We are pleased to announce that the

 8th Annual Steve Coad Memorial Athletic Hall of Fame will take place:

Friday, June 16, 2023 at 7:00pm

in the WCI auditorium. This ceremony will honour the
2023 nominees. Admission is free. 

Nominations for the 2023 ceremony are now open!

To nominate an ATHLETE or TEAM:

Access the Nomination Form here:

NOMINATION FORM (PDF version)

 NOMINATION FORM (Word version)

OR— pick up a form, available in the WCI Main Office--call 519-537-1050 for info, if needed.

Team and Individual nominees must meet the following criteria:

· Alumnus of a minimum of 6 years--currently accepting applications from 2017 and earlier

Individual Category

· Attended WCI for their entire high school career

· Represented WCI and competed at the high school level on a varsity team in a minimum of two sports AND/OR outstanding achievement in a single scholastic sport during their secondary and/or post-secondary career

Return completed nomination forms by Thu. Feb. 23, 2023 - return information available on form.

**Please note: previous nominees not chosen are considered for this year's Hall of Fame, therefore there is no need to re-nominate them.

 STEVE COAD MEMORIAL ATHLETIC HALL OF FAME - INDUCTEES

Financial Support

To help with the ongoing financial support of the Steve Coad Memorial Athletic Hall of Fame, a charitable fund has been set up.  During the first two years, the Hall of Fame has been funded by a generous donation from Rick and Steve Coad, as well as the WCI Student Athletic Council.

To further supplement the ongoing costs of this event, and to reduce the financial responsibility from the student fund, charitable donations are now being accepted.  Yearly costs include the following:  individual and wall plaques for inductees, printing of team member certificates, advertising for nominations, printing of a programme, and light refreshments for the post-ceremony.  This also allows us to host the event, free of charge, for all attendees.

If you would like to support this cause, you can donate by doing the following:

ONLINE - (credit card, PayPal, debit)

Go to:  https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/thames-valley-education-foundation/#donate-now-pane

Open window under “Apply your donation to a specific fund set up by this charity” and choose “WCI (Steve Coad) Athletic Fund”. 

Complete your donation information, including payment, and submit.

Click on "Donate", in the top right corner. 

OR

MAIL (cheque)

Make cheques payable to "Thames Valley Education Foundation", noting in the memo the recipient as "WCI (Steve Coad) Athletic Fund".

Mail to: 

     Thames Valley Education Foundation c/o Thames Valley DSB
1250 Dundas St.
   P.O. Box 5888
   London, Ontario
   N6A 5L1
  Attn:  Jane Winsky

Tax receipts will be issued for donations of $10 or more.  All funds collected will go to the yearly production of the Steve Coad Memorial Athletic Hall of Fame.

If you have questions, please contact Jane at 519-452-2000 x 20204 or j.winsky@tvdsb.on.ca .

Thank you!

Inaugural Induction Ceremony

Video footage of the inaugural induction ceremony: 

SCHF in the Press

Read the article from the Woodstock Sentinel Review explaining all the details about this very special and exciting moment:

Woodstock Collegiate Institute plans to unveil the school's new Sports Hall of Fame during its homecoming weekend this May.

The hall of fame will be in memoriam to honour former WCI student, athlete, and sports journalist Steve Coad, who died in November 2013.

The first year for the Red Devils' honour will see inductees from each decade of the school's history honoured for their athletic accomplishments, both at WCI and beyond.

Kathy Roberts, a physical education teacher and coach at the school, is spearheading the effort.

"I was a very good friend of Steve's, and was very taken by his sudden death, and wanted to do something," she said.

It seems appropriate to celebrate athletic achievements in honour of the man so committed to local sports, and a dedicated runner himself, she said.

"He was a huge Red Devils fan," Roberts said.

"He has always been at all the cross country, track meets. (At) WOSSAA usually he would show up to watch the action and certainly support the Red Devils, and any other Woodstock athletes. So I just felt like we needed to do something to honour his memory and I thought that was a perfect fit, being the sports reporter that he was," she said.

Coad was a sports editor at the Sentinel-Review and the Windsor Star before beginning his long tenure as reporter and copy editor at The London Free Press.

In another nod to Coad's love of athletics and his alma mater, his brothers are helping to fund the initial launch of WCI's Sports Hall of Fame.

Roberts is also hoping to spread the word about inductee nominations.

She's looking for WCI athletes who demonstrated athletic prowess during their four or five years at the school, and perhaps went on to further competition in intercollegiate or even international leagues.

"I'm going to get a panel of current, former teachers and coaches from the school to help go through who has been nominated and make some choices," Roberts said.

After this year, the plan is to select a handful of inductees every year. Plaques will hang outside the balcony gym doors at WCI.

"We want to honour those past athletes, and give the current students something to look back on and something to aspire to," Roberts said.

megan.stacey@sunmedia.ca