1992 BELLEVILLE SPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

  • Ken Carr-Braint

    BUILDER, WEIGHTLIFTING

  • Jack Carson

    BUILDER, BASEBALL

  • Floyd Crawford

    ATHLETE, HOCKEY

  • Larry Mavety

    ATHLETE, HOCKEY

  • Gary Walt

    ATHLETE, WEIGHTLIFTING

KEN CARR-BRAINT

BUILDER, WEIGHTLIFTING

Ken Carr-Braint brought his love of the sport of weightlifting to Belleville in 1947. He was the founder of the powerful Apollo Barbell Club, one of the most respected clubs in Canada during its heyday. Apollo lifters, under Ken’s guidance, competed at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, the 1970 Commonwealth Games, the 1972 Olympics in Munich, the 1973 World Championships, and four different Pan Am Games.

Founder of the Ontario Weight Lifting Association and the Ontario and Canadian Teenage Championships. Ken also became involved in the administrative side of the sport, acting as president of the Canadian Weightlifting Federation and serving on organizing committees for several World Championships. He was also a top referee at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, a highlight of his career.

Ken’s greatest joy was seeing his lifters achieve personal goals, be they weightlifting records or simply achieving a sense of confidence and well-being. Ken also helped train children with polio and other crippling injuries: “That’s another kind of victory.”

JACK CARSON

BUILDER, BASEBALL

A life member of the Ontario Baseball Association, Jack Carson’s involvement in the game dates back to his days as a player and an umpire in the 1930s in the South Hastings Baseball League. After playing junior, intermediate and senior baseball in Belleville and area, Jack turned his talents to the administrative side of the game. He was a founding father and the first president of the Eastern Ontario Baseball Association and served in several official capacities with the Ontario Baseball Association including president. His involvement in the OBA lasted from 1954 to 1985. Carson was instrumental in making batting helmets mandatory in baseball in Ontario in the 1960s, one of his proudest accomplishments. He also received a provincial achievement award in 1971 from Ontario premier Bill Davis.

FLOYD CRAWFORD

ATHLETE, HOCKEY

“I liked Belleville and thought it was a good place to raise a family.” With those simple words, Floyd Crawford and wife Pauline settled in The Friendly City in the mid-1950s and the rest, as they say, is hockey history. Floyd captained the 1958 Allan Cup champion Belleville McFarlands and led the Macs to a World Hockey Championship in 1959 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. The Crawfords raised nine children in Belleville, several of whom made hockey their livelihood. Floyd and Pauline also are proud of the fact that sons Marc, Bobby and Louie all played in the National Hockey League.

Floyd has acted as coach, assistant coach, scout, director of player personnel and mentor to countless young hockey players since his playing career finished in the 1960s. He coached the Trenton Bobcats to an Ontario junior B title and also guided Team Ontario to a gold medal at the Canada Games in 1984. He is still involved in hockey, acting in a capacity as director of player personnel for the Newmarket Royals of the Ontario Hockey League.

LARRY MAVERTY

ATHLETE, HOCKEY

 Larry Mavety’s name became synonymous with junior hockey in the City of Belleville in the 1980s and 1990s, extending a hockey career in the game he loves. Mav’s playing days began in the 1950s, and took the rugged defenceman across North America. His professional career comprised the American and Western Hockey leagues and the World Hockey Association. Mavety’s athletic talents extended to the baseball field where, as a catcher, he was part of an all-Ontario championship, both as a junior and senior player. He helped bring major junior hockey to the city at the tier II and Ontario League levels.

Known as a player’s coach, Mavety brings his hard-nosed style and pursuit of excellence behind the bench, expecting the same dedication and determination from his players, game in and game out. Mav’s interest in developing junior talent and his business association with the Belleville Bulls has seen him decline several offers to enter the ranks of professional coaching. He is the longest serving GM-coach of the Belleville Bulls.

GARY WALT

ATHLETE, WEIGHTLIFTING

Weightlifting brought a sense of worth to Gary Walt, and he credits his younger days with the Apollo Barbell Club with building a strong foundation for his life after weightlifting. A former Canadian champion, Walt competed for Canada at the Commonwealth Games and Pan-Am Games; he also established a Canadian record in the overhead press in 1972, a record which still stands although the overhead press has since been eliminated from competition. A knee injury kept him off the Canadian Olympic team in 1972 and he further aggravated the injury in 1974 leading to his retirement in 1975. Walt credits the camaraderie of his fellow lifters at the Apollo Barbell Club, coach Ken Carr-Braint and his family for much of his success. “We had nothing elaborate but we were tough.”