1992 BELLEVILLE SPORTS HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

  • Ken Carr-Braint

    BUILDER, WEIGHTLIFTING

  • Jack Carson

    BUILDER, BASEBALL

  • Floyd Crawford

    ATHLETE, HOCKEY

  • Larry Mavety

    ATHLETE, HOCKEY

  • Harold Townsend

    ATHLETE, WATER SKIING

  • Arthur Rueben “Art” Walt

    ATHLETE, WEIGHTLIFTING

  • 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.

HAROLD TOWNSEND

ATHLETE, WATER SKIING

Few athletes in Belleville’s history can match Harold Townsend’s record of achievements combined with longevity. Inducted into the Belleville Sports Hall of Fame at age 50 (the earliest he could be inducted under the organization’s rules) he’s still excelling at one of the sports that earned him induction, water skiing. Townsend first came to the attention of city sports fans while in high school, excelling both in track and field and on the football field. As a fullback with Quinte Secondary School’s powerhouse football teams between 1967 and 1969 he led the Saints to COSSA gold. Meanwhile, as a member of the school’s track and field team he was a member of the Senior 4 X 100 metre relay team that won a Central Ontario title and finished third in the provincial games. He also participated in the shot put and javelin.  Townsend also won COSSA wrestling titles.  In 1979 Townsend was declared Quinte Secondary’s Athlete of the Quarter Century. He began water skiing competitively in 1971 and dominates the sport to this day. Townsend was Canadian Senior Water Ski champion in 1985 and 1987. He was virtually unbeatable during a 10 year stretch between 1983 and 1992, winning the Ontario Senior Men’s championship each year. Townsend has represented Canada at numerous competitions and over the four years between 1995 and 1998 won the Men’s IV title. He also competed for the University of Guelph. Also a fine hockey player, he played four seasons of Junior “B” hockey and he’s moved on to coaching representatives teams in recent years. His children have followed in his footsteps. Sara, 18, won the national tricks title six out of seven years and Jim, 16, recently placed sixth at the World Junior Water Ski Championships in Dijon, France. Jim’s also an accomplished hockey player and excels at track for Moira Secondary School.

ARTHUR RUEBEN “ART” WALT

ATHLETE, WEIGHTLIFTING

The first family of weightlifting in Belleville is undoubtedly the Walts, and Art Walt is a big reason for that. Born in Belleville in December 1951, he remains a city resident to this day. Art began his weightlifting career at the tender age of 12, weighing just under 100 pounds. In order to join the Apollo Barbell Club he was required to lift his own body weight overhead. Needless to say, Art Walt succeeded.

He was a member of the Canadian weightlifting team from 1973 to 1975, representing Canada in the 90 kg. (198 pound) class at the 1973 World Championships in Cuba and the 1975 Pan American Games in Mexico City. Art Walt established both Canadian and British Commonwealth Junior records in the 82.5 kg. (181 pound) class by lifting 275 pounds in the snatch in 1970 and 349 pounds in the clean and jerk in 1971. At the 1971 Canada Games in the 82.5 kg. class he established a games record in the (250 pounds) and total lift (825 pounds in three lifts). A silver medallist at the 1971 Canadian championships, he also won a bronze at the 1976 championships. In 1970 he was the Canadian Intermediate Champion in the 82.5 kg. class and the Ontario Games Champion and record holder in the same class.

Add to his list of accomplishments Ontario Senior and Junior championships and records in various classes. He won the “best lifter” award at the 1969, 1970 and 1971 Eastern Ontario Teenage Weightlifting championships. A portent of his future success came in 1968 when the 16-year-old Art Walt became the youngest Canadian weightlifter to lift 300 pounds overhead. Art lifted 303 pounds.

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.”