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Home of Champions celebrate six more inductees

Six more of Greater Trail’s finest will have their names etched on the Home of Champions Monument
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Six more of Greater Trail’s finest will be added to the Home of Champions Monument.

The public is invited to celebrate the proud achievements of its local citizens with the induction ceremony Thursday evening in downtown Trail.

The Home of Champions induction ceremony begins at 6 p.m. at the Riverbelle followed by a processsion to the Home of Champions Monument located next to Kootenay Savings at the corner of Cedar Ave. and Farwell St.

Dr. Peter Dewdney, Greg Barber, Glen Sanders, Glen Kalesniko, Charles Bisset, and Terry Jones earned the honour for a lifetime of commitment and success in their chosen fields.

Trail native Peter Dewdney earned a PhD in Electrical Engineering at the University of British Columbia and his research into ionization and dissociation processes, interstar mediums, super-nova remnants and astronomical data reduction and telescope design is cutting edge. The 74-year-old is a Senior Research Officer with the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory National Research Council.

He’s also an International Project Engineer for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), and the principle architect of the world’s most powerful telescope.

Dr. Dewdney won the prestigious International Award for Radio Telescope Technology and is currently involved with a massive signal corelator located in New Mexico, a large radio wave telescope in Hawaii, and heads a Canadian University team developing a large adaptive reflector.

He also serves as Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester.

Barber, an elite mountaineer, has climbed to the top of the world and back several times. Most notably, in his 2017 ascent of Mt. Everest, the Montrose native took a selfie of himself at the 29,000-ft. summit wearing a Trail Smoke Eaters baseball cap.

Since March 2002, Barber has climbed the highest mountain on every continent including Africa’s Mt. Kilimanjaro at 19,339 feet, Mt. McKinley in Alaska at 20,320 feet, Mt. Aconcagua in Argentina at 22,840 feet, Mt. Cho-Qyu in Tibet at 26,906 feet Everest in Nepal at 29,035 feet.

Anyone involved in hockey in Trail knows Glen Sanders. The Montrose resident is the head amateur scout for the NHL Nashville Predators, with his roots firmly planted in Greater Trail hockey.

Sanders started out coaching in 1978 in Trail Minor Hockey, then coached Jr. B Trail Smokies in 1987 when he won coach of the year. The transition to scouting began when he was asked to recommend players for the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders, and was soon hired by Ken Hitchcock and the Kamloops Blazers.

Over the next 10-years, Sanders helped build six Memorial Cup finalists in Kamloops along with three championships.

In 1996, Sanders became the GM for the new Trail Junior A Smoke Eaters team. After three seasons, he returned to scouting and took on the position as the head scout for the Tri City Americans and then the Regina Pats.

In 2004, he was hired by the Predators and helped build a team that made it to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final.

Over the last 33 years Glen Kalesniko has trained between 8,000 and 10,000 students and mentored over 20 nationally recognized champions.

Aside from his own success as a fighter, Kalesniko also trained Muay Thai fighters Leanne McLim, Canadian Muay Thai Super Bantam champion; Brent Russell, six-time Gladiators North American champion; Francis Pettitt, North American Bantam Title; Charles Bisset, World Cruiser Weight champion and Suwit Stadium champion in Thailand; Boom Watt Hanaya; Gavin Neil, and Wesley Neil to name a few.

Kalesniko’s Pride Gym is a fixture in the Silver City and the Beaver Valley native continues to train elite athletes and promote fitness in the community.

One of Kalesniko’s star pupils also earned the honour of inductee. Charles Bisset began his Muay Thai training at Pride Gym, and as a 16-year-old was ranked fourth in Canada as an amateur fighter.

As a semi-pro he won the CMTA National Canadian Muay Thai title, the North American title, and the WKA World Championship belt.

The 31-year-old Retallack native also trained in Thailand with world-renowned trainer Lamsongkram, and holds the ACB North American Kickboxing title, the North American Muay Thai Championships and the World Kickboxing Association Cruiser Weight title.

As an actor and professional fighter, Bisset now lives in Los Angeles and most recently battled for the IKKC Muay Thai World title in March.

Montrose’s Terry Jones spent the past 23 years building the most successful franchise in Junior B hockey in the Beaver Valley Nitehawks.

Under Jones’ direction the Nitehawks captured eight KIJHL championships, four Cyclone Taylor Cups and won three medals at the Keystone Cup Championship including gold in 2014.

This past season, Jones counted his 1,000th win in the KIJHL, an unprecedented milestone. He then led a young but inspired Nitehawks team to the Kootenay Conference final.

Jones also takes time to coach and mentor young hockey players, and along with his sons, Connor and Kellen, has run the Champions Hockey School in Trail for the past several years.



Jim Bailey

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