Badgers Calder inducted into Wrestling Canada Hall of Fame

ST. CATHARINES, ON - Saturday night in front of a capacity crowd at the 2017 Senior National Championships, Brock Badgers Marty Calder was inducted into the Wrestling Canada Lutte Hall of Fame.

Former national member and longtime friend Justin Abdeu from British Columbia had the honour of inducting his longtime friend into the hall.

The induction speech from Calder was filled with a bit of everything from statistics, stories, memorable moments, jokes, poetry and most of all thank you to so many people in his life that helped him reach his full potential as an athlete. Today Calder is one of the top coaches in Canada and continues to be a mentor to so many young wrestlers and helping them reach their full potential.

This weekend, Calder and the Brock wrestling program captured nine national titles including Ty Bridgwater, Hannah Taylor, Jevon Balfour, Michelle Fazzari, Jessica MacDonald, Diana Weicker, Olivia Di Bacco, and Chris McIsaac who captured both the junior and senior titles.

A two-time Olympian (1992, 1996), and seven-time National Champion Marty Calder represented Canada with passion and intensity for over a decade, in Men's Freestyle Wrestling. Marty speaks modestly to his many accomplishments, which include a fifth place at the 1993 Senior World Championships, 1994 Commonwealth Games gold, 7^th place at the 1996 Olympic Games, 1999 Pan Am Games bronze, to name a few.

Calder, one of the most decorated athletes in Brock Badgers history, was a five-time OUA champion and four-time CIAU champion and first team All-Canadian while leading his team to the first National championship in school history. He went on to win Brock Male Athlete of the Year three times. For his career performance he was inducted into the Brock Hall of Fame in 2003 along with the first CIAU National Championship team which he was part of.

Upon retiring from competition, Marty transitioned to a successful coaching career with the Brock University Badgers and Brock Wrestling Club programs where he continues to develop and inspire Canada's next generation of wrestlers. As a coach and athlete, Calder has been apart of all 24 national and 35 provincial wrestling Championships.

The Wrestling Canada Lutte Hall of Fame was established in 1975 to recognize outstanding achievement and contribution to Olympic wrestling in or for Canada. There are two categories of membership in the Hall of Fame, the athlete category and the builder category. The athlete category recognizes the achievements of those wrestlers who have represented Canada at major international competitions or Games. The builder category formally recognizes the contribution, leadership and abilities of those individuals who participate in the development of wrestling.

A complete list of inductees since 1975 can be found at: http://wrestling.ca/programs/hall-of-fame.

Source: Brock Badgers