It's a call to Newmarket Sports Hall of Fame for this trio

Mackin, Salter and Meehan to be inducted Nov. 4

Yorkregion.com
October 3, 2018
John Cudmore

The Class of 2018 has received its call.

Softball pitcher Robin Mackin, soccer builder Bernie Salter and professional hockey player and executive Gerry Meehan have been named 2018 inductees for the Newmarket Sports Hall of Fame.

The trio will be inducted during a ceremony to be held Nov. 4 at the Town of Newmarket council chambers.

Mackin, who started her career in the Newmarket Minor Softball Association and pitched Stingers teams to two provincial Tier 2 titles, highlighted her career by playing for Canada at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Canada finished fourth.

A righthander, Mackin received a scholarship to attend Fresno State University after graduating from Newmarket High School. Now a doctor, she later transferred to University of Nebraska before a shoulder injury ended her career.

“It’s really exciting,” said Mackin, 31, who is in residency to become a pediatrician and lives in Hamilton. “I’m not in Newmarket but it is still my home town and I take pride in being from Newmarket.”

Named Newmarket’s citizen of the year in 1991, Salter served in multiple roles on the board of directors for the Newmarket Soccer Club. He is a former coach of the year in the organization.

Now 86, the native of Bexley, England moved to Canada in 1957 and later arrived in Newmarket in 1978. His initial foray into Newmarket's soccer scene was as an assistant coach for his son's team in 1981.

He coached the Newmarket Rovers to a Newmarket & District Soccer League regular season and Cup titles, marking the first time a team accomplished that feat.

The first honourary lifetime member of the Newmarket Soccer Club, Salter was inducted into the York Region Soccer Association Hall of Fame in 2013.

Raised in Toronto before moving to Newmarket where his family remained from 1953 until 1965, Meehan played in the National Hockey League for a dozen seasons.

“It is nice to be recognized,” said Meehan, 72, who resides in Aurora. “In these communities that have been a big part of our lives it is nice to see them grabbing on to their history.”

During his playing career, Meehan compiled 180 goals among 423 points in 670 games, including four seasons with the Buffalo Sabres where he served as captain. Following his playing career, Meehan, a lawyer, became the Sabres general manager and senior vice-president in the mid-1980s.

A left winger, he originally was selected in the 1963 amateur by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the fourth round, 21st overall.

In addition to a brief stint with the Maple Leafs, Meehan also played for the Vancouver Canucks, Atlanta Flames, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals.

He ended his pro career as a member of the World Hockey Association’s Cincinnati Stingers in 1979.

Ironically, Meehan's name still appears in the Newmarket Minor Hockey Association record book for scoring exploits in Novice playoffs from 1956-57 seasons