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< Back Phyllis Bomberry Phyllis Bomberry Cayuga Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2024 Phyllis Bomberry was a former Canadian softball player who was born in 1942 at the Six Nations of the Grand River in southwestern Ontario. She was a Cayuga woman of the Wolf Clan and emerged as a star athlete in the 1950s. She played women’s intermediate softball with the Ohsweken Mohawks and helped the team win back-to-back provincial Intermediate B championships in 1960 and 1961. After moving to Toronto to complete high school, she was quickly recruited to play catcher for the Carpetland Senior A Team in the Ontario Senior Women’s League. She helped the Carpetland team win Canadian Softball Championships in 1967 and 1968, and was named Top Batter, All-Star Catcher, and most valuable player (MVP) in 1967, and All-Star Catcher again in 1968. In 1968, Phyllis became the first female recipient of the Tom Longboat Award, established in 1951 to recognize outstanding Indigenous athletes in Canada. She won a gold medal at the first Canada Summer Games in 1969 and she was named the Canadian MVP and All Star Catcher. Phyllis Bomberry was posthumously inducted into 2023 Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in the Athlete category. <Back

< Back Michael Thompson Michael Thompson Mohawk Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2024 Michael “Mike” Thompson is a member of the Mohawk Nation and has lived, played and coached in Akwesasne for most of his life. He is one of the most decorated indoor box lacrosse goaltenders to ever play the game of box lacrosse, yet is kind, giving and humble to the core. Thompson played field lacrosse in high school and was an effective and intimidating defenseman. He began playing box lacrosse goalie at the age of 20 while playing in the Ontario Junior B Lacrosse league for the Akwesasne Lightening. He was a natural and quickly made a name for himself as one of the top goaltenders of his generation. He first played professional box lacrosse for the Ottawa Rebels and later enjoyed a professional career with the Buffalo Bandits of the National Lacrosse League where he won the NLL Championship in 2008. During the summers, Thompson played in the Ontario Major Series Lacrosse League, often called Senior A, with the Peterborough Lakes. He won two Mann Cup Canadian National Championships with the Lakers and was named MVP of the Championship series when they won in 2012. Winning a Mann Cup is considered the pinnacle of success in the lacrosse world and being awarded the Mike Kelley MVP trophy was one of the greatest honors of his life. Thompson also enjoyed success with the Iroquois Nationals Men’s Box Lacrosse team having competed three World Championships. Thompson retired from professional lacrosse in 2012 to focus on coaching his two sons who are also incredibly talented and dedicated lacrosse players. He currently resides in Akwesasne with his wife, two sons and his daughter. <Back

< Back Dani Day Dani Day Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2023 Dani Day is an enrolled citizen of the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota and a 1991 graduate of Bemidji High School. She earned two varsity letters each in volleyball and basketball. She earned five varsity letters for the Lumberjacks Track team, including one as an eighth grader, throwing the shot put and discus. She was elected team captain by her peers for volleyball and track. Dani held the Bemidji High School shot put record for more than 20 years with a throw of 29' 1-1/2". The summer after graduating high school, Dani had the opportunity to compete in track meets in Germany and Austria as part of the World's Sports Exchange. The meets had teams from all over Europe as part of the European Junior National Meet. Although Team USA did not score with the European teams, Dani placed second in the shot put and third in the discus alongside Europe's best Junior’s. In 1991, Dani received a full scholarship to Jamestown (ND) College to compete on the Jimmie volleyball team. In 1992, Dani transferred to North Dakota State University for academic reasons and walked on to the Bison track team where she was selected as team captain in 1995 and 1996. Dani held the NDSU school record in the Hammer Throw in 1996. In 1993, Dani competed for Team Minnesota at the North American Indigenous Games in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. She placed first in the shot put and second in the discus events. Her medals were presented to her by Indigenous track great Billy Mills. Dani also had the honor to carry the United States Flag into the stadium during the Opening Ceremony. <Back

< Back Pete Conway Pete Conway Blackfeet Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete/Coach 2023 Pete Conway’s basketball success is easy to follow because of the accolades he has earned along the way. His reputation as a standout player began with his high school career at Montana power Billings West High School. Conway led his team to four state tournament appearances and still holds the record for the most points scored in a game for the Golden Bears. He finished as the schools second all-time leading scorer and was named the Gatorade Player of the Year and Mr. Basketball for the state of Montana in 1998. He opted to play his college basketball at NCAA Division I Montana State where he played on the school’s Big Sky Conference Championship Team in 2002 and was named All-Conference in 2003. Conway left Montana State with the second most three-pointers made in school history and became the 25th member of the 1,000 point club for the Bobcats. Conway received his Bachelors of Business Management from MSU in 2003. Conway continues to lead as the Athletic Director and Head Men’s Basketball Coach at United Tribes Technical College (UTTC). In only his second season at United Tribes the team advanced to the Region Championship and in his third year they won 20 games for the first time in 20 years. Conway has amassed over 100 wins at United Tribes and his teams have advanced to play in the Region Championship four times. He has coached three NJCAA All American athletes at UTTC. <Back

Rick Baker <Back Hopi Induction Category: Year Inducted Coach 2024 Rick Baker arrived at Hopi High School in Arizona in 1987. He has coached the boys program since 1987 and the girls program since 2017. Baker’s coaching honors include: 2022 National Federation of High School Athletics Cross Country Coach of the Year 2020 National Federation High School Athletics Hall of Fame 2015 National Federation High School Cross Country Coach of the Year National Federation High School-Cross Country Region-8 Coach of the Year two times Coached Hopi Boys’ Cross Country to 27 consecutive State Championships between 1990-2017; to 24 North Regional XC Championships between 1990-2014; and to two state runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2019 Coached Hopi Girls Cross Country to two State Runner-Up Championships during the 2018 and 2019 seasons Coached nine Individual State Champions Coached Arizona’s only perfect score (15 pts.) at the 1999 State Meet Baker was also a national class runner. He was the 1977 Individual Arizona State Mile Champion (4:20.6), a team member of the National Junior College Athletic Association All-American-Indoor Distance Medley Relay, a team member of the NAIA All-American-Indoor and National Champion Distance Medley Relay, and honored as the Tony Coffin Award/Outstanding Athlete Award-Haskell Indian Junior College, 1978. Baker’s wife of 37 years is Deborah Secakuku Baker and sons are Chad Andrew Baker and Steven Secakuku Baker.

< Back Robert ‘Bob’ Gawboy Robert ‘Bob’ Gawboy Bois Forte Band of Chippewa Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2023 Although the sport of swimming isn’t often associated with Native Americans, Robert ‘Bob’ Gawboy became an aquatic sensation, setting high school and collegiate records, eventually going on to break a world record in 1955. Bob Gawboy was born on the Vermilion Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota, on June 28, 1932. At the age of 14, his family moved to Ely where he attended Ely High School. Bob joined the swim team because it practiced at noon and he could then take the bus home after school, instead of walking 10 miles. In 1949, Ely High School won the state championship. Bob placed first in the 100-yard breaststroke. The following year, he broke a state record in the 200-yard free, and set national high school records in two IM events. He went on to Purdue, placing first in the 150-yard IM at the East-West collegiate competition. In 1952, at the NCAA Nationals he placed second in the 150-yard IM. Suffering from coordination problems, and a congenital arterial condition of his left leg, he was forced to stop swimming. After surgery on his leg, he started working out again in February, 1955, at the University of Minnesota, on a scholarship. Despite the two year hiatus and short time training, Bob shocked the sports world on April 1, 1955 at the AAU Indoor National Championship at Yale, where he swam the 220-yard breaststroke in 2:38.0, cracking the world-record. The pain in his leg was so severe during the race and the pent-up emotion over two years so great, that, upon winning, he erupted in whoops and hollers that was called war-whoops by the press with celebratory splashing around the pool. Bob Gawboy passed away on July 15, 1987 from multiple sclerosis, but not before he was inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame in Lawrence, Kansas, as the sole swimmer. Photo Credits: Purdue University and AP/Wide World Photos <Back

Gerald (Jerry) Gourneau Turtle Mountain Chippewa Induction Category: Year Inducted Trainer 2023 <Back Gerald (Jerry) Gourneau, Mukaday Maaingan (Black Wolf) from the Horse clan is from the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota. Jerry holds a Master’s degree in Administration graduating from Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD. He has worked as a teacher, administrator, project coordinator, director, and self-employed horse trainer. Jerry’s desire for thoroughbred horse racing and training began at the age of 16 when his father Larry Sr. with brothers Bill and Dave Sr. later identifying as “Gourneau Brothers Racing” purchased their first horse named “Sima’s Award”. His passion for racing grew as he began to work at various racing circuits in the United States and Canada. Tracks he frequented are Turf Paradise, Delta Downs, Fairgrounds, Sam Houston and Lone Star Park, Century Mile, Fonner Park, and Assiniboia Downs. He began to perfect his skills and knowledge as a horsemen along with the love of horses and his family pushed him to do the very best he could in making his First Nations people proud. Jerry just completed three consecutive years as the leading trainer at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg, MB earning purse money of $1,850,050.00. The first leading trainer title came in 2019 and was successfully shared with his brother Dave Sr. The most memorable and meaningful times in horse racing are with family from Belcourt, ND and his wife Lyn Blackburde from Rainy River Manitou Rapids First Nation in Treaty 3 Ontario. Jerry was recently highlighted in a book published by the Manitoba Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Council celebrating the history of over 100 Indigenous athletes from Manitoba, Canada titled “A History of Excellence, The Untold Stories of Manitoba’s Indigenous Sport 2021”.

< Back Ukaleq Slettemark Ukaleq Slettemark Inuit Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2023 Ukaleq Slettemark is a Greenlandic Biathlete who competed in the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where she was the only biathlete, regardless of gender, who hit all 30/30 targets in the individual and sprint competition. In 2019 she won gold in the youth World Championships in Osrblie, Slovakia. She has several other top 10 results in the Junior World Championships from 2017, 2019 and 2021. Ukaleq is inuk and grew up in Greenland with no access to a biathlon shooting range. In 2016 she moved to Norway to pursue biathlon. She currently lives in Norway where she trains and competes with a Norwegian private team. In Norway she is considered one of the best biathletes in her age group, with several podiums and gold Medals in the Norwegian cup and Norwegian championships, as well as a few podiums in the senior category. Norway is considered the best biathlon nation in the world. In 2018 she won the overall Norwegian cup score for the girls 17 group. Photo: Proudly wearing a sealskin cap during training. <Back

Joy SpearChief-Morris Category Athlete Tribe Blackfoot (Blood Kainai) Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 3/17/1994 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. Home 2026 Banquet 2026 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

< Back Carolyn Darbyshire-McRorie Carolyn Darbyshire-McRorie Metis Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2022 Carolyn was a contributing member of four provincial championships in 1985, 2007, 2009, and 2020. Playing with her mother in 1985, the team represented Manitoba at the Canadians. She moved to Calgary and played in many competitive play downs and an Olympic Trials spot in 2001, where she played all positions on mixed and ladies teams in that time period. Curling with Team Bernard in 2006, they played in various spiels and went on to win two provincial championships, the Olympic Trials in Edmonton and the Silver Medal at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, BC. In 2020, she went on to win the Senior Provincial Championship and went to play at the Canadians in 2021 due to the Covid pandemic. In 2017, Carolyn went on to get her coaching certificate to give back to her curling community which has given her so much. She has coached a women’s team to their first Alberta Championship and an Olympic Trials spot. In 2018-19, she went on to work in China as the National Women’s curling coach, working with five teams at their Centre located in Beijing. Working closely with two teams, taking them throughout the World Curling Tour events, moved one team from a rank of 50th and 104th to a 24th and 26th ranking in the World Curling standings and a 5th place standing at the World Curling Championships. Carolyn is now back in Canada coaching junior teams for the past two years. Her hopes are to continue curling competitively and working with teams to help give them the knowledge of the game that has given her so much joy and happiness in her life. <Back

Ernie Stevens Jr. Category Athlete Tribe Oneida Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 7/5/1959 Ernie Stevens, Jr. is Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) out of Washington, DC. Serving in his 11th consecutive two-year terms. Stevens serves as Chairman and National spokesman for the Indian Gaming industry working with Tribal Leadership in shaping policy initiatives that have the potential to impact the industry. Stevens served as elected Councilman for the Oneida Nation from 1993 to 1996. His career in Washington, DC began in 1995 as the First Vice-President of the National Congress of American Indians. He serves as a board member of the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development, Nike N7 Foundation, Center for American Indian Youth, and Native American Graduate Center. In 2008, Stevens was inducted into the National Indian Athletic Association Hall of Fame. In 2012, he was inducted into the Boys & Girls Club Alumni Hall of Fame. In 2013, he was inducted as Lifetime Member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium’s Alumni Association. In 2015, Stevens was inducted into the American Gaming Association Gaming Hall of Fame, and has received several national accolades. Ernie’s boxing career started in his teens. At 16, along with boxing icon Louie Askinette, he co-founded the Soaring Eagle Boxing Club in Oneida in 1975. His accolades include 4-time State Heavyweight Champion in 1976, 1977, 1978 & 1979. He is also a two-time National Indian Heavyweight Champion out of Carson City, NV in 1977 & 1978. In 1977, he was 17 years old fighting seasoned men to win the Championship. Stevens received an Associate Degree from Haskell Indian Junior College, 1983, a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Mount Senario College,1996 and a Masters in Management from the University of Phoenix, 2021. Stevens is married to his wife and best friend of 43 years, Cheryl. Together they have 5 kids and 17 grandchildren. Home 2026 Banquet 2026 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

< Back Julius Poitra Julius Poitra Arikara Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2025 Julius Poitra grew up on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in the small town of White Shield, North Dakota. His Indian name, Swift Spirit, was given to him by his step mother Roberta Bear - sister to Robert Bear, the former Arikara Chief. Julius started running while in seventh grade at White Shield. Don Yellowbird, his cross country and track coach, was also his mentor and a father figure. Julius participated in football, basketball, track, and cross country. He excelled in running and won many high school races. During his senior year, Julius won the state two-mile outdoor and 3,000-meter indoor championships. Julius was ranked North Dakota's number one runner in track, and cross country, each year of high school and went on to All American while in college. After leaving White Shield, Julius attended Haskell Indian Junior College in Lawrence, Kansas. Julius competed in the track and cross country programs and was awarded the Tony CoffinAward. During his sophomore year of college, Julius was undefeated in cross-country winning the regional title and advancing to the national cross-country meet. He made All-American status running two miles with a foot injury. Julius ran the mile relay, two-mile run, steeple chase, as well as many indoor and outdoor track events. He was invited, and participated in, the Kansas University mile relay and during the summer ran in the national marathon and won the Team National Championship. He was recruited by several colleges and/or universities: University of Southern Alabama, University of Florida, Kansas State University, and North Dakota State University. After graduating from Haskell with a two-year degree, Julius enlisted in the U.S. Army to serve his country. He is a Desert-Storm veteran - serving from 1988 to 1993. After being honorably discharged, Julius returned to his home in White Shield and worked with students with special needs as well as coaching boys and girls track, cross country, and basketball for 25 years. After 25 years at White Shield School, Julius retired to enjoy the country life. He recently decided to come out of retirement to work for White Shield's Public Safety Department. Although he is back at work again, he still finds time to enjoy fishing, hunting, boating, and camping with his grandchildren. <Back