A long time Parkland resident was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, last week.
Diane Hrychuk, who moved from Fork River to Winnipeg in July, was one of six inductees this year after a long career as an athlete and a builder.
Hrychuk learned a few months ago that she would be inducted.
“My sister had nominated me. And it’s quite a process, I guess, that the committee goes through. It’s quite a few months ago. I’m going to say January or February,” she said.
“I was grateful. It’s unbelievable that I would be chosen as an inductee, because there’s lots of people who do wonderful things in sport. So I was thrilled.”
According to the bio in the press release announcing the induction, Hrychuk lost her left leg at the hip to cancer and was introduced to wheelchair sports three years later.
Hrychuk enjoyed competing in sports before losing her leg and assumed she would no longer be able to compete.
“I had not heard of wheelchair sports. Maybe at that time. wheelchair sports were just beginning, I guess. So when I had an opportunity to get back into sports, I thought this was just fantastic,” she said.
Hrychuk has competed in a number of sports, including basketball, volleyball, table tennis, javelin, discus, shot put, track, and curling, and amassed 134 medals at national and international events.
“I had a wonderful career,” she said.
Highlights included being Team Canada’s flag bearer at the 1986 PanAm Games and her induction into the Wheelchair Basketball Hall of Fame.
Hrychuk lists discus as her favourite individual event with javelin not far behind. As for team sports, she loved basketball.
“When I got married and moved out to Fork River, there was no coaching available. Everything takes a lot of time, too,” she said.
After her playing career was over, Hrychuk turned to working behind the scenes with the Parkland Sports Council and other organizations.
“I spent quite a few years with the Parkland Sports Council in Dauphin and the Parkland. And then I sat on the Manitoba Games Council, where I did some mission staff work with the younger people. That was very rewarding and enjoyable,” she said.
Hrychuk retired in 2008 after more then 40 years of being involved in sports.
“It was time. I started in 1968. Thirty years later I retired from sports and spent the next 10 years on the national body, the Wheelchair Basketball Association, participating in meetings in Ottawa and across the country for the development of basketball,” she said.
The induction ceremony took place in Winnipeg, Thursday.
It was an overwhelming experience for Hrychuk.
“I’m still recovering,” she said, Friday afternoon.
“It’s going to take me a few days, because it is so overwhelming. It went so long that I was a nervous wreck. And then the evening was happening quickly. There’s so many people. People came and talked to me that I did not know. Some people that I hadn’t seen in many years and didn’t recognize.
“Lots of family members were there. It was so excited and completely overwhelming.”
Inductees were invited Friday morning to the Sport Manitoba Hall of Fame Museum where they autographed the wall.
“It’s so wonderful, but it’s overwhelming. Just so much excitement in a short time that it’s fantastic,” Hrychuk said.
Hrychuk appreciates having the opportunity to compete in sports and do as well as she did.
“I appreciate the support my family provided and the wonderful coaches I met along the way. And the lifelong friends that I’ve made. I’m slowly losing some of them, but that’s the circle of life, I guess,” she said.
“I’ve been blessed with a wonderful life and God was kind to me and I’m very, very fortunate, for sure.”