The idea for this column came to me in the blending of two different moments in time.

 

The first occurred three years ago when I was attending Grand River Collegiate's 50th anniversary weekend in June of 2016. (I taught there in the early '80's)

 

As I walked the halls of GRCI, I came across a display that was particularily impressive - one that featured some of the school's most successful athletes.

 

I remember thinking to myself that if you picked the top 5 athletes from every high school in the region, WCSSAA or D8, could any of them match the collective resumes of the Renegade Fab Five?

 

Fast forward to this year and while visiting and chatting with some Grand River coaches and phys ed types (both past and present), I brought up the idea of doing a piece about the GOATs of GRCI.

 

Our initial casual conversations seemed to produce a pretty solid consensus of who that quintet would be but after some time passed, another name came to us and so I started thinking Super Six instead of Fab Five.

 

This, of course, led to another name not to be excluded and so I/we finally settled on a Super Seven.

 

So here's my question: if you listed the seven best athletes from your own high school, could you match the septet of Renegades I'm laying out for you here?

 

In alphabetical order, they are…

 

 

Chelsea Aubry

 

Anyone who's been around basketball for any length of time will say that Aubry is the best female player our region has ever produced.

 

Not only did she star at Grand River, earn a scholarship to Nebraska and later go on to play professionally in Australia, Aubry was the captain of our national team when they qualified for the London Olympics in 2012 after a lengthy absence.

 

"That's just one of many things I admired about Chelsea", says Kathy Brook, who coached her both at school and in a variety of elite programs. "She always supported the Ontario and Canadian programs."

 

Aubry was a gifted all-around athlete in her days at GRCI (volleyball; Jr. & Sr. WCSSAA bball champs in '98 & '02; WCSSAA rugby champs in '03) and to no one's surprise was selected as both Jr. athlete-of-the-year in grade 10 and graduating AOY.

 

"Chelsea was always a leader but what really set her apart was her attitude. Always positive and always willing to learn," recalls Brook. "She had a natural ability to know exactly what it took to succeed…and then the willingness and drive to go ahead and do it."

 

Colin Doyle

 

Most sports fans from our area already know that Colin Doyle is part of Canadian lacrosse royalty.

 

They know that he's been part of winning teams at all levels, both field and box lacrosse; they know that he's competed for Team Canada and won world championships; and they know that he had a legendary career with the Toronto Rock, a team he captained and helped lead to six NLL titles.

(Doyle's name/number hangs from the rafters at Scotiabank Arena)

 

But do they know that as a Renegade, he was the 1996 MVP of WCSSAA hockey…as a goaltender, no less?

 

"He was the best goalie in the league but could also score," says longtime Renegade hockey coach Brian Millar, now retired. "Until mid- December, he played centre and led our team in scoring but then I needed him to go back in net since we were struggling with goals against. So he did."

 

"His last game out he scored a hat trick and the next game in net he had a shutout," remembers Millar. "We didn't lose another game until the WCSSAA  final."

 

"Then I convinced him to play goal for us in soccer that spring. We had a very good team but no goalie."

 

"We went to the final but lost. But he had never played soccer since it was always lacrosse season."

 

Dana Ellis

 

Adjusting your skill set in order to adapt to a new circumstance is something all great athletes are able to do (see Aubry and Doyle above) and Dana Ellis was no exception.

 

Ellis took up gymnastics at the age of four and was exceptional at it. She was a member of the Women's National Team for 7 years. However, injury forced her out of the sport and so she took up pole vaulting instead - an event she would go on to capture gold in at both the 2004 & 2005 Canadian National Track and Field Championships.

 

How many athletes are members of a national team in two very different sports?

 

However, the amazing adaptability of Ellis doesn't end there. In her graduating year of 1998, Ellis wanted to attend prom but knew that if she did, she wouldn't be able to compete at OFSAA in pole vault as they occurred on the same day. Wanting to go to OFSAA for something, she approached Mike Galasso, her track & field coach at GRCI, and asked him to teach her the long jump instead. So that's what he did.

 

That initial request was made at a Maxi-Meet, just one week before WCSSAA . In the weeks that followed, Ellis qualified through WCSSAA, CWOSSA, Regionals and made it to OFSAA where she made it to the finals and finished sixth.

 

She was AOY at the University of Waterloo in 2002; placed 6th in pole vault at the Athens Olympics; and was named Canadian Field AOY in 2004.

 

"I could tell her three things to do and she would immediately do them," says Galasso. "And then I'd tell her three more things and she'd do those, too. And never forget the previous things I said."

 

Jamal Murray

 

Last fall, I was reading Sports Illustrated's NBA preview issue and in there was a Q&A article featuring two of S.I.'s regular NBA beat reporters. One of the questions posed was regarding which players in the league were on the verge of stardom. The player cited first by both insiders was Jamal Murray.

 

By now, most of you probably know the chronological timeline of his meteoric rise to professional prominence: 2 years at GRCI; a couple more at prep school in Orangeville with fellow future NBAer Thon Maker; MVP at both the Nike Hoop Summit and BioSteel All-Canadian Game in 2015; a spectacular one-and-done year at Kentucky (his 20.0 ppg is the highest ever by a Wildcat freshman); followed by a 7th-overall lottery selection by the Denver Nuggets.

 

And now Murray is one half of one of the best 1-2 combos in The Association along with power forward Nikola Jokic - a combo that helped the Nuggets challenge for best record during the regular season and had many whispering "sleeper pick" behind the backs of teams like Portland and Golden State.

 

Former Renegade bball coach Tolly Henderson (now at ECI) has no doubt that Murray will become an NBA all-star.

 

"If there's one thing Jamal always does is he rises to the occasion," says Henderson. "He always adjusts and he always adapts." (Hmm…where have I heard that before?) "Especially if he's challenged."

 

"His focus is outstanding as is his work ethic. So if someone tells him he can't do something, he responds."

 

"Near the end of grade nine, I told him that his left hand lay-ups were okay but could be better. The next year he came back to school and could hit three-pointers left-handed. That's Jamal."

 

Mark Scheifele

 

During his years at Grand River, Scheifele was a four-sport athlete (volleyball, basketball, badminton, track & field) and enjoyed six overall if you count the hockey and lacrosse he was playing outside of school.

 

And he was astonishingly good at all of them.

 

In fact, he was so good at everything he played that phys ed teachers like Mark Medensky had to get creative when making up teams in class.

 

"He was such a tremendous athlete," recalls Medensky "but frustrating to have in gym class because no matter who you surrounded him with, his side would still dominate and it wouldn't be close."

 

"In floor hockey, we had to institute 'the Scheifele rule' - where he wasn't allowed to score back-to-back goals. And progressive pass football was a nightmare because every time he touched the ball, he would score."

 

In grades 9 and 10, Scheifele was a big part of WCSSAA championship teams in volleyball, basketball and badminton and went to OFSAA for track and field. Naturally he was chosen as the school's Jr. AOY.

 

Like the others, Scheifele was a quick study as Jr. basketball coach Scott Curtis can attest.

 

"I remember him seeing a player draw an offensive foul in a game and then asking about the rule and how it worked," explains Curtis. "In the next half, he drew three charges like he was Kyle Lowry."

 

In January of this year, Scheifele appeared in his first NHL all-star game. It won't be his last.

 

Kenen Shadd

 

"Even though I coached him in track and field, one of my lasting memories about Kenen is from when he played volleyball at Grand River," says Galasso.

 

"Just to get inside the heads of the opposing teams, Kenen would begin the warm-up by jumping up and grabbing the top of the volleyball antennae at the side of the net which was eleven feet up."

 

"That would usually get their attention."

 

Shadd might be the only athlete in the history of OFSSA track and field to win gold in the same event for five consecutive years. He did it in triple jump and still holds the Jr. boys OFSAA record.

 

The previous record-holder in that event was Glenroy Gilbert who won a gold medal at the 1996 Games in Atlanta as a member of the Canadian 4X100 relay team.

 

"Not only did Kenen win at OFSAA, his margin of victory was often close to a metre or so" remembers Galasso.

 

His resume in volleyball and basketball was also very impressive: 4 WCSSAA, 3 CWOSSA and 2 OFSAA medals in volleyball and two WCSSAA titles in basketball.

 

At the end of grade 12, he was the #2-ranked high school triple jumper in North America. If not for a series of injuries and subsequent operations, Shadd certainly would have been an Olympian.

 

Kelly Vanderbeek

 

"Kelly was such an all-around natural athlete and also an amazing person," says current GRCI staff member Michelle Prentice, who coached her in soccer. "She was a strong force on our team and always provided such encouragement to her fellow teammates."

 

 Vanderbeek was also a member of the Renegade cross country team during her time at GRCI.

 

Sports enthusiasts might recognize her from TV where she's been an on-air broadcaster for CTV, CBC, Sportsnet, etc. covering five Olympic Games and numerous Rogers Cups among other things.

 

At the height of her career, she was the most decorated female member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team and back in 2002 was named our country's Junior Athlete of the Year.

 

VanderBeek captured three World Cup medals and finished fourth in super-G at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. She was only 0.03 seconds away from a bronze medal

 

Similar to Shadd, a devastating crash in 2009 left her with a full knee dislocation and left her dreams of making it to the 2010 Vancouver Games in tatters.

 

"Kelly was always a dedicated student who managed to excel in school even while maintaining a busy athletic schedule," adds Prentice. "She is such a genuine person with such a strong work ethic." 

 

"We always knew she was going to do great things with her life."

 

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Final notes:

 

i) Of these seven athletes, five of them (Doyle, Ellis, Murray, Scheifele & Vanderbeek) were named K-W Athlete of the Year and one other (Aubry) was nominated twice. Only Shadd, plagued by injuries, is missing.

 

ii) two of them (Ellis and Vanderbeek) are members of the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame.

That number needs to increase. (See the web site for information re: nominating someone)

 

iii) this "Group of Seven" has competed at either a national level or professional level in eight different sports: women's basketball, lacrosse, gymnastics, pole vault, men's basketball, ice hockey, triple jump and downhill skiing.

 

Okay, all you readers out there and your high schools - it's your move.