Sault's Sports Hall of Fame adds two new members

Sault Ste. Marie’s newest Sports Hall of Fame inductees were honoured on Thursday.

John Greenwood and Heikki Kinnunen were officially inducted during a ceremony at the Civic Centre with family and friends on hand.

A well-known member of the local figure skating community, Greenwood has been involved in the sport for over 50 years as a skater, official and administrator.

“I was really honoured to receive this recognition,” Greenwood said. “I’ve been officiating in figure skating now for over 50 years and to receive this honour from my home city is pretty special especially because we have such a tradition of really outstanding sports people in this Sault Ste. Marie.”

He has served as an international skating judge and referee for 25 years and served the positions in over 20 countries.

In addition to officiating over 15 world championships, Greenwood also served as a judge for a pair of Winter Olympic Games. In the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, Greenwood was a judge for the pairs event and in 2006 in Torino, Italy, he judged the Ice Dancing competition.

Kinnunen enters the Hall of Fame as a well-established member of the cross-country skiing community locally.

“I’ve never expected anything like this,” Kinnunen said, adding that being able to work with the athletes he has over the years has been a highlight for him. “They want to be something, and we have had a lot of good skiers and Canadian champions.”

Among Kinnunen’s accomplishments are serving as coach of the Soo Finnish Ski team for over two decades as well as serving as Northern Ontario Divisional Cross Country coach.

Kinnunen established the Youth Skill Development Cross Country Ski Program and is a builder/advocator of infrastructure and programming of cross-country skiing in Sault Ste. Marie.