Basketball
team and two former Axemen Inducted
Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame announce 2009 Inductees
Wednesday,
May 27, 2009 - Acadia Sports Information Office |
 (Halifax,
NS) Several former Axemen will be inducted into this year's Nova
Sports Hall of Fame including current Acadia Director of Varsity
Athletics Brian Heaney. Heaney, a former basketball great at
Acadia, along with former Axemen Bruce Beaton (Football), and the 1976-77 National Championship men's
basketball team will be inducted into the Nova Scotia Sport Hall
of Fame at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 7 in a gala ceremony
at the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax.
One of the most accomplished groups of athletes and builders
will soon be enshrined in the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame.
Five athletes, two builders and one team will enter the Nova
Scotia Sport Hall of Fame at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, November 7 in a
gala ceremony at the World Trade and Convention Centre in
Halifax.
Their names will be added to the list of sport heroes and
builders at the Hall, located at the Halifax Metro Centre. More
than 80,000 visitors visited Hall in the past 12 months, its
third year at the site.
The Acadia University athletes include:
 Football
lineman Bruce Beaton of Port Hood, a two-time Grey Cup winner
with Edmonton Eskimos, was a three-time CFL All-Star, seven-time
division all-star, and named an All-Century Edmonton Eskimo. In
the 1991 CFL draft, Bruce was a first-round selection of the
B.C. Lions and picked eighth overall. Bruce also played with Los
Angeles Extreme of the XFL and had a tryout with the NFL
Indianapolis Colts. Now living in Kentville, Bruce helps coach
Acadia Axemen where he was a three-time CIS All-Canadian while
playing there.
Brian Heaney, Acadia basketball star in the 1960s, held all
school offensive records when he left Acadia, holds the AUS
single game scoring record of 74 points (prior to the
three-point basket), and his scoring average of 34.1 ppg in
1967-68 is still tops in the AUS. He was a two-time
All-Canadian, and is the first person to win national basketball
titles as a player (Acadia 1965) and coach (Saint Mary's 1973).
The Rockaway Beach, N.Y. native, now living in Wolfville is
athletic director at Acadia, a member of the Canadian Basketball
Hall of Fame and the Acadia Sports Hall of Fame. He was drafted
by, and played with, Baltimore Bullets of the NBA. He is a
two-time member of the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame with
Acadia (1965) and Saint Mary's (1973).
Acadia Axemen Basketball Team of 1976-77 won the CIS
championship in Halifax, defeating Lakehead University 72-63 at
the Halifax Forum. They won the AUS title in an 84-82 OT
thriller over UPEI. The team won 25 of 30 games overall,
including one stretch of 23 wins in 24 games, and 16 in a row.
Ed Shannon was AUS MVP and Alvin Jessamy was an All-Canadian on
this team with eight Nova Scotians on its roster including
starting backcourt of Gordie West of Liverpool and Robert Upshaw
of Lower Sackville, plus freshman forward Ted Upshaw of Windsor
who would become an all-conference player. Coach Dick Hunt was
named AUS Coach of the Year.
Bruce Rainnie of CBC Charlottetown and a national play-by-play
man and host for many CBC major sporting events, will be master
of ceremonies.
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