Lynda Chorley has a lot of good memories from here days as a high school athlete.
Chorley (nee Kidd) joined Hamiota’s varsity girls’ basketball team when she was in Grade 7 and helped lead them to appearances at the provincial championship from 1961 to 1964, winning a pair of titles along the way. While in Grade 8, she set a new scoring record in the Western Manitoba Basketball League, and set new marks in each of the next three years.
Although she was a force on the court, Chorley — who went on to play basketball at Brandon College — credits her coaches Frank McKinnon and Gladwyn Scott for her success. Today, Chorley is being inducted into the Manitoba High School Sports Hall of Fame in the athlete category and she’s happy that McKinnon, a Wellwood native, and Scott, who lives in Carberry, are both entering in the builder’s category as well this year.
“It’s special,” said Chorley, who lives in Brandon. “If it wasn’t for them promoting the sports in high school in Hamiota, then we may not have been that interested.”
It’s not just basketball in which Chorley excelled in high school. Chorley — who was inducted in the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Manitoba Softball Hall of Fame in 2006 as a member of the Lenore Fastball Club from 1954-57 — played volleyball, softball and curling and was also on Hamiota’s track and field team.
She set provincial high school records in discus in 1962 and ball throw in 1963. She was also a provincial champion in discus and shot put in 1964, the year she was named the Brandon Sun Western Manitoba Sportsman of the Year.
Her favourite memory, however, came after winning the provincial basketball championship in 1964, her Grade 12 year.
“I think I scored 27 points or something in the final and I was double-teamed the entire time,” said Chorley, who also won a provincial title in 1961. “I had a hard time getting loose and everything. Then we drove from Winnipeg back to Hamiota, and they had a police escort back into town at one in the morning with friends and parents and families waiting for us. That was pretty special for a small town like Hamiota.”
Although she’s being inducted as an athlete, Chorley also gave back to high school athletics. She became a physical education teacher in Souris after university where she taught every sport. She moved around Westman, but continued to coach volleyball and basketball through to her last few years of teaching.
Chorley feels very honoured to be inducted into her third Hall of Fame, but she wishes her husband, Elliott, who passed away in 2008, could have been there with her today in Winnipeg.
“I’m just sorry my husband passed away three years ago,” she said. “Other than that, I’m looking forward to it very much so.”
Other athletes being inducted include Chris Walby, Michelle Sawatzky, Rick Watts and Ed Alexiuk. Audrey Jones is also entering the builders’ category, while Flin Flon’s Hapnot Collegiate Kopper Kweens basketball teams from 1950-1955 are going in the team category.
» cjaster@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition April 21, 2012
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