Hall of Fame News: 2025 Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame and Museum Annual Report

This was another eventful and successful year for our Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame and Museum (MBHOFM). Manitoba is still the only province in Canada that has a permanent site for a basketball hall of fame and museum. The following were the highlights:

1. Our 19th Induction Dinner on September 28, 2024, saw another new record set with 332 people in attendance. The following individuals and teams were inducted:
   1. PLAYERS: Jennifer Finch and Keith Strieter
   2. BUILDERS: Wes Crymble, Joe Di Curzio, Tom Kendall, and Reynold Reyes
   3. TEAMS: Neelin High School Spartans 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 & 2008 Varsity Girls and St. Laurent School Hawks 1992, 1993 & 1995 Varsity Boys 
2. Our heritage inventory collection continued to grow. More and more people are realizing that the old uniforms, programs, clippings, etc. that have been stored in a box somewhere in our homes need a permanent home in our museum – all donations are welcome.
3. We have continued the process of entering our heritage collection into a database, Musetoba, purchased through our membership in the Association of Manitoba Museums (AMM). We now have over 1000 items entered. This allows public access to our collection via the Public Portal. We now have three “sites”: our physical site at the University of Winnipeg, our Hall of Fame website with Basketball Manitoba, and the Public Portal site with AMM.
4. Based on a grant from Manitoba Sport, Culture and Heritage, we hired an individual to conduct research and submit a report on the history of the University of Manitoba Bisons basketball. 
5. For the first time, we qualified as a Level 2 Museum through the Community Museum Grants Program.
6. We continued to receive an annual grant from our endowment fund through the Winnipeg Foundation, where we raised funds to ensure our long-term sustainability.
7. We continued to change the displays in our display cases on a regular basis to highlight different themes or members of the Hall of Fame.
8. In the past year, January 1- December 31, 2024, we had 13,419 visitors to our University of Winnipeg site.
9. Our financial situation remains very solid. We are committed to investing our revenues directly into our Hall of Fame and Museum site and the basketball community in general.
10. Our MBHOFM is open every day during the year from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., except for statutory holidays. 
11. Our committee members were: Ross Wedlake (Chair), Vic Pruden (Past Chair), Ted Stoesz (Vice Chair), Janet McMahon, Jerry Ilchyna, Wes Crymble, Morris Glimcher, Jerry Hemmings, Carol Ploen-Hosegood, Ken Opalko, Susan Johnson, Coleen Dufresne, Kyla Shore, Tyler Crayston, and Adam Wedlake (Recording Secretary - Ex-Officio).
12. Here are the links for much of the above :
    1. Basketball Manitoba – www.basketballmanitoba.ca
    2. Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame and Museum – www.mbhof.com
    3. AMM Musetoba – www.museumsmanitoba.com
    4. Public Portal – www.musetoba.ca/Detail/entities/134

For 2025, the following are planned:

1. The development and adoption of a new governance model.
2. The further organization of our heritage collection and the further development of the Musetoba system.
3. A new custom-made display case. 

In conclusion, we need to mention the tremendous and continuing support we get from the University of Winnipeg, Basketball Manitoba and our members and friends. Our Hall of Fame and Museum would not exist without this support and the support of our extended basketball community.

Respectfully submitted by

Ross Wedlake

Chair, MBHFOM

Source: https://www.mbhof.com/2025/06/2025-manitoba-basketball-hall-of-fame.html