June 1, 2021

TIME FOR TEAMS

The CCAA Hall of Fame nomination criteria has included "no more than ten (10) individuals/teams shall be honoured each year" for years. The addition of team category criteria to accompany the statement would be timely as each of the member conferences instrumental in the founding of the Hall has hosted an induction ceremony honouring individual inductees.

The shortcomings of eligibility criteria for the CCAA Hall of Fame's existing categories have been well documented. Getting eligibility criteria right the first time is imperative with a team category.

The waiting period should be consistent across the board for all categories of inductees.  Ironically, the CCAA Hall of Fame currently has a longer waiting period for athletes than builders and coaches.

In looking at existing post secondary halls of fame established by governing bodies, common threads exist in team eligibility criteria including consecutive championships. However, one time champions that set the bar for their campus, their community and their conference or had a long, successful run as conference champions at nationals also merit consideration.

Differentiating criteria may include number of individual awards by team members, length of sustained excellence in the sport and level of dominance in the sport (such as margin of victory and undefeated streaks including a perfect season). En route to a CCAA national championship, some teams defeated the eventual CIAU/CIS/U Sports champion while others won prestigious international tournaments. 

Everyone in the team picture(s) as well as those missing indicated by fellow team members need to be included when a call to the hall is received. When Hockey Canada decided to produce rings for their IIHF champions, they decided everyone with the team would get one — essentially everyone in the team photo.

While naysayers may proclaim that the maximum number of inductees has already been set for the next induction class, there is no reason why the upper limit cannot be increased. With no inductions in 2020 and 2021, up to 20 hall of famers have not received the call who normally would have.

Lasting recognition of teams in the CCAA Hall of Fame is warranted and overdue.


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