NOTL Sports Wall of Fame welcomes two new inductees

Canada’s first official national sport was in the spotlight as the 28th and 29th members of Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Sports Wall of Fame were inducted Friday night.

Lacrosse player Paul French and Monty Slingerland, a lacrosse coach and builder who led a Junior team that included French’s older brother Mike to three major championships in 1973, saw their names and images enshrined on the wall at the Meridian Credit Union Arena.

It was a bit of a family affair for the induction ceremony at the arena. The elder French welcomed his brother to the wall, while Slingerland’s cousin Ken, a past president of the NOTL Kinsmen Club, the organization behind the development of the Wall of Fame, did the honours for his cousin Monty. 

Paul French was part of the 1981 Founders Cup Canadian Lacrosse champion NOTL Warriors team. He went on to win two Atlantic Coast Conference championships as a scholarship player at the University of Virginia, earning All Conference and All American status and leading the Cavaliers in goals in 1983. He also was a member of the Canadian national field lacrosse team and played professionally with the National Lacrosse League’s (NLL) Philadelphia Wings. With the Wings, Paul was again a champion, helping them to their first NLL title in 1989. 

With his own Wall of Fame portrait looking over his right shoulder, Mike French, whose own lacrosse journey was in many ways similar, took to the podium to speak about his brother, whom he nominated for Friday’s honour.

“We played together on the Canadian field lacrosse team in 1982 and 1986,” said Mike, “and we played together on the Wings. And we’re neighbours in Villanova (Pennsylvania). But Mike is a proud member of this community. He bought a vacation house here in Virgil just a few years ago.”

Mike added that when anyone in the US asks either brother where they are from, they both proudly name St. Davids or Niagara-on-the-Lake, often drawing blank stares. When Paul was told a few months ago that he was nominated for the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, he told his brother that he didn’t care about that. 

“He told me he just wanted to be on this wall,” said Mike, while their 95-year-old mother looked on from the audience. “I’m really happy and proud to have my brother inducted here.” 

“When I look at the wall,” Paul began in his speech, “I think of all the great athletes and contributors that are up here, like Stan Ignatczyk, my brother Mike, Willi Plett, the great Wally Dyck, Ted Greves. This is really an honour.”

Calling NOTL his “happy place”, Paul credited the people of the village of St. Davids for being such a big part of his youth. His lacrosse stick, he said, was always in his hands in those days. 

“Some of those memories from back then are more special to me than my pro years,” he said. “In 1981, that Canadian Junior B championship team, it was really special that year, it was a really great group of guys from NIagara-on-the-Lake, St. Catharines and the Tuscarora reserve in the States.”

Mike joined Paul and his sons, 18-year-old Colin and 15-year-old Zach, at the front for the unveiling of his plaque, before turning the microphone over to Ken Slingerland, representing the NOTL Kinsmen Club. 

“We’ve only nominated one other person, Stan Ingatczyk in 2003,” Ken said. “Twenty years later, we nominated Monty for the Wall of Fame.”

Ken outlined his cousin’s contribution to the early days of NOTL lacrosse, first as a player, then  a coach, and starting in 1972, as a coach, manager and co-owner with Ignatczyk of NOTL;s new Kinsmen Jr. B Warriors team.

Under Monty’s leadership the Warriors won gold in 1973 at the Ontario Games and the Canada Games and followed that by winning the Ontario Lacrosse Championship later that year. That “trifecta” accomplishment has yet to be repeated by any team 50 years later. 

The NOTL Wall of Fame is just the latest honour for the retired electrician. This past April, Monty was chosen as a “lacrosse legend” by the Lacrosse Canada. Their website features an engaging interview with the NOTL resident.

“He checks all the boxes through his involvement in lacrosse for the Wall of Fame,” said Ken. “He grew the sport over the years as a player, a coach, a franchise owner, and he’s also supported the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in St. Catharines.. He deserves to be recognized.”

In his acceptance speech, a humble Monty regaled the crowd with his story of discovering the game while attending the old Maple Leaf School on Four Mile Creek Road and his journey as a player learning the game on a dirt surface. 

“We were able to borrow the sticks for the summer,” he recalled. “I would ride from St. Davids to Virgil on Stan’s tractor. We scrimmaged on the old outside hockey rink that had plywood sides and a dirt floor. Every once in a while a tractor with a bush hog had to cut the weeds. It was like a Zamboni.”

He moved on to describe how he and Ignatczyk took the opportunity to bring a Junior B team to NOTL. With a number of players from that 1973 championship team looking on, he gave game-by-game details of all three of those tournaments that landmark year, cracking jokes and leaving those players and the audience in stitches. 

Monty was joined at the front by his grandson Ethan for the unveiling of his plaque, as the audience applauded. 

One noticeable difference in this years’ Wall of Fame induction ceremony was the presence of retired NOTL facilities supervisor Ken Rive as the master of ceremonies and chair of the committee. Rive took over the role from Ward Simpson, who hosted many of these events over the years. 

Nominations for 2024 can be made by the general public and sent to the Niagara-on-the-Lake parks and recreation office with supporting evidence by March 31 next year.