2023 marks the 20th anniversary of the Regina Sports Hall of Fame, and with it comes a new set of inductees.
This year’s inductees include Toshi Shinumura, Warren Poncsak, Rob Vanstone, Bob Strumm, Erwin Klempner and the Regina mixed 1995 five pin-bowling team.
Toshi Shinmura: Judo
Shinmura practised judo for 12 years in Japan before moving to Regina in 1977, where he was asked by the city to start his own dojo He went on to form the Seidokan Judo Club, which operated until 1998. He was head sensei from 1998-2016 at the Regina Y Judo Club and also formed the Avonhurst Judo Club in 2000.
He was also awarded his Godan (fifth degree black belt) in 2012.
“(He) also served as a national A-level referee, led the officials’ development committee, was a member of the Judo Saskatchewan grading board and a certified coach for 39 years, teaching top-level athletes like Kim Bergey Kaip, Kalem Kachur, Paul Yuen and Janna Pratt. Many of his students have become coaches, including a group intending to open a club named in his honour,” a press release read.
Warren Poncsak: Basketball, Team Handball
After a playing career that included winning provincial high school championships with Miller in 1978-79 and five seasons with the University of Regina, Poncsak became a basketball official who also instructed clinics, supervised and served as an administrator and executive locally, provincially and nationally until his 2021 death at age 59.
Poncsak was also on the Saskatchewan senior men’s team handball squad from 1986-99, afterwards becoming a Level IV coach with the national team and, as technical director and executive director of the Saskatchewan Team Handball Federation, helping to develop local senior leagues, a high school program and the long-running Heritage Classic tournament
Rob Vanstone: Multi-sport
A product of Campbell Collegiate and the University of Regina’s School of Journalism, Vanstone joined the Regina Leader-Post as a sports writer in 1987, became assistant editor in 1995, columnist in 1996 and sports editor in 2001, until joining the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2023 as their senior writer and historian.
Vanstone has covered nine Grey Cups, two Olympics, three Memorial Cups, the 2002 Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa., and numerous Canadian men’s and women’s curling championships. Vanstone has wrote four sports books and received the Regina High Schools Athletic Association Merit Award, the Murray Sawa Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to amateur football and the WHL Bob Ridley Award for Media Excellence.
Bob Strumm: Hockey
Strumm was hired to be the Regina Pats’ general manager and a part-owner in 1979. With Bryan Murray as his new head coach and led by three Regina players who would become first-round NHL draft choices (Doug Wickenheiser, Darren Veitch and Mike Blaisdell), the Pats won the 1979-80 WHL championship. In his six seasons as GM, the Pats posted a 328-178-6 record and won three East Division titles .
Strumm served as general manager of Canada’s first gold medal-winning hockey team in 1982. He held the position of general manager of the WHL’s Billings Bighorns and Spokane Americans, and coached the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves.
Erwin Klempner: Football
After playing junior football with the Regina Rams and winning the 1973 Canadian championship, Klempner began a teaching career in Uranium City before returning to Regina and coaching high school football for 30-plus years at Campbell, Thom, Usher, Johnson and Balfour. Campbell won two provincial championships, Usher qualified for two city finals and, while Balfour’s head coach, his team won the city title in 1994 and made the final in 1995.
Klempner joined the rams in 1996, where he won multiple championships including a Hardy Cup in 2000. He was head coach of the Regina Thunder from 2005-2012, coaching many future CFL players and winning coach of the year in 2009.
Regina Mixed 1995 Five-pin Bowling Team
The team won the 1995 Canadian championship in Hull, Quebec, after finishing first in an 18- game round-robin with 113 of a possible 144 points. Quebec beat the Saskatchewan representatives 6-2 in the first playoff match but the Regina-based squad rebounded to win the decisive match 6-2.
Team members include Frank Fochesato, Rob Salmond, Don Clearihue, Kevin Clark, Bev Prosofski, Brenda Cuthbertson, Otilla Frei and coach Wayne Fiesel
The inductees join 120 other members who have been inducted in the hall of fame since 2003.
The 20th induction ceremony is planned for Thursday, Oct. 5, starting at 7:30 p.m. inside Conexus Arts Centre
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