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Dano Thorne Category Coach Tribe Coast Salish Cowichan and Nez Perce Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 12/18/1961 A First Nations life-long advocate for sport, recreation, youth, and sport from grassroots to international level. A national level coach and coach instructor and founding member national aboriginal coaching modules the first master coach in this program, instructor in national coaching certification program, life skills coach mentor, suicide prevention mentor, physical literacy and multi-sport mentor, technical advisor to national and provincial sports groups and technical advisor and interim board member of world games movement. A lifetime professional commitment to create and develop sports and recreation for youth across North America. As an athlete, Indigenous Team Canada Indoor Soccer 1989-1998, Pro Soccer 1986-1988, Premier League Men’s Soccer 1979-1999, Duncan United Indigenous Men Provincial Champions and numerous MVP honors, and British Columbia (BC) Champions in 1990 and 1991. As a head coach, men’s teams won BC Champions 3 times in 1990, 1991, and 2001 and women in 1992. Men national runner-up 2001, women world champions 2015, 2017, Cuba U20 2019 and women North American Indigenous Games (NAIG) champions in 1993 and 1995. As an advocate and leader including being a board member, NAIG Council, Aboriginal Sport Circle, Team BC chef de mission, Special Olympics North America, National Indigenous Physical Activity Cultural Circle, founder NIFA Soccer Society, member of national sports committee appointed by sport minister and numerous other committees. Awards and honors include five-time BC Coaching Awards, three-time National Coach Awards, first ever Indigenous National Coach of the Year 1999. Graduate National Coaching Institute 1995 and presently completing the Canada Sport Institute Master Coaching Diploma. A two time athlete of the year as Cowichan Tribes Athlete in 1976 and 1979. With his 2015 team world champions he was inducted into the BC Soccer Hall of Fame in 2021. Dano has holistic approaches and remembers his cultural teachings of his family and elders. He is recognized for humility and integrity, respect of diversity and working for all people of indigenous ancestry and beyond. Believe who you are and live your dreams to all youth. Dano has been walking the red road for 33 years and enjoys his life daily. Has a strong spiritual belief with the Creator. Home 2026 Banquet 2026 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

< Back Darris Kilgour Darris Kilgour Tuscarora Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete/Coach 2026 Darris Kilgour is the younger brother of Rich Kilgour. Darris was named to the NLL’s All-Pro Second Team multiple times in the 90s, including in 1998, when he had a 37-goal and 30-assist year and had a career-high-tying 69 loose balls that season. He had a coaching career with the Buffalo Bandits. He has the most wins as a coach in team history. From 2003-2013, the Bandits won 103 games. During that 11-season stretch, he coached the Bandits to a winning record in 10 of those years. The team won the NLL title in 2008. Darris Kilgour was drafted in 1991, the first player ever drafted by the Buffalo Bandits. During his playing career, he played with the Buffalo Bandits (1992-99), Rochester Knighthawks (1999), and the Albany Attack (2000). In these eight seasons Darris earned three All-Pro selections: First Team in 1998, and Second Team in 1992 and 1997. Darris retired in 2000, and became the first player in NLL history to have his jersey number retired by the Bandits. Darris then began his coaching career in 2000 with the Washington Power, and in 2003 he returned to coach the hometown Buffalo Bandits. During his coaching career, Darris was voted NLL Coach of the Year in 2003, selected to coach the Eastern All-Stars in 2004, won the NLL Championship in 2008, and in 2010, surpassed Coach Les Bartley as the all time regular season wins leader. Darris Kilgour was inducted into the NLL Hall of Fame in 2007. Source: Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. <Back

2015 NIFA Indigenous Women's Soccer Team Canada Category Team Tribes Team Canada Year Inducted 2022 NIFA Women’s Indigenous Team Canada won the inaugural World Indigenous Games soccer championship in 2015. The World Indigenous Games is a multi-sport event with over 2,000 athletes from 30 countries. Indigenous Team Canada, with nine of its 17 players from First Nations communities across BC, played six games against teams from Brazil, Peru and Chile. In the Championship Final, the Canadian team played the host Brazilian Indigenous Nation of Xerente in front of 10,000 local supporters. Regulation play ended 0-0, the Canadian team becoming champions by scoring on three penalty kicks to one. The team repeated its achievement at the 2017 World Indigenous Games.On their return, the team received a letter from Canada Soccer, in which President Victor Montagliani expressed Canada Soccer’s congratulations and pride in this “monumental victory” of Indigenous Team Canada. BC Soccer Hall of Fame and Heritage Archive Web-Site – Click on Full Biography: Home 2026 Banquet 2026 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

< Back Phillip Castillo Phillip Castillo Acoma Pueblo Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2023 Phil Castillo is from the Pueblo of Acoma, one of nineteen Pueblos in the state of New Mexico. Acoma is located approximately 60 miles west of Albuquerque. Phil attended Grants High School in Grants, NM graduating in 1989. He was a 4-time state champion, two in Cross-Country and two titles in Track. In 1989 he qualified for the Kinney Cross-Country Championships in San Diego, CA as one of thirty-two finalists across the country. He finished that race eighth overall and became a High School All American. Upon completing high school, Phil attended Adams State University (ASU), and was the 1992 NCAA DII National Champion, becoming the first Native American to win an NCAA championship. He finished with nine All American honors at ASU. In 2000 he competed in the US Olympic Marathon Trials in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as a member of the US Army’s World Class Athlete Program. After the Olympic trials, he continued his career in the US Army as a Logistics Officer and retired as a Major in 2019. Phil is married to Wendy and they have four daughters and one grandson. He is an assistant cross-country and track distance coach at Alamosa High School in Colorado. He has aspirations of coaching at the collegiate level and is completing a second Master’s degree from Concordia University this winter. Through running Phil has been able to see the world several times over and he is truly blessed every day for all the gifts that have been given to him. <Back

< Back Joy SpearChief-Morris Joy SpearChief-Morris Blackfoot (Kanai) Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2022 Joy is an Indigenous Black Canadian writer, advocate, and athlete. She is a proud member of the Kainai Blood Tribe and grew up in Lethbridge, Alberta. Joy is a retired 100m hurdler in athletics, three-time Canadian National Championship finalist and two-time Team Canada member. As a member of Team Canada, she is a 2014 North American Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) U23 silver medalist and a fifth place finisher at the 2019 FISU World Universidad. She has sat on the AthletesCAN Board of Directors and Athletics Canada’s Athletes Council, and now sits on the AthletesCAN Diversity and Equity Advisory Committee. Joy has achieved several notable accolades. Most notably, she was the 2016 and 2017 OUA Female Track MVP, 2017 USports Student-Athlete Community Service Award winner, 2017 Tom Longboat Award winner and the featured cover athlete for the 2019 May/June issue of Canadian Running Magazine. Joy has a Bachelor’s degree in History and First Nations Studies and a Master’s degree in Political Science specializing in Transitional Justice and Post-Conflict Reconstruction from Western University. Joy is now pursuing a career as a journalist, having bylines in The Globe and Mail and CBC Sports. She is currently in the Master of Journalism program at Carleton University. <Back

LA Williams <Back Diné Induction Category: Media Year Inducted 2023 L.A. Williams is a longtime Diné broadcaster, sports announcer, commentator, and public speaker from the Navajo Nation. She has worked as a sports radio broadcaster for nearly 30 years, bringing sports events to the Navajo people through the radio airwaves. She started her broadcasting career while attending Fort Lewis College in the early ‘90s before becoming the sports voice of the Navajo Nation as the sports director at KTNN, a local Navajo radio station that prides itself in delivering a Navajo language only broadcast. While at KTNN, she attended many sporting events, commentating and announcing in the Navajo language for the people. During the 1993/1994 NBA season, she signed a contract with the Phoenix Suns, and worked closely with Suns announcer Al McCoy, who challenged the idea that a Phoenix Suns game play-by-play could be done entirely in Navajo. Williams not only made it happen, but went on to interview sports celebrities Robin Roberts, Kobie Bryant, and Chery Miller, to name a few. Williams also regularly broadcasts in Navajo from the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and has broadcasted a number of NFL games in Diné. She spent 20 years at KTNN and was dubbed “The Voice of Navajo Sports,” before taking up the communications specialist position at Winslow Indian Health Care Center from 2016-2019. During the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, she used her Navajo language skills to translate and relay pandemic-related information to the Diné. During the 2021/2022 NBA season, she returned to Phoenix and provided play-by-play during the NBA Playoffs. Williams is now the program manager at Diné College’s KXWR station, where she trains Navajo students to become the next generation of Navajo radio broadcasters, in hopes of continuing the Diné language.

< Back James Lavallée James Lavallée Métis Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2022 Born and raised in Winnipeg, James is a proud Métis who grew up paddling on the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. James has represented Canada internationally at various kayak competitions including the 2014 and 2015 Canoe Sprint Junior World Championships. In 2016, James was named to Canada’s national canoe-kayak team. In 2017, James proudly wore his Métis sash on the podium after winning three medals for Team Manitoba at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg. In October 2017, he received the national Tom Longboat Award presented to the top Indigenous male and female athletes of the year. In 2019 James was presented with an Indspire award in the category of Métis youth. In the summer of 2020 James co-founded Waterways Recreation with the mission of supporting community wellness by using canoeing and outdoor recreation to connect Indigenous youth to cultural skills and identities. To date, Waterways has provided thousands of Indigenous youths with the opportunity to connect with their cultures through community led canoeing summer camps and paddling programs. When he is not out on the water sharing his passion for paddling James studies at Concordia University where he plans to major in management and minor in political science <Back

Honoring and recognizing the empowered journey of North American Indigenous athletes. North American Indigenous Athletics Hall of Fame By honoring and celebrating the empowered journey of these individuals and teams, the hope is their stories may inspire future generations to follow their dreams in athletics and life. Read About NAIAHF 2026 North American Indigenous Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet Saturday, May 30th 2026 Oneida, WI USA Learn More Athletes Coaches Builders Teams Media Officials Trainers Inductee Search

< Back “ZA” McIntosh “ZA” McIntosh Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the Cherokee Nation, and the Yuchi Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2026 “ZA” McIntosh has been wrestling since the age of six and has grown into one of Oklahoma’s top young athletes in the sport. He represents Glenpool Wrestling in Glenpool, OK — just south of Tulsa — and has spent his entire wrestling career with the program. He began with Glenpool Youth Wrestling, coached by his father until seventh grade. “ZA” is a four-time Oklahoma State Champion and the only Junior High State Champion for the 2024–2025 season. On the national stage, he’s placed in the top four twice at WOW Tulsa Nationals — considered one of the toughest tournaments in the world. He’s also a United States Junior Open Champion, a three-time Adidas Wrestling National Champion, and a three-time Adidas Nationals All-American and has been named “Outstanding Wrestler” for multiple tournaments. “ZA” has been on multiple national dual teams with wrestlers all across the nation. Rooted in family and faith, “ZA” draws strength from a large, close-knit support system. His family’s constant presence and strong values have shaped him — not just as an athlete, but as a son and a young man. These values push him to pursue greatness, while staying grounded in humility and purpose. “ZA” is proudly Indigenous, representing the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, the Cherokee Nation, and the Yuchi Tribe of Oklahoma. Raised in Yuchi language and ceremonial traditions, he comes from the Polecat Ceremonial Grounds in Kellyville, OK. His cultural identity is central to his discipline and mental toughness, and he carries that pride with him in everything he does. While he pushes himself hard in every sport, “ZA” also values balance. Fishing is one of his passions — a space where he finds peace, focus, and a break from the high-energy demands of competition. It's his reset button and a place where he achieves greatness in a different way. “ZA” believes a true champion isn’t just defined by wins, but by mindset, character, and knowing who you are. With discipline, cultural pride, and a deep love for his family, he continues to train with purpose — always striving to be his best on and off the mat. <Back

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Gewas Schindler Category Athlete Tribe Oneida Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 3/28/1976 Gewas Schindler is a Haudenosaunee Oneida Nation citizen and a member of the Turtle Clan. He grew up playing multiple sports under the tutelage of his grandfather, Chief Paul Waterman, on the Onondaga Nation. Gewas played the Creator’s game, this game has world-renowned origins within the Haudenosaunee culture known as Dehontsigwiseh - "bumping hips" is called lacrosse, currently played collegiately, internationally, and at pre-Olympic levels today. Gewas worked for the National Hockey League Phoenix Coyotes and the National Lacrosse League Arizona Sting in marketing, the professional Rochester Nighthawks Lacrosse organization as Governor and he served five years on the National Lacrosse League Board of Governors along with serving on their Marketing Committee, Player Relations Committee, and the Collective Bargaining Agreement Unit. In 2012 Gewas Schindler received the NCAIED (The National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development) 40 Under 40 National Business Award, and the Rocky Mountain Indian Chamber of Commerce Award in 2010. Gewas Schindler attended Loyola University in Baltimore, Maryland, concentrating in Communications and Marketing. As a student-athlete at Loyola, he earned lacrosse accolades earning 3X Division 1 All American Attackman awards. He was a 3X Iroquois Nationals World Team Captain who worked as a professional athlete in the National Lacrosse League and the Major Lacrosse League for eight years. Gewas Schindler competed in seven more World Lacrosse Championships and made eight Iroquois National World Team Rosters. In 2021, as General Manager, the Haudenosaunee U-15 Team won a Gold Medal in the IIJL World Championship, and the Haudenosaunee U-17 Team followed with a Gold Medal. Gewas’ role as an organization builder for youth lacrosse led him to serve as a Lacrosse Ambassador traveling to numerous countries such as Australia, Japan, Thailand, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, England, Mexico, Switzerland, Haudenosaunee, Indigenous Territories, Canada, and the United States to support, advise, and to leave a sport the indigenous people gave to the world community of lacrosse. Gewas’ family includes his wife Tia, and four children, Lawson, Madex, Kohen, and Kimaura. Home 2026 Banquet 2026 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

Brady Fairbanks Category Athlete Tribe Leech Lake Ojibwe Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 8/11/1989 Brady Fairbanks, 2007 graduate of Cass Lake Bena High School (MN), was a Minnesota High School All-State athlete in football and basketball. During his high school career, Fairbanks was a three-year starter on the basketball team leading CLB to an 83-11 record, including 42-0 in conference play. In 2006-2007, he led CLB to the Class A State Championship game where the team came up just shy of victory in a memorable game. Accomplishments include: • Conference MVP (‘06 and ‘07), • Section 6 MVP (‘06 and ‘07), • Honorable Mention State (‘06), • 2nd Team All State (‘07), • McDonald’s All-American Nominee, • Minnesota Native American Athlete of the Year, • National High School Player of the Year (Native Elite Showcase) Fairbanks accepted a full scholarship to NCAA DII Bemidji State University, becoming a starter and earning a spot on the All-Freshman Team in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). Transferring to Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) after his junior year, Fairbanks had a historical year becoming the school’s first male athlete to become a NAIA All-American. Accomplishments include: • 7th nationally in scoring (20.9), • 14th in rebounding (6.3), • First Team All-Conference, • Conference New-Comer of the Year, • Team MVP, • 1,000+ Points (Collegiate Career). Photos: Haskell Athletics and Ryan White Home 2026 Banquet 2026 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More