St. Stephen to celebrate Sports Wall of Fame Class of 2024

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One athlete, one team and two builders will be honoured for their contributions and excellence in sport when the Greater St. Stephen Sports Wall of Fame inducts its Class of 2024 during a ceremony on May 4.

Athlete Michael Sweeney, the 1978-82 St. Stephen Sabres baseball teams and sports builders Judy Wilson and John Howard Crocker will be honoured for their dedication and success at the wall of fame’s sixth annual induction ceremony and dinner.

Sweeney was a top-flight multisport athlete whose abilities at the highest level crossed many arenas, diamonds and playing courts, ranging from baseball to basketball as well as badminton, soccer and hockey.

He was an All Ivy and All American baseball player at Brown University, won the 1983 National Baseball Championship with the Saint John Dodgers, earned silver and bronze national medals with the St. Stephen Sabres baseball teams and captured provincial and regional championships in badminton, basketball and soccer. He also played two years of minor league baseball in the New York Yankees organization.

The pinnacle of his many achievements was his all American Award in baseball at Brown University in 1984, which earned him a berth in an all-star game at Fenway Park in June of 1984.

His excellence included most valuable player and all-star awards in all sports that he played, and he was the St. Stephen Spartans athlete of the year in 1980.

The St. Stephen Sabres baseball teams from 1978-82 were a dynamic squad that achieved great success at national, regional and provincial levels and among the many awards they have won were a silver medal at the 1981 Canada Games, a silver and two bronze medals at national championships, three Atlantic Championship titles and four provincial championships.

At the 1981 Canada Games, their only preliminary loss was a 1-0 setback to a powerful team from Ontario but the team produced a come-from-behind win over Quebec and a thrilling 8-7 win over Team B.C. in the semifinals, the first time British Columbia had lost in Canada Games history. They eventually fell to Ontario in the final but captured the hearts of many for their progress.

Their three provincial titles at three different age levels was unprecedented and their success was recognized at the provincial level for their contribution to the province and the sport.

Judy Wilson has been involved in sports for more than 60 years, including coaching, managing, officiating and being the statistician of numerous squads. Her roles even included driving the bus and washing uniforms.

Most notably were her teams at St. Stephen High School, where she coached them to 118 consecutive victories and a silver medal at the national juvenile championship in 1972. She was inducted into the New Brunswick Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985 and was the manager for the AAA Spartans baseball team that won the New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association championship in 1988.

She was also recognized as the sportsman of the year in 1976 and for applying sportsmanship and competitiveness in St. Stephen sports in 1989. As a statistician, she was also a member of the St. Stephen Sabres who were inducted in the New Brunswick Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018 and she was honoured with a Baseball New Brunswick Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.

John Crocker was born in St. Stephen in 1870 and after graduation from Dalhousie University in 1897, he moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, to earn a master’s degree at the YMCA Physical Education College.

He studied with James Naismith, known as the inventor of basketball and later introduced the sport to Canadians, beginning at the YMCA in Amherst, N.S.

After working in various YMCAs across Canada, Crocker was appointed its national director. While working for the YMCA, Crocker was appointed by the 1908 Central Olympic Committee of Canada to manage the first Canadian Olympic Team. From 1912-1956, Crocker was the honorary manager of Canada’s Olympic teams, and was secretary of the Canadian Olympic Committee until 1947.

He was inducted into the New Brunswick Sport Hall of Fame in 2023.

The ceremony is slated for May 4 at the Garcelon Civic Centre in St Stephen. There will be a social hour from 5-6 p.m. as well as a silent auction before the 6 p.m. dinner and ceremony.

Tickets for the event are $50 and available from any committee member or by calling Jim Maxwell at 506-466-1798.