LAC LA BICHE - Clint Trimble along with local rodeo family patriarchs Robbie, James, Alex, and Bernard MacDonald, are the inductees for the 2023 Lac La Biche County Sports Hall of Fame.
Trimble and the McDonald brothers will be formally inducted for their contributions to local sport at the Community and College Sports Excellence Awards Night, which takes place at Portage College on March 27.
Trimble has been a familiar face in the local hockey scene for many decades. In the early 1980s, he started coaching with some friends whose children played hockey. When his own kids started playing hockey, he volunteered to coach their teams.
“It’s an honour to be inducted into the hall of fame as a community builder. It feels great,” Trimble told Lakeland This Week.
Trimble progressed to coaching minor hockey teams, U18, and the local Jr. B Clippers. During the inaugural season of the Portage College men’s hockey team in 2008, he served as assistant to head coach Terry Ewasiuk, which he says was a great learning experience.
“I have been fortunate over the years to work with some amazing coaches and learned so much from each of them,” he stated. “That knowledge I have passed on to LLB minor hockey association, players, and future coaches.”
For Trimble, his best accomplishment is encouraging young people to play sports and recreation and daily part of their lives.
“When I run into players I coached with their kids and they stop to say hi, that is accomplishment to me,” he said.
McDonald Brothers
The honours to the McDonald brothers comes posthumously, and the recognition will be received by their surviving family members. Billy McDonald is the son of the late Robbie MacDonald, who passed away on Dec. 21, 2020. Billy, a rodeo contractor who operates Hylo based Billy McDonald Rodeo said throughout his life, his dad was a rancher who raised cattle, but was also actively involved in rodeo, and raised rodeo stock, participated as a rider, and even raised horses for the Calgary Stampede.
Rodeo and livestock was in the blood of all of the McDonald brothers, said Billy, adding that his dad helped to found the Wildrose Rodeo Association, which is still very active today.
Billy said it gives him a good feeling now that his dad and his uncles have been inducted into the local sports hall of fame. He added that the timing is right to recognize his dad and the McDonald brothers for what they did for the sport of rodeo in the area.
“He achieved a lot of different things in life,” McDonald said. “He loved the sport of rodeo.”
The Lac La Biche County Sports Hall of Fame is located within the Bold Centre and displays photos and biographies of previous inductees. Lac La Biche County’s Staci Lattimer said the ‘hall’ recognizes and celebrates local athletes and teams “who have competed and demonstrated outstanding achievements in sport, as well as community builders and leaders who have made a significant contribution to developing and growing sport and recreation, and who have helped build community engagement through leadership, innovation, and years of dedicated service.”
Both Trimble and the McDonalds are being recognized as sports builders.
A formal recognition of the latest inductees will take place on March 27 at this year’s Community and Sports Excellence Awards Night at Portage College.
Tickets for the awards night are $30. Information about the event can be found by calling 780-720-2080.
The Lac La Biche Sports Hall of Fame, which was introduced in 2017, currently features 11 inductees whose photos and stories are displayed on the second floor of the Bold Centre near the entrance to the twin-arena seating areas.
