2009 Soccer Hall of Fame Inductees

The Soccer Hall of Fame & Museum was established at The Soccer Centre in Vaughan, Ontario in 1999 and is dedicated to preserving and researching Canada's soccer history The first Induction Banquet took place in 2000. The 2009 Ceremony will take place at the The Country Club in Woodbridge on Saturday June 6, 2009 At this time there will be a total of 113 players and builders, 7 Teams of Distinction and 3 Pioneers. IMPACT COACH TO BE INDUCTED INTO THE HALL OF FAME John Limniatis, who played 44 times for Canada and, as a coach, has led the Montreal Impact into the quarter-finals of the this years CONCACAF club championship, is one of eight new inductees into The Soccer Hall of Fame. Limniatis, who will be inducted as a player, is joined in that category by former national team striker Mike Stojanovic, former national team defender Neil Ellett and Joan McEachern, who played 32 times for the womens national team. Being inducted in the builders category are FIFA referee Bob Sawtell, long time administrator Derek Wisdom from New Brunswick and soccer historian Colin Jose. This years winner of the Pioneer Award is Ted Slade who was instrumental in starting the minor soccer program, back in 1949. This years Team of Distinction, on the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Hall of Fame, is the World Cup team of 1986, the only team to date to qualify for the finals of the World Cup. INDIVIDUAL BIOGRAPHIES Players John Limniatis, played 44 times for the national team between 1987 and 1997 and in the Canadian Soccer League for the Ottawa club where he appeared in 30 games in the 1987 and 1988 seasons before moving to Greece. There he played for Aris Salonika in the First Division during the 1988-89 season and again in 1991-92. Returning to Canada he played for the Montreal Impact from 1993 to 1998 and then, following a season on loan to the Charleston Battery, until 2001. This summer he became head coach of the Impact and has led them through the CONCACAF Champions League competition eliminating Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps, Real Esteli of Nicaragua, Joe Public of Trinidad and Tobago and Olimpia of Honduras to reach the quarter-finals. Mike Stojanovic was a star in the old North American Soccer League, at first with the Rochester Lancers, and later with the San Diego Sockers and Golden Bay Earthquakes. However, he first attracted attention while playing for the Toronto Serbian White Eagles of the National Soccer League where he scored 52 goals in the 1973 season. With the three NASL clubs he scored 83 goals in 180 appearances during the regular season. With the San Diego Sockers in 1981 he was named North American Player of the Year. Prior to coming to Canada he played in the First Division in the former Yugoslavia for Radnicki Kragujevac and Vardar Skopjie, and on acquiring Canadian citizenship played for the Canadian national team and scored 5 goals in 14 games as Canada narrowly missed qualifying for the World Cup finals in 1982. Neil Ellett had an outstanding youth career in Burnaby, B.C. and later went on to play 20 times for his country in international competition, three times as captain. At the age of 17 he moved from the juvenile league to the Pacific Coast League where he spent six years with Vancouver North Shore before joining Eintracht and then Croatia. He played in the Pan American Games in Winnipeg in 1967 and the 1971 games in Colombia. He scored the only goal of the game when Canada beat Mexico in Vancouver in Olympic qualifying in 1971. He also played in World Cup qualifying in 1972 and when the Vancouver Whitecaps were formed in 1974 in the North American Soccer League. When his playing career was over he turned to officiating and later was elected a life member of the British Columbia Soccer Association and elected to the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame. Joan McEachern was born in Saskatchewan and began playing organized soccer at the age of 17 at Lanigan Central High School, where she helped the team win the provincial championship in 1981. Later she played for the University of Saskatchewan and after graduating moved to Alberta to join the Edmonton Angels, where she won the Jubilee Shield, the Women’s National Championship, in 1985 and 1986. She made her international debut for Canada against Sweden in 1987 in the North American Cup, and one year later played for Canada in China in the test tournament that led to the first ever Women’s World Cup. She was a member of the national team squad at the 1995 Women’s World Cup in Sweden. Builders Bob Sawtell was appointed to the FIFA list of referees in 1990, and remained on the list until 1995. His first appointment was for the game between Honduras and Guatemala in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in 1991. In that same year he handled the U.S. vs Mexico game in the Women’s CONCACAF Tournament and the Men’s exhibition games between Mexico and Colombia and the United States vs Argentina, as well as being an official at the FIFA World U-20 Tournament in Portugal. He refereed the Canadian Soccer League final in 1989, was presented with the Ray Morgan Award in 1991 and was the recipient of the Sport BC Official of the year award in 1994. Derek Wisdom is known throughout New Brunswick as “Mr. Soccer.” His involvement in soccer in the province began in 1965 and spanned 41 years. He helped establish Soccer New Brunswick in the mid 1960s and served as Executive Director from 1992 to 1998. His organizational skills and passion for the sport are credited with its phenomenal growth throughout the province from 350 registered players in 1966 to over 17,000 in 2005. Colin Jose has been a diligent and prolific researcher and author for over 40 years and is recognized internationally as the pre-eminent authority on the history of soccer in North America. His painstaking research and writing forms the basis of most contemporary writing on the subject. He was North American correspondent for 'World Soccer' for almost 20 years and has contributed to almost every major English language soccer publication and to 'The Canadian Encyclopedia'. He has authored more than ten books, including 'Keeping Score - Canadian Encyclopedia of Soccer' and remains a regular contributor to match programs, magazines, newspapers and official soccer publications. He is the historian for The Soccer Hall of Fame & Museum and Historian Emeritus for the National Soccer Hall of Fame in the U.S., whose Media Award is named in his honour. He also operates a website covering Canadian soccer history. Pioneer Ted Slade, was a player, coach and official in Ontario soccer for a period of 60 years. He began his Canadian playing career with Toronto Willys Overland in 1913, but early in 1915 enlisted on the Canadian Army and served in the First World War where he was seriously wounded. During a coaching career that spanned 23 years Ted coached numerous university and professional teams, including Western Technical Institute in Toronto from 1938 to 1951. Along the way became a pioneer of youth soccer in Canada when in 1949 he was appointed to the Committee for Minor Soccer Development. During that time he wrote what was probably the first coaching manual published in Canada, “Soccer Coaching for Schools and Colleges.” He also coached the Toronto Greenbacks of the North American Professional Soccer League in 1946 and 1947. The 2009 Team of Distinction Award will go to the 1986 Canadian national team that was the first and only team to qualify for the finals of the World Cup to date. Coach Tony Waiters, assistant coach Bob Bearpark and manager Les Wilson have already been inducted into the Hall of Fame, as have many of the players including Captain Bruce Wilson.