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< Back Lew Boyd Lew Boyd Menominee Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete/Coach 2026 Working out of the backyard of the legendary boxing coach Alex Askenette on the Menominee Indian reservation, Lew Boyd started his amateur boxing career as a 112 lb. flyweight in 1965. From 1966 to 1970, Lew won his first open division Wisconsin Golden Gloves boxing championship in the featherweight (126 lb.) division, later in the junior welterweight (139 lb.) division and 147 lb. division earning trips to respective national tournaments. In 1970 he won the International Boxing League box-off in the 147 lb. division. In 1973, Lew Boyd retired from boxing competition with a 76-6 record and began training youth for competition. In 1984, Lew landed a spot on the U.S. State Department’s seven-man African coaching delegation. Under the auspices of the U.S. Information Agency, Boyd was chosen to assist six other U.S. coaches and boxing planners to establish coaches/training camps in Lagos, Nigeria and Nairobi, Kenya. With their sights on the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California the seven man U.S. coach’s delegation trained 32 African nations for the 1984 Games. A break in games coverage saw Howard Cosell narrate a special segment on the African coaches/training camps held earlier that year. Upon his return from the African tour, Lew signed contracts with the United States Sports Academy out of Mobile, Alabama for 1984 and 1985. The Island of Borneo in Southeast Asia was Boyd’s first destination and he began training members of the Brunei Darussalam boxing squad. Honored to meet and shake hands with the Sultan of Brunei, Lew was later selected as head coach of the Brunei Olympic Boxing Team. Within six months, Boyd would become a member of the Nation of Brunei Olympic Committee. With assistance by the Nation of Brunei military, Brunei boxers won one silver medal and one bronze in the 1985 Southeast Asian Independence Games. Upon conclusion of the games, Lew Boyd would be voted by Brunei coaching peers as one of two coaches to receive the Brunei Cannon Award as the Most Promising Coach Award. In 1985, Lew also participated in Operation Gold training camps in Baguio, Philippines and assisted in training amateur boxers in Bangkok, Thailand and Jakarta, Indonesia. <Back

AlgonCrees Team 2025 Induction Category: Year Inducted <Back In the fall of 2024, AlgonCrees had participated in the World Broomball Championship in Megeve/St. Gervais, France. The team was made up of Algonquin and Cree women within the province of Quebec in Canada, hence the name AlgonCrees. Not only was it a privilege to play in a high calibre tournament, it was an honour to play with our very own all-Indigenous broomball team. This is a prime example of unity for the love of broomball. While in France, the AlgonCrees were truly grateful for all the tremendous support we had received from our people back home. We felt the whole Algonquin and Cree Nation rooting for us from afar. The AlgonCrees are pictured with their silver medals. They lost by two points in the Gold Medal game versus the USA Gray Ducks. Top left: Katie Nottaway, Tanya Nottaway, Elizabeth Hester, Gwen Tenasco, Lorrain Nottaway, Aleasha Bush, Wynonna Ratt, Wanessa Thusky, Delci Wadden, Stephanie Wawatie-Whiteduck; Bottom left: Brooklyn Dixon, Destiney Isik- Blacksmith, Amanda M. Neeposh, Erin Gull, Shayden Decoursay, Koyesha Iserhoff

Jason G. Montoya <Back Santa Ana Pueblo Induction Category: Year Inducted Coach 2025 Growing up on the Pueblo of Santa Ana located in central New Mexico along the Rio Grande River, Jason Montoya learned the sport of golf at the age of eight years old. His passion grew as the years moved on and Montoya started taking lessons during his eighth grade year and never looked back. Golf opened many doors for Montoya taking him on his journey to the University of Nevada Las Vegas where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Sports, Leisure and Recreation Management, and Professional Golf Management. In 2012 he earned his PGA Class A membership to the Professional Golfers Association of America. Montoya was the first Pueblo to receive his PGA Class A membership, and he focused on growing the sport of golf to youth. In 2019 Montoya received the PGA Award of Youth Player Development in the Sun Country Section and was recognized as one of Golf Digest Magazine’s Best Teachers in the State. During the 2019 and 2020 seasons Montoya coached varsity golf at Albuquerque Academy, with both boys and girls teams winning State Championships. Montoya left the program to focus on his golf school at Santa Ana Golf Club. His coaching led 15 student athletes to earn golf scholarships to universities. He also became the Captain of Team New Mexico, and the team placed in the top 10 in the Junior Americas Cup between 2020 and 2024. Montoya has coached free golf camps to community members of tribes who own courses including Talking Stick (Salt River Pima), WeKoPa (Yavapai), Turning Stone (Oneida), Whirlwind (Gila River) and Twin Warrior (Santa Ana Pueblo). He developed a partnership withthe Nike N7 Sports Experience and was a Nike N7 Ambassador who has been a part of the golf initiative since 2016. In 2023 Nike N7 Day of Inspiration was held at his home course (Twin Warriors) for the PGA Professional National Championship featured on the Golf Channel network highlighting Montoya’s golf journey.

< Back Fawn Porter Fawn Porter Lower Cayuga Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2026 Fawn Porter has played lacrosse since she was as tall as the goal post. Growing up in Six Nations, Fawn was one of the few girls to play box lacrosse. Her dad, seeing her competitive nature, placed her in box lacrosse and the rest is history. She has represented her community at the provincial, national, and world stage. Fawn Porter played in the minors for the Six Nations Warriors, where they were the first ever Six Nation’s girl’s box lacrosse team to win the Pool A Championship of Ontario. Fawn continued to the national level with the first ever Team Iroquois in 2013 where she was named to the all-star team. Fawn Porter later joined Team Ontario to compete nationally and won a silver medal. Playing box lacrosse was for the love of the game. There was no higher league to elevate to. Fawn tried field lacrosse at Western University, as any discipline of lacrosse will fuel her desire to play. She earned two golds and a bronze during her time at Western University and was named to the all-star team as well as being named as a captain. With the support of family, Fawn played with the Haudenosaunee Nationals for the first time in 2022 at the Women’s National Championship in Maryland, as well as the first Sixes team playing at the World Games in Alabama. Fawn was also named captain of the first Haudenosaunee Women’s World box lacrosse team that won the bronze medal at the first Women’s World Box Lacrosse Championships. She was also a part of the 2025 Haudenosaunee Nationals Women’s Field Team that earned their first bronze medal. Fawn continues striving to remain in the training pools for the three disciplines of box, field, and sixes lacrosse with the Haudenosaunee Nationals. She continues to let lacrosse take her around the world, spreading the good medicine. Fawn is an ambassador for the World Box Lacrosse Global Network (WBLGN) and found her new love of coaching through her first coaching experience with the First Nation’s U15 Girl’s Box team that travelled to Halifax. Fawn continues assisting lacrosse programs in her community as she loves connecting with the youth through lacrosse. <Back

John Lyall Kwakwaka’wakw Induction Category: Year Inducted Builder 2024 <Back John Lyall is a proud husband and father of three daughters, is a Kwakwaka’wakw artist and an enthusiastic sportsperson. His Kwakwala name is Mupenkin of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation of Vancouver Island in BC. Lyall has been a lifelong rugby player, coach and now administrator, playing for the Velox Valhallians (Westshore), University of Victoria Vikes, Vancouver Island Crimson Tide and the Canadian Classics. He has been lucky to have played against and with some of Canada’s best. Lyall is currently the president of the Vancouver Island Rugby Union (2014 – present). Thunder Rugby was formed in 2013 under the direction of Lyall, Directors Phil Mack (Toquaht), Bobby Ross (Songhees), and Mark Bryant. Thunder Rugby’s goals are: To promote the game of rugby to Indigenous athletes and communities throughout Canada • To promote core values of rugby of teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship; • To have Indigenous culture play a greater role in the development of rugby in Canada; and, • To identify potential high-performance Indigenous athletes that could one day represent BC and Canada. Rugby’s core values of teamwork, respect, enjoyment, and sportsmanship resonate with those of Indigenous communities; they are also traits that defined Lyall as a young man and player throughout his life, and now as coach and leader. Thunder Rugby has undertaken the responsibility of touring to California in August of 2022 and New Zealand in August 2023. These have been enormous and rewarding undertakings. Thunder Rugby used the “Four R’s of Indigenous Ways of Knowing” to guide us on our tours including: Respect to yourself and the Thunder program; Responsibility to your school, your community and your ancestors; Relationships and positive relationships with your coaches, your teammates, and your opposition; and finally, Resiliency: you need to find that well of inner strength to tour and play rugby, you have to be brave to play rugby, and that is what Thunder asked our youth to be. Lyall has been very fortunate to have the opportunity to play and lead in this great sport. For him, it has been a brotherhood for life; it is the embodiment of the Kwakwaka’wakw philosophy of “Num’way’ut, or We are All One”.

< Back Lakota Beatty Lakota Beatty Caddo Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2024 Lakota Beatty is from Anadarko, Oklahoma. She is the daughter of George and Michelle Beatty. She is an enrolled member of the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and is also Dakota of Spirit Lake and Standing Rock, North Dakota and Nakoda and A’aniiih of Fort Belknap, Montana. Attending Anadarko High School, she played in four state tournaments, winning the state championship in 2012. Still holding the record for most points scored in Anadarko history, she scored over 2,000 points. Beatty was named to the OCA and OGBCA All-State teams, the Oklahoma Super-Five Team twice, was Jim Thorpe Player of the Year, Gatorade Player of the Year, and named a Parade All-American. Beatty had multiple NCAA Division 1 offers, ultimately choosing Oklahoma State University. While at OSU she played in two NCAA Tournaments, making it to the Sweet 16 her freshman year. After two years there, she transferred in-state to Division I Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Beatty finished her collegiate career with All First-Team Summit League and as of now (2023) she still currently holds the all-time career highest 3-point percentage at 43%. Beatty received her bachelor’s degree in sport management and then began her master’s degree in professional counseling. In 2019 Beatty began hosting her own basketball camps. Lakota Beatty Basketball has a trauma-informed approach that focuses on the importance of mental health on/off the court and aims to help other athletes get the same opportunities and experiences that she had. Lakota has been lucky enough to visit over 75 communities, Native and non-Native, sharing her story of overcoming trials and accomplishing her goals. In 2022 Beatty came out of retirement and signed her first professional basketball contract to play in Aotearoa, New Zealand. In 2023 she signed her next contract to play in The Netherlands where she is currently playing for the 2023-2024 season. After signing her first pro contract, she began representing Indigenous people on a global level as a Nike N7 Athlete. After she retires, she plans on venturing into sports psychology while also serving her Indigenous people with a blend of western, holistic, and traditional methodologies. <Back

< Back Thomas Rahontsiiostha Barreiro Thomas Rahontsiiostha Barreiro Mohawk Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2024 Thomas and Phillip Barreiro are multi-time Canadian Greco-Roman Wrestling National champions. They strive to be good role models for young people on the Akwesasne Reservation. As experienced coaches, they have logged many years and countless hours working with the younger generation in their community. They are both passionate about sport and have a lot of love for the culture that raised them to be who they are today. They emphasize the importance for young people to develop mindful values and personal discipline. This is critical in order to help Akwesasne youth achieve a healthy lifestyle, not just for themselves but for the community as well.   Thomas Barreiro is a dedicated father of two who is passionate about making a positive impact in his community. Thomas began wrestling in eighth grade at the age of 14. While in high school, Barreiro was a New York State place winner and North American Indigenous Games Champion. Barreiro attended NCAA Division 1 American University from 2010-2013. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from American University in 2013 and spent nine years working with youth at the Akwesasne Boys and Girls Club. During that time, Barreiro became a six-time Canadian National Champion in Greco-Roman Wrestling representing Canada at both the World Championships and Pan-American Games. He also began coaching young wrestlers in his home community. He has recently started, alongside his brother Phillip, a non-profit youth development program titled GOOD MIND GRAPPLING. The program uses the sport of wrestling, and related grappling disciplines, to promote physical literacy and combat intergeneration trauma in indigenous youth. <Back

< Back Oliver “Cap” Bomberry Sr Oliver “Cap” Bomberry Sr Cayuga Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete/Builder 2023 Cap Bomberry played for the Oshweken Warriors from 1959 to 1973 and won the President's Cup in 1964, 1967 and 1968. He was involved in minor organization from 1975 to 1988 and was a Team/General Manager with the Jr. A Arrows from 1990 to 1992 winning the Minto Cup in 1992. This was the first indigenous team to win the Minto Cup. He was also the GM for the Six Nations Chiefs from 1993 to 1997 winning the Mann Cup in 1994, 1995, and 1996. Cap was President and GM of the Six Nations Rivermen from 2013 to 2019 winning the President's Cup in 2015 and 2019. Bomberry has been a builder of the sport of lacrosse in the Six Nations minor organization, coach of Pee Wee and Bantam national championships, and Midget provincial championship. He traveled to Australia when Six Nations athletes competed for Team Canada in the World Field Lacrosse Championships and with the Iroquois Nationals when Ontario hosted the World Indoor Championships. Bomberry has been inducted into the Ontario Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1997 in the Builder Category. He was also inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2001 as a Builder, became an Ontario Lacrosse Association (OLA) Life Member in 2006 and was presented with the OLA President's Award. <Back

Greg Henhawk <Back Mohawk Induction Category: Year Inducted Coach 2024 Greg Henhawk is a Mohawk of the Bear Clan from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Ontario. Henhawk is a retired 32 year secondary school teacher of Science, Physical Education and Alternative Education. In basketball Henhawk has coached over twenty Senior Varsity Zone and District Championship teams. He has coached provincial club and elite development teams earning medals including 12 gold. His Six Nations U15 team placed fourth at the 2000 International Children’s Games. He also worked as an assistant women’s varsity coach at Ryerson and Waterloo universities. He has been an assistant and head coach with Basketball Ontario and Canada Basketball elite development programs and teams including being an Apprentice Coach of the Women’s National U19 team at the FIBA Americas world qualifier 2009 and FIBA World championships 2010. Henhawk has coached over 200 badminton individual and team championships at the Senior Varsity level at the zone, district, regional and provincial level. His field hockey teams in 20 years have won 15 District Championships including a span of 11 years in a row and during that time sporting a 113-0 record in District competition. Henhawk has been on the Project Advisory Group between 1998 and 2003 for the Development of the National Coaching program called “The Aboriginal Coaching Modules (ACM)”. He continues in the ACM program as a Master Learning Facilitator and Learning Facilitator developer. He has delivered over 150 ACM courses in Canada and the United States. He is a past winner of the 2018 Coaching Association of Canada – IG Wealth Management: National NCCP Coach Developer Award. Henhawk is a Founding Board member and present Board of Director for the Coaching Association of Ontario and a member of Canada Basketball’s Unified 2024 Advisory Council with Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Henhawk had consulting projects for Holistic Sport Development and Wellness with Recreation North; PHE Canada, Participation, the Respect Group of Canada, Maple Leaf Sport and Entertainment including the Launchpad charity fund and with all 13 Provincial Territorial Indigenous Sport Bodies in Canada. Projects have included: Indigenous Coaching Development for the Mi’kmaq Sport Council of Nova Scotia; The Coaching Association of Canada’s: Indigenous Coach Education and Development Advisory Group; and, the Indigenous Master Coach Developers’ Advisory Group.

Bennae Calac Pauma Band of Luiseño Indian Induction Category: Year Inducted Builder 2022 <Back Bennae is a strong Native woman, mother, business owner, mentor, teacher, and leader. Over the last 35 years, Bennae Calac has represented Pauma in various political, cultural, and administrative capacities. She has served as the repatriation chair since the age of twenty-one and her life’s work is to preserve the culture and traditions of her people. She is dedicated to the preservation and revitalization of Luiseño songs and dances and works with her own children and local youth programs to ensure that this traditional knowledge is instilled in the younger generation. Bennae was elected as Committee Member to the Pauma Band’s Tribal Council in December 2008 and served another two-year term as Secretary and Treasurer. Through her various Tribal roles, Bennae interacts with the youth, culture, public and political relations. Bennae continually answers the community’s call to speak on topics ranging from native wellness, health advocacy, domestic violence, women’s issues, and cultural preservation. Bennae serves on numerous boards and committees, including as the Co-Founder of the 7G Foundation, a (501)(c)(3) organization providing Native Americans, and other Indigenous people and communities, assistance in reaching their goals through Athletics, Education, Health-Mind-Body Practices, and Community. She has also established and serves as Board Chair for Onoo Po Strategies, a multifaceted consultancy and holding company with capabilities in Economic Development, Technology, Procurement and Distribution, Business Strategy and Marketing, and Environmental and Agricultural Management. Photo: Mom (left) and daughter at the US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis.

< Back Ray Fougnier Ray Fougnier Oneida Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2025 On his 81st birthday on April 5, 2024, Oneida tribal member and grandfather Ray Fougnier set 13 new world records and earned four gold medals at the 2024 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) North American Powerlifting Championships. Fougnier also earned the AAU Powerlifting Best Overall Male Lifter Award and the Best Squat Award, named as the best athlete of all competitors, regardless of age. In 2023, Fougnier was named the AAU National Powerlifter of the Year. The year prior, he earned the 2022 AAU Strength Sports Best Overall Male Athlete of the Year Award, which includes powerlifting, weightlifting, body building and feats of strength. These awards include all competitors, regardless of age. Fougnier has competed at the AAU North American, World and International Powerlifting Championships for ten years, setting new records every time in the raw master’s division, where participants within his age range (80-84) do not use equipment to assist their lift. In addition to his success in powerlifting, Fougnier is also an accomplished educator, administrator and academic. After growing up in the homelands of the Oneida Indian Nation in Upstate New York, the weightlifting champion was selected to serve as the first Director for the American Indian Program at Cornell University. He also served as a teacher or administrator in the East Syracuse-Minoa, Solvay, Westhill and Syracuse City school districts. Fougnier started powerlifting at the age of 70. He was a natural athlete and lifted throughout high school when he was playing sports more consistently. The primary reason for powerlifting later in life was seeing both of his parents struggle with their health. His father was diagnosed with cancer and passed at the age of 66 shortly after retiring. His mother developed diabetes in her 40s and struggled with managing that disease up until she passed at the age of 72. Fougnier has spent the last ten years as a World Champion, and now having entered his third age group in competition, he knows his success supports the correlation between strength training and disease prevention. Source/Photos: Oneida Indian Nation <Back

< Back Ross Powless Ross Powless Mohawk Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete/Coach 2023 Considered one of the fathers of modern lacrosse in Canada, Ross Powless was born in Ohsweken Ontario, on the Six Nations of the Grand River in 1926. Belonging to the Turtle clan (Kanien'kehá:ka) of the Haudenosaunee, or Six Nations Confederacy, Ross spent five years as a child at the Mohawk Institute Indigenous Residential School in Brantford, Ontario. Lacrosse, the Creator’s game, which holds deep spiritual and cultural significance for the Haudenosaunee people, offered Ross a powerful way to reclaim his heritage after enduring extreme deprivation and isolation from family and culture at residential school. Ross could not help but raise the profile of lacrosse wherever he played the game. Between 1951 and 1953, he won three consecutive Canadian Senior A championship titles with the Peterborough Timbermen. In 1951 and 1952, he claimed the Tom Longboat Award twice as the most outstanding First Nations athlete in Ontario. In 1953, he was awarded the Mike Kelley Memorial Trophy for Most Valuable Player in Canadian Senior A lacrosse. As player-coach of Hamilton Lincoln Burners Senior “A” team between 1956 and 1958, Ross won every Ontario Lacrosse Association trophy he was eligible to claim, including Top Scorer, Most Valuable Player, Best Defensive Player and Coach of the Year. Among his many coaching highlights, Ross led the Canadian Senior Men’s Lacrosse Team to defeat the United States at Expo ‘67 in Montreal. Despite encountering racism, Ross continually broke down barriers for Indigenous peoples. His son, Gaylord Powless, who was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2017, stands out as one of the great lacrosse players taught and inspired by Ross. In 2020, Ross was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame for Lacrosse in the Builder category. In 2003, Ross Powless passed away, a respected elder in his community. <Back