(photo taken from the wall of the Kitchener Auditorium display of K-W AOYs)

 

Now that Kitchener's already-legendary indoor volleyball star Sarah Pavan has successfully reinvented, retrained and reinvigorated herself as a beach volleyball dynamo - enough to earn a world championship and qualify for next summer's Olympic Games in Tokyo - maybe we should begin to discuss whether or not she's the greatest athlete our Tri-City region has ever produced.

 

Pavan, a Forest Heights Collegiate grad and former NCAA National Player-of-the-Year during her time at Nebraska, paired up with Toronto's Melissa Humana-Paredes (they've been together since 2016) earlier this month to capture Canada's first Beach Volleyball World Championship in Germany, defeating their American counterparts in the finals.

 

Previous to that, Pavan's beach partner had been Heather Bansley. Together those two had qualified for the 2016 Rio Summer Games and despite going undefeated in pool play, lost in straight sets to Germany in the quarter-finals.

 

Pavan and Humana-Paredes followed up their historic World Championship by also winning the inaugural Edmonton Open this past Sunday - again knocking off the U.S. squad in a battle of top seeds.

 

While playing for the Cornhuskers at Nebraska, Pavan was named Big-12 POY three times, led her team to the 2006 NCAA tournament where she was named Most Outstanding Player and for what it's worth in a discussion focused on athletic accomplishments only, was twice recognized by ESPN The Magazine as Academic All-American of the Year (2007, 2008).

 

She earned a degree in biochemistry with a perfect 4.0 GPA which makes my B-minus average coming out of both Eastwood C.I. and Wilfrid Laurier sound exactly like that - average.

 

Another elite athlete who was Kitchener born-and-bred is NHL Hall-of-Famer Scott Stevens.

 

A quick glance at his resume puts him into serious consideration as our Tri-City all-time athlete. His bodychecks alone were legendary - just ask Eric Lindros.

 

Not only was Stevens one of the consistently better defencemen during his 22 years in the NHL (how did he never win the James Norris Trophy as the league's top blueliner?), he captained the New Jersey Devils to four Stanley Cup finals in nine years winning three of them.

 

No surprise, Stevens was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2007 and just to add more "local" fuel to the fire (i.e. - debate), he also helped the Kitchener Rangers capture a Memorial Cup in 1981-82.

 

Less germane but interesting to note is that Stevens played linebacker on the Eastwood junior football team and on that same team was Markus Koch who went on to become an All-American at Boise State before graduating to the NFL and earning two Super Bowl rings (1988 and 1992) during his six years with the Washington Redskins.

 

But should Koch, a three-time All-Big Sky Conference defensive lineman at Boise, be in the conversation?

 

After all, he was born in (then) West Germany, not in the Tri-City area.

 

It all depends what our parameters are in this (so far) one-sided conversation.

 

The "Koch Dilemma" can be applied to Lennox Lewis as well.

 

How do I/we not choose Lewis, the former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world and Olympic gold medalist for Canada - emphasis on Canada - as the Tri-City GOAT?

 

In addition to his stellar boxing career, Lewis helped the Cameron Heights Golden Gaels win OFSAA gold in basketball as the most effective sixth player coming off the bench since Lola Bunny in Space Jam.

 

But…(pause for effect)…he was born in England before moving to Kitchener at age 12.

 

Hmmm.

 

Same goes for fellow boxer Mandy Bujold.

 

I automatically associate Bujold with this area and most media outlets routinely refer to her as "Kitchener's own" although technically (please don't anyone throw a right cross at me for this) she was born in Cobourg, Ontario.

 

What cannot be debated is Bujold's heart, drive, dignity and talent. She is an eleven-time national champion who unfortunately got severely ill in Rio just before competition began and her dreams were dashed.

 

She is currently on the comeback trail to qualify for the 2020 Games in Tokyo so her story is still far from over.

 

Before I get myself all tied up into argumentative knots (too late), I wonder: should I/we limit ourselves to just those athletes born in the region?

 

Moe Norman's golf resume doesn't include a professional career but he was a two-time national amateur champion and still holds the course record at Rockway with a 59 on the par 70 layout - a standard I chose to leave untouched when I played there just yesterday.

 

But those aren't even the most important or interesting parts of Moe's story.

 

What's always impressed me most about Norman is that legendary professional golfers such as Lee Trevino, Sam Snead and others described him as the greatest ball striker ever.

 

Like…ever!!!

 

Even Tiger Woods once said that there's only been two golfers in history who have "owned their swings": Ben Hogan and Moe Norman.

 

However, one could actually make the case that Norman's longtime friend and oft-times playing partner, Gary Cowan, has the better resume on paper.

 

Not only was Cowan our national junior amateur champion (1956) and mens amateur champion (1961), he was the low amateur at both the Canadian Open and the prestigious Masters tournament - which he participated in 8 times between 1962 and 1973.

 

Even more impressive, he twice won the illustrious U.S. Amateur (1966, 1971) putting him only one behind Woods, in a tie with Jack Nicklaus and one ahead of Phil Mickelson.

 

But before I go too far down this rabbit hole of deciphering the Tri-City GOAT (again - too late), let me briefly list some other names worth considering:

 

• Cambridge's Scott Thorman (Preston High School) wasn't in the show for long but while he was with the Atlanta Braves he had 16 dingers and 50 runs batted in. (Rob Ducey played with the Blue Jays, had more HRs with 31 and attended Galt Collegiate BUT…he was born in Toronto. Should that matter?)

 

• Colin Doyle (born in Kitchener) had a professional lacrosse career so impressive that his jersey number hangs from the rafters at Scotiabank Arena - no small feat. See my previous column re: the GOATs of Grand River Collegiate for more details. One of the best ever.

 

• the late Victor Davis was born in Guelph (close enough?) and attended Bluevale Collegiate and won both gold & silver medals at the '84 Summer Games in Los Angeles. He was named Swimming Canada's AOY on three different occasions.

 

• Hilda Ranscombe (born in Doon) was the star of the famous Preston Rivulettes women's hockey team of the 1930's and has been referred to by some as the "Wayne Gretzky of her time". She is a member of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame and was named Female Athlete of the 20th Century by the Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. (see my previous column re: Preston Rivulettes for more)

 

• Fitz "the Whip" Vanderpool was the inaugural winner of the K-W AOY in 1998 and was a WBC welterweight champion. He's another example of an outstanding athlete often associated with our area but (no hitting, please - I bruise easily), he was born in Trinidad and Tobago.

 

• Darryl Sittler (born in St. Jacob's) is both a Hockey Hall of Fame member and featured on Canada's Walk of Fame. He also once registered 10 points in a single game for the Toronto Maple Leafs - a record that still stands.

 

• Bobby Bauer was born in Waterloo and along with his Kitchener-born linemates, Milt Schmidt and Woody Dumart, formed the famous "Kraut Line" (shortened from the original "Sauerkraut Line" in reference to their German heritage) for the Boston Bruins. They captured two Stanley Cups together.

 

The impressive thing about our region and it's rich history of athletics is that there's many more names that deserve recognition - many, many more - but I simply can't list them all.

 

You can get mad at me for that - I get it.

 

Just no hitting!

 

If you're really a local sports buff, I suggest you check out the web sites of the Waterloo Region Hall of Fame, the Cambridge Sports Hall of Fame and, when you have the time, peruse the walls of the Kitchener Auditorium lobby where there's a tapestry of awesome local sports history (teams and individuals) on display.

 

In closing, if you're a basketball fan like me, you'll notice that I purposely left one obvious name off this list and that's Jamal Murray - the rising star of the NBA's Denver Nuggets.

 

No dis to any of the above-mentioned (or unmentioned) great athletes from our area - and I'm showing my basketball bias here - but I believe Murray will in time become the greatest athlete from our Tri-City area.

 

I say that because I never thought we'd even produce a starting player in the NBA, let alone one consisting of all-star abilities.

 

But I think we have one in the making.

 

Then again, Sarah Pavan could change my thinking come next summer in Tokyo.