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Helped by others

Ted Upshaw pays tribute to those who made Hall of Fame career possible

GLENN MACDONALD SALTWIRE NETWORK gmacdonald@herald.ca @CH_GMacHerald

A Hants West native was thinking about others during a news conference to honour him and the rest of the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame

Class of 2021.

“This pays tribute to the amount of people, family, other ball players I played with over the years. It’s their dedication and hard work that got me to where I am,” said basketball star Ted Upshaw, of Three Mile Plains. “It gives young athletes out there an opportunity to look at someone like myself in the Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame and say ‘he’s done it through hard work, dedication and support, so can I.’ I hope it opens up the doors for others to follow.”

Upshaw, who was previously inducted into the Hall as a member of the 1977 Acadia Axemen basketball team, was a two-time all-Canadian and led the nation in scoring (29.1 ppg) and rebounding (10.2 rpg) in 1981, the same year he was named the Atlantic university conference MVP.

Upshaw joins rower Todd

Hallett, paddler Richard Dalton, fastball champion Robert Putnam, the Mark Dacey 2004 Brier-winning curling team and builders Cathy Mason and Brian Todd as this year’s inductees.

They were announced in June 2020, but COVID-19 restrictions prevented the Hall of Fame to hold an induction ceremony. They will now be honoured on Nov. 20 (8 p.m.) at the Halifax Convention Centre.

“We will finally have an induction ceremony,” Hall of Fame CEO Bruce Rainnie said. “For us, it’s been a while and we’re really happy to be back.”

In the hours before his team’s historic victory in the 2004 Brier final, Mark Dacey had a feeling some magic might happen that evening.

The Nova Scotia skip – playing in his hometown of Saskatoon against three-time defending champion Randy Ferbey of Alberta – rallied his team from an 8-4 deficit in the seventh end to win 10-9. The rink, which featured skip Dacey, lead Andrew Gibson, second Rob Harris, third Bruce Lohnes, fifth Matt Harris and coach Peter Corkum,

Former Acadia basketball star Ted Upshaw speaks during a Nova Scotia Sport Hall of Fame news conference at Scotiabank Centre on Oct. 20. Upshaw will be inducted into the Hall in November. scored three in the eighth end and another three in the 10th to earn the province its first Canadian men’s curling title in 51 years.

“The sport of curling can create some magical moments that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up and your body tingle.

“This was certainly one of them,” Dacey said. “And it

came so unexpectedly.

“There was a unique feeling in the morning of the Brier final. Having breakfast that morning, I had a real calm feeling and I felt peaceful. I said to my wife Heather, ‘I feel like this is destiny, that this is meant to happen.’ And then the score was 8-4 after seven ends and I said, ‘this isn’t the f-n destiny I was thinking of.’

“But strange things happen in Brier finals. It was pretty special, and I’m very honoured we did that for Nova Scotia.”

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