The StFX Sports Hall of Fame is ready to welcome some new members this week.
Coach K Court, Saputo Centre, St. FX University. (Ken Kingston photo)
The 2023 class of the STFX Sports hall of Fame is being inducted tonight, at 7 p.m. during a special ceremony in Barrick Auditorium at the Brian Mulroney Institute of Government. The four athletes include basketball player Varouj Gurunlian, football player Tony Grassa, soccer player Tanya (MacMIllan) Feltmate, and basketball player Sheila (Murrin) Smith. Also being inducted are builder Laurence Streete, as well as the 1958-59 basketball team and the 1983 football team.
Gurunlian he earned three AUAA all-star selections in a four-year stint with the White and Blue. In 1980-81, Gurunlian garnered a second
St. FX Stadium
team All-Canadian nod while leading the X-Men to an AUAA banner.
Grassa, an offensive tackle-guard, earned consecutive AUAA offensive all-star and CIAU All-Canadian selections, while collecting the conference lineman of the year award in 1981. He was also the winner of the J.P. Metras Trophy as the CIAU’s top lineman in the country that same year.
Feltmate led the White and Blue in scoring from 1983 to 1986, and was a two time all-star. Feltmate will be heading into the STFX Sports Hall of Fame for a second time; she and her teammates from the 1986 AUAA champions were inducted in the team category in 2010.
In Smith’s five seasons with the X-Women Basketball program, she received AUAA second-team
St. FX Charles V. Keating Centre (Ken Kingston photo)
all-star honours twice, while collecting a pair of MVP trophies for the White and Blue. She also capped off her final varsity season with the 1990 STFX Female Athlete of the Year award.
Streete, a multi-sport athlete, was the first BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Colour) student-athlete at STFX, making him one of the true builders and pioneers of athletics at the university. He played rugby and soccer for STFX, while also serving as assistant manager for the hockey team.
The 1958-59 basketball team won the Maritime Intercollegiate crown, as well the Canadian Senior ‘B’ Championship. They are also recognized as the first ‘official’ Atlantic university men’s basketball champions, helping ring in the modern era for the sport in this part of the country.
The 1983 X-Men football team captured the second consecutive AUAA banner for the program. Finishing with a 6-2 record that season, the White and Blue led the conference in total yards (2,014) and interceptions (19).