented Canada on a number of occasions at international events including a trip to the 2007 Pan American Games ahead of being named to the 2008 Olympic team. She was a semifinalist in the 200m at both events. Two years later, she won a bronze in the 200m event and a sliver in the 4x400m relay at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Former coach Peter Lord relished the opportunity to coach Power. “Adrienne was a once-in-a-generation type of athlete,” he says. “I knew almost immediately that she had the physical gifts necessary to become a great sprinter. She combined her outstanding physical talent with a work ethic second to none and the mental toughness necessary to compete at the highest level. In her final year at Dalhousie, she trained with an intensity that seemed impossible to sustain. But she did it week after week, month after month, and by the end the year, she was the most dominant sprinter the CIS had ever seen.”