Former Manitoba Bisons coach headlines Football Manitoba Hall of Fame class
The longtime Bisons coach is one of eight individuals to be enshrined as part of the class of 2025. Dobie retired from the Herd late last year after coaching the team for 29 years. He led the Bisons to the 2007 Vanier Cup as well as three Canada West conference titles.
Dobie was named the conference's coach of the year five different times and also coached the Churchill Bulldogs over his 50-year coaching career.
Get daily National news
Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
Former Neepawa Tigers coach Murray Black will also be inducted in the coach's category.
Two former players were selected for induction. Christine O'Donnell will head into the hall after playing alongside the boys before trailblazing a path with the Winnipeg Fearless and Wolfpack women's teams.
Story continues below advertisement
Jerome Swarath will also be inducted after playing touch football for over 45 years. He played in every major non-contact league and won eight championships over five decades and later became the commissioner of the PIT Touch & Flag Football League which is the biggest league in Canada.
They're joined by four builders in Terry Andryo, Craig Bachynski, Richard Dudek, and Don McPherson.
The Winnipeg Assassins Touch Team will also go into the hall of fame after winning 30 league titles over 33 years, while also capturing the 1982 National Intermediate Championship before retiring from outdoor play in 2011.
The 11th annual induction ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 25.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
8 hours ago
- Global News
Lions pounce on Elks 32-14 for second straight win
The B.C. Lions looked like a team in complete control on Sunday. Nathan Rourke passed for 345 yards and two touchdowns as the Lions won the latest clash of the Canadian quarterbacks, emerging with an easy 32-14 victory over the Edmonton Elks on Sunday. 'We did some good things,' Rourke said. 'We definitely need to finish drives a little bit better, but I think we did a really good job really giving it to them in the run game, having some long times of possession and really putting some drives together, that was good to see. 'It's good to be playing good football and it's also good not to have played our best football yet.' James Butler also rushed for a career-high 172 yards and a touchdown for the Lions (3-3), who have won two straight. Story continues below advertisement 'I felt like I could have had more,' Butler chuckled. 'We were talking all week about putting four quarters together. We've had slow starts. I thought we got out fast in this game and kept on pushing.' Quarterback Tre Ford passed for only 34 yards as Edmonton was held to just 160 yards in net offence on the night, much of that coming when the game was already out of reach. 'It was a tough game,' Ford said. 'Obviously we got beat up and a lot of that was my fault. There was just a lot of missed throws today. It just sucks because I thought I was seeing the field really well. 'It just wasn't our day.' Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy The Elks dropped to 1-4. There was no scoring until late in the opening quarter when Sean Whyte nailed a 33-yard field goal. The Lions made it 10-0 five minutes into the second quarter when Rourke completed a short pass to Jevon Cottoy and he danced out of the clutches of a defender and dove into the end zone for a 16-yard touchdown. Edmonton caught a break when a Rourke pass went off a helmet on the line and was caught by defensive lineman Jake Ceresna, who promptly fumbled it before teammate Tyrell Ford dropped on it on the B.C. 19. It would eventually lead to a one-yard TD plunge by backup quarterback Cody Fajardo. Story continues below advertisement The Lions came roaring back to restore their 10-point lead with two minutes left in the first half as Butler powered his way through for a 15-yard rushing TD. B.C. looked to have extended its lead on a massive 92-yard punt return touchdown by Seven McGee, but the play was nullified on an illegal block call. With just eight seconds left in the second quarter, however, Rourke completed a seven-yard TD pass to Stanley Berryhill III to take a 24-7 lead into halftime. In their first five games this season, the Lions had managed only three points in the first quarter and had been outscored a combined 72-32 in the opening half. 'Early execution was key for us and we've been lacking that the last number of weeks,' said Lions head coach Buck Pierce. 'So, to be able to come out and start a little faster was good to see.' After gaining two points on a safety on Edmonton's previous possession, Whyte kicked a 36-yard field goal with 3:24 remaining in the third. Whyte added a 31-yard field goal with five minutes left in the fourth. Fajardo replaced Ford at QB late in the fourth and completed a 31-yard touchdown pass to Kurleigh Gittens Jr. Story continues below advertisement NOTES It was the second game this season featuring a pair of Canadian starting quarterbacks, as the first game for both squads this season also had Ford going against Rourke, with the Lions winning that encounter 31-14. Before this season, the last time there was an all-Canadian quarterback matchup also featured these same two teams, taking place way back in August 1968 (the Lions' Pete Ohler against Edmonton's Frank Cosentino). … The two teams will meet a third time on Oct. 17 in Vancouver, the second-last week of the regular season … Ceresna suffered a leg injury in the third and was carted off the field. UP NEXT Lions: Host the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Saturday, July 19. Elks: Visit the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday, July 25.
Global News
13 hours ago
- Global News
Blue Jays draft SS JoJo Parker with eighth pick
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook ATLANTA – The Toronto Blue Jays selected shortstop JoJo Parker eighth overall in the first round of Major League Baseball's draft on Sunday. The six-foot-two Parker, 18, attended Purvis High School in Mississippi. He became the highest-ever pick out of Purvis. He batted .489 with 13 home runs, 64 runs scored and 35 RBIs this past season. Story continues below advertisement The 200-pound athlete also stole 30 bases to lead the Tornadoes (29-8) to the Class 4A state championship game. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Parker, also a right-handed pitcher on the high school level, boasted an 8-2 record on the mound with a 2.77 earned-run average and 89 strikeouts in 55.2 innings pitched. He is currently signed to play college baseball with Mississippi State University next season. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2025.
Global News
17 hours ago
- Global News
Alberta's transgender ban in sports exempts visiting out-of-province athletes
Alberta is rolling out new regulations this fall banning transgender athletes from playing women's sports, but the province will still welcome out-of-province transgender competitors. Tourism and Sport Minister Andrew Boitchenko said the discrepancy is out of his hands. 'We don't have authority to regulate athletes from different jurisdictions,' he said in an interview. In a followup statement, ministry spokeswoman Vanessa Gomez added it's due to outside sporting organizations being bound by out-of-province or international guidelines. She added the rules allow the government 'to do what is best for Albertan athletes, while also showcasing Alberta as a premier destination for national and international sport events.' Starting Sept. 1, the province will block transgender athletes from Alberta who are 12 and older from competing in female amateur sports. It's one of a suite of changes surrounding transgender health, education and sport introduced last year by Premier Danielle Smith's United Conservative Party government. Story continues below advertisement The laws sparked polarizing debate. Proponents, including Smith, say it's about fairness on the playing field, so girls are not battling opponents with biological advantages. Detractors say it's about stigmatizing and punishing those in the transgender community. Hannah Pilling, a track athlete who petitioned in favour of restricting transgender people in female sports, has welcomed the new regulations. She said in an interview she hopes Smith's government takes it further. 'It's kind of hard to enforce that on other athletes that are coming to compete in Alberta, but it's definitely still not completely fair,' Pilling said. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy She added that she would like to see future rules apply to men's divisions. Transgender athlete Allison Hadley said the exemption for out-of-province athletes suggests the legislation is not really about fairness or safety. 'If I had the resources to (move), honestly, I probably wouldn't be in Alberta now,' she said. 'We're here in a province that doesn't want us to be in the public or exist in many ways.' Hadley said she didn't pick up cross-country skiing to win medals. She said she was in it for the health benefits, the motivation that competition brings to her training and the camaraderie on the trail. Story continues below advertisement 'It really sucks to have that taken away,' she said. Mark Kosak, head of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference, said a restriction preventing transgender athletes from coming to Alberta to compete might have stopped the organization from ever hosting a national championship again. 'So there's some relief from us,' Kosak said. He said the conference hosts more than 1,000 events a year and, of those, between 40 and 50 host out-of-province competitors. He said he's unaware of any transgender athletes competing in the conference. Kosak added that the sporting community didn't ask for the government's new rules. 'This is not a priority. This is not a concern,' he said. 'It's not an issue.' The rules will be enforced through a complaint-driven process. Female athletes subject to complaints need to prove their sex registration at birth. For those who were born elsewhere but live in Alberta and can't retrieve documents that clearly state their sex at birth, Boitchenko said the government will look at 'alternative documents.' 'We'll be looking at (it) case by case, making sure that nobody feels that they can't compete just because they lost certain documents,' he said. Story continues below advertisement Possible sanctions for bad-faith complaints against athletes could result in written warnings or code of conduct violations. Bennett Jensen, legal director at LGBTQ+ advocacy group Egale, said the validation process alone is a 'gross violation of the privacy of all women and girls.' He said the government is introducing a complaint-based 'snitch line' for complaints that will spur even more public policing of women's bodies and gender presentation among young girls — whether they're transgender or not. He said a 12-year-old, at a vulnerable stage of her life, could be subject to scrutiny and humiliation based on her physical appearance. Jensen also said the government's biological advantage argument falls apart in many instances, including for those athletes receiving hormone replacement therapy. Boitchenko said inclusion is the goal, and the government is planning to expand grants to encourage sporting organizations to create coed divisions where numbers allow. Pilling's father, Dave Pilling, said he sits on the board for the Southern Alberta Summer Games, where they introduced open categories in all sports this year. But for the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference, Kosak said creating coed divisions across the majority of sports is 'totally impractical and unrealistic.'
