Two brothers who had professional football careers, winning a Grey Cup together, are among the newest inductees into the Central Okanagan Sports Hall of Fame.
Jason Crumb and Mike Crumb both played with the Okanagan Sun junior football team, before excelling at both the collegiate and professional levels.
Jason won two Vanier Cup college football championships while playing for the University of Saskatchewan. He then went onto play six years as a defensive back with the BC Lions, helping the team win the Grey Cup in 2000.
Mike played eight seasons in the CFL as a safety with both the Lions and the Toronto Argonauts. He was also a member of the Grey Cup winning Lions in 2000.
The Central Okanagan Sports Hall of Fame announces it annual inductees each spring with a formal ceremony held in the fall.
Created in 2008 by Kelowna Museums, the hall currently has more than 65 members, made up of outstanding athletes, teams, coaches, and sports builders. No inductees were admitted in 2020 owing to the pandemic and the 2021 event was a virtual affair.
Other inductees this year are:
– Dan Martell in the Builder category. He conducted the first curling clinics in the Okanagan, receiving the Award of Merit from the Canadian Curling Association in 1985 for his contributions to the game. He has also coached visually impaired teams for more than 10 years, winning seven national titles.
– Jack Hoy in the Builder category. A top baskeballer in his college days with the UBC Thunderbirds, Hoy was director fo the Western Canada Basketball Tournament for more than 25 years, with the Kelowna-based tournament remaining on of the premier secondary school athletic events in Canada.
– Joni Frei in the Coach/Builder category. She has been coaching softball for more than 20 years, and led Team BC to the Gold medal at the North American Indigenous Games in Regina in 2014 and again in 2023. She has also coached the UBCO Heat women’s softball team to win a Canadian collegiate championship in 2021.
