Interview with Rick Brownlee

Partial Transcript: Sure, I'm originally a Winnipeg boy from St. James and I've been living in Stonewall Manitoba...

Segment Synopsis: Rick tells us a little about himself, where he was born, where he grew up, and where he lives now.

Keywords: Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame; Monitoba; Sport Heritage Manager; St. James; Stonewall; Winnipeg

Partial Transcript: When I first started there was a volunteer organization called the Manitoba Sports Federation...

Segment Synopsis: Rick explains the organizational origins of Sport Manitoba.

Keywords: Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame; Sport Manitoba

Subjects: Government Relations

Partial Transcript: Sure, if you want to go all the way back the Winnipeg Tribune which was a former newspaper here in the city had what they called the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame

Segment Synopsis: Rick explains the organizational origins of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame, beginning in the 1950s.

Keywords: Chamonix; Manitoba Sports Federation; Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame; Toronto Granites; Winnipeg; Winnipeg Falcons

Subjects: Government Relations

Partial Transcript: The 2017 Canada Games coming to Winnipeg was a bit of a surprise because originally I think it was supposed to go to Brandon...

Segment Synopsis: Rick talks about his many different experiences in working at the Canada Games. He tells a few stories as well, one from the 2017 Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg, and one from the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse.

Keywords: 2007; 2017; Andrea Reichert; Beausejour; British Columbia; Canada Games Center; Canada Summer Games; Canada Winter Games; Cindy Klassen; Connie Laliberte; Jeff Hnatiuk; Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame; Mission Staff; North; Ontario; Quebec; Red River; Saskatchewan; Selkirk; Shawnee Scatliff; Sport Manitoba; Ted Bigelow; Western Canada Games; Whitehorse; Winnipeg Winter Club; badminton; basketball; boxing; cowbell; elevator; exhibit; prairie; socio-economic; volleyball

Subjects: Mission Staff; Museum Exhibit(s)

Partial Transcript: Um, 2017 after we got the exhibit set up and made sure that that was well staffed, and volunteers were helping us out on that...

Segment Synopsis: Rick talks about the role of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame at the 2017 Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg, and some of the different moves they've had to make over the years.

Keywords: Basketball; Johnston Terminal; Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame; Sport Heritage; Sport Manitoba; The Bay; The Forks; Volunteer

Subjects: Built Legacy

Partial Transcript: It was and I think any mission staff that's worth their weight in salt put some time in before.

Segment Synopsis: Rick talks about the bonding that he's seen the Mission Staff do with the Team Manitoba athletes, looking after the kids as a sort of "papa bear" or "mama bear." He also talks about some of the friends he's been able to make with fellow Team Manitoba coaches and administrators.

Keywords: 2003; Archie Chawla; Coach(es); Ryan Savage; Tim Hortons; Western Canada Summer Games; Whitehorse; builder; bully; training

Subjects: Mission Staff

Partial Transcript: A day in the mission staff is…. it starts out with making sure your athletes get there in one piece and all their equipment gets there with them...

Segment Synopsis: Rick explains some more about his experiences meeting other people and athletes while in his role on the mission staff.

Keywords: Cheering; Chef de Mission; Closing ceremonies; Nova Scotia; Opening ceremonies; Prairie; Quebec; technical

Subjects: Canadian Identity; Friendships at the Canada Games; Unity through Sport

Partial Transcript: I actually do have a few pins, on both sides they’re not all from Games but certainly a lot of them are from Games...

Segment Synopsis: Rick talks about pin collecting at the Canada Games.

Keywords: Gear; Mondetta; Pin(s)

Subjects: Pin collecting

Partial Transcript: Umm, i'm not sure what the volunteer count was for Winnipeg I'm sure it grows every year but I mean I've got the Whitehorse one right in front of me there...

Segment Synopsis: Rick explains the impact of volunteers at the Canada Games, and any other multi-sport games.

Keywords: Michelle Sawatzky-Koop; Whitehorse; Winnipeg

Subjects: Volunteering

Partial Transcript: I think for the 2017 Games, when the torch run was going through the city.

Segment Synopsis: Rick shares one of his favourite memories of the 2017 Games, seeing his boss take part in the torch relay as part of the opening ceremonies.

Keywords: Canada Games Center; Jeff Hnatiuk; Sport for Life; Torch

Partial Transcript: I did, because fortunately in moving downtown to our new location in the exchange district we were about a 10 minute walk away from the Forks...

Segment Synopsis: Rick talks about some of the other festivities that took place at the 2017 Games, as well as other ways in which Canada Games history & heritage was shared with the public.

Keywords: Canadian Human Rights Centre; Saint Boniface; Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame; history

Subjects: Spectator's Perspective

Partial Transcript: Yeah, I think some of the early Games that we looked at perhaps the athletes were a little older or there was a wide range depending on what sport it was for actual adults participating in.

Segment Synopsis: Rick talks about the importance of the Canada Games as a stepping stone for young athletes on their way to achieving their goals as high-performance athletes.

Keywords: Barry Moroz; Chef de Mission; Shawnee Scatliff; Ted Bigelow; age category

Subjects: Career Impacts

Partial Transcript: Well I will preface this by saying as Executive Director my number one job with the Hall of Fame is procuring the funds to keep it in business...

Segment Synopsis: Rick explains one of the main takeaways he took away from the Canada Games 50 Years exhibit they put on at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2017, that it's important to allow athletes to play a variety of different sports when they're kids and not to worry about specialization until they get a bit older.

Keywords: Andrea Reichert; Canada Games 50 Years; Cindy Klassen; Clothing; Connie Laliberte; Exhibit; Gear; Richard Harzing; Sidney Crosby; Torch; specialization

Subjects: Museum Exhibit(s); Preserving Canada Games Materials

Partial Transcript: There were certainly when Andrea and her team put the outline in, we’ll take the cases we'll have 8 large cases and 6 medium cases and 2 small cases...

Segment Synopsis: Rick talks about the vintage athletic equipment and clothing that they put on display during their 50th anniversary of the Canada Games exhibit.

Keywords: Andrea Reichert; Brandon; Montreal; Red Deer; Toronto; artifacts; clothing; equipment; memorabilia; small communities

Subjects: (Dis)Abilities; Built Legacy; Museum Exhibit(s); Niagara; Preserving Canada Games Materials; Women & Gender Equity

Partial Transcript: Umm, again Andrea would probably be a better one to answer that one for me or Rich in the gallery seeing it in person.

Segment Synopsis: Rick talks about some Canada Games artifacts that stood out to him from their 50th anniversary exhibit.

Keywords: Andrea Reichert; Bonnie Whitmire; Los Angeles; Richard Harzing; gymnastics

Subjects: Museum Exhibit(s); Preserving Canada Games Materials

Partial Transcript: Yeah, and I do have further insight on that because when I'm doing my research on the inductees in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame...

Segment Synopsis: Rick uses the story of the late John Reilly as an example of how community members who have been involved in the Canada Games have left a lasting impact on their communities.

Keywords: Brandon; John Reilly; builders; rugby

Subjects: Built Legacy; Volunteers

Partial Transcript: Well one of my personal favorites is Susan Auch who’s a double silver medalist in 500 meters at the ‘92 and ‘94 Winter Olympics for speed skating...

Segment Synopsis: Rick shares a memory of his time spent with Susan Auch, a Manitoba speed skater and two time Olympic medalist who got her start at the Canada Games. He also mentions Don and Doran Sewell who met at the Canada Games and both became accomplished sport rifle shooters.

Keywords: Don Sewell; Doran Sewell; Whitehorse; alumni; honorary captain; rifle shooting

Subjects: Friendships at the Canada Games

Partial Transcript: Mainly in Whitehorse because of how cold it was. I did have some Mission Staff contemporaries that took advantage of the opportunity to go dogsledding.

Segment Synopsis: Rick tells the story of him and a friend from the mission staff having a beer at a bar next to a hotel they stayed at in Whitehorse, and the connections he was able to make with the locals. He also talks about how cold it was.

Keywords: 98 Hotel; Riverview Hotel; Tim Hortons; Walmart; Yukon; bar; cold; staff; weather

Partial Transcript: I think, I really wish that even if I'd never gotten off the bench that I would have been the last player at least to be named to that Manitoba team...

Segment Synopsis: Rick talks about how he wishes he could have gotten involved in the Canada Games sooner.

Keywords: Games bug; Whitehorse

Subjects: Volunteering

Partial Transcript: Yeah, the most immediate advice I would give is now in this digital age photographs are everywhere and to tag those with information...

Segment Synopsis: Rick offers some advice for people in Niagara to take lots of photos and to mark who is in the photos, if possible.

Keywords: Niagara; history

Subjects: Museum Exhibit(s); Preserving Canada Games Materials

Partial Transcript: No I think some of the thing's I've got written at the bottom of the prep sheets that I have here, we've gone over.

Segment Synopsis: Rick shares how he's enjoyed looking back on the images in his Canada Games scrapbook, and his hopes for the future of the Games.

Keywords: legacy; scrapbook

Subjects: Built legacy