New sports gallery will house historical artifacts

An Aboriginal Sports Gallery will be introduced as a new feature at the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Museum later this year.
The B.C. provincial government announced in mid-February that it was contributing $75,000 to launch the gallery, which will include artifacts, displays, photographs and videos.
The initial phase of the gallery, which will feature an area of 300 square feet, is expected to open on June 21.
And then, if funding is secured, the second phase of the facility will be launched at some point in 2009. The anticipated expanded gallery would cover 1,000 square feet.
"I don't think any of us understood how many stories there were to tell," said Allison Mailer, the director of operations for the Vancouver-based B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. "The whole project has become bigger so there is a need for that extra funding."
The gallery currently has several partners. Besides the B.C. government and the hall of fame and museum, other partners include 2010 Legacies Now, Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, Four Host First Nations and the Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Association of B.C.
Mailer said a fundraising committee is working on securing the necessary funds for the second phase of the gallery.
Mailer believes the gallery, which will only feature B.C. sporting figures and teams, will become a key part of the established hall and museum.
"I think it's going to be inspirational for First Nations communities and everybody else that sees it," she said.
The gallery's permanent home will be inside the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Museum, a facility located inside B.C. Place Stadium.
But portions of the gallery will also be roving as exhibits will be transported to various First Nations centres throughout British Columbia. For example, the gallery will be set up at the 2008 North American Indigenous Games in Cowichan Valley this August.
Mailer has seen various photographs and exhibits that will be part of the gallery. And she has been touched by the intensity displayed by many of those in photographs.
"At first it was a spark of an idea," she said. "Once we started the work on it we realized sport is just a way of life. It has meant so much to these (First Nations) communities for the past 100 years and more."
One of the first artifacts that will be displayed in the hall will be a full headdress made of eagle feathers. The headdress was the trademark of Jean Baptiste Paul, one of Canada's premier professional wrestlers who grappled under the nickname of Chief Thunderbird.
The headdress is the same one Chief Thunderbird wore during his pro wrestling career, which lasted more than two decades, from the early 1930s to the mid-50s.
Chief Thunderbird, who was also a successful professional boxer, was a hereditary chief of B.C.'s Tsartlip First Nation. He died in 1966 at age 71.
Another exhibit will be a mural of the 1936 North Shore Indians lacrosse team. That club has already been inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame and Museum. Michael de Jong, the Aboriginal Relations and Reconciliation Minister, believes the gallery will have a huge benefit.
"Aboriginal athletes in British Columbia have made great contributions to the world of sport but, until now, have never had a permanent place to celebrate their achievements," he said. "By creating this awareness and encouraging Aboriginal people to pursue healthy, active lives, this gallery will help support the province's efforts to close the gaps in health outcomes for Aboriginal people."