By Martin Cleary
During her time in elementary and high school, Debbie Miner discovered her passion for basketball.
However, she felt it wasn’t enough, especially while attending Bell High School, where the Bruins’ season only spanned about nine weeks.
One day, she expressed this concern to her mother Hazel and asked if she could help create opportunities for her and some friends to play more competitive basketball.
Hazel responded like any supportive parent would: “I’ll try,” she said, unsure of how to start or if this journey would lead to success or a dead end.
Though she was a skilled catcher in her younger days and played on the 1955 Western Canada women’s fastball championship team called the Hub City Ramblers, Miner had no background in basketball.
But with determination and hard work, she developed innovative programs long before slam dunks became popular in the sport.
In 1970, with help from Nepean recreation director Bill Levesque, Miner founded the Nepean Amateur Basketball Association and secured court times at various schools.
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They took a leap of faith that paid off big time.
News spread quickly through the growing Nepean community about the launch of a recreational basketball league. Before long, Miner had enough players to form six girls’ teams and six boys’ teams in the U14 division. She served as president of NABA from 1971-83.
Three years later, she created the Ottawa Rookies Basketball Club, which provided Ottawa’s first elite junior competitive opportunity for girls. Additional midget and bantam teams followed as part of her player development strategy.
Miner oversaw the Rookies program while coaches Warren Sutton (1973-74) and Bob Butler (from 1974-75 to 1988-89) led junior players to Ontario championships and participation in two Canadian senior women’s championships as well as university tournaments and spots on national teams including Olympic rosters.
The Ontario Basketball Association recognized Miner’s achievements by appointing her its director of player development for a span of 15 years from 1974-88.
Miner stepped back from basketball in spring 1989. The Rookies program continued for just one more year.
When Debbie asked about creating higher-level basketball options for girls in Ottawa, Miner exceeded all expectations during her impressive two-decade tenure-a journey acknowledged multiple times over.
Hazel Miner. Photo: Ottawa Rookies
On October 23rd, she’ll once again be honored when she’s inducted into the Nepean Sports Wall of Fame alongside eleven others at an event held at Nepean Sportsplex.
At age 90, Miner was taken aback by this latest recognition; it will join other honors like her induction into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame (builder category, 2006), Ontario Basketball Hall of Fame (builder category, 2010), and Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame (team category for Hub City Ramblers in 1989).
“I said ‘Pardon,’” recalled Miner when Pam Coburn informed her she’d been chosen for this year’s induction into the Nepean Sports Wall of Fame Class of 2025. “What is it I was supposed to have done?”
Miner also received the Gord Trivett Memorial Trophy as Ottawa’s sportsman of the year back in 1981. She witnessed numerous victories with Ottawa Rookies junior team who claimed several Ontario titles-five consecutive ones from ’84-’89 alone. In ’85 alone they celebrated provincial championship gold medals across junior, midget & bantam divisions.
Finding strong competition for their talented junior squad wasn’t always easy-even against university or senior women’s clubs. Yet they consistently triumphed over university teams both locally and internationally while qualifying twice for Canadian women’s senior championships finishing fifth both times.
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The Rookies produced many standout athletes like Donna Hobin who represented Canada at Montreal’s Summer Olympics ’76 while Andrea Blackwell participated at both Los Angeles Olympics ’84 & Atlanta Olympics ’96; tragically Hobin passed away recently at age sixty-eight.
Sisters Janet & Carolyn Swords earned places on Canada’s national senior & junior women’s teams respectively; along with Laura Gillespie, Pam Coburn & Ingrid Kihl who regularly played college ball after their time with Rookies organization.
Miner was pivotal behind-the-scenes within Rookies’ structure managing logistics but still being present during practices/games without actually coaching herself.
“I managed team operations including travel arrangements/hotel bookings while finding venues for practices,” shared miner “Coaching wasn’t my main role but I attended every practice/travelled during weekends.”
“It was challenging finding opponents since we were outmatching even varsity squads.”
In one instance, a young rookies team dominated University Toronto Women’s side leading by scoreline seventy-one to forty-six then went on beat Windsor eighty-one twenty-six!
The Nepean Sports Wall celebrates athletes/coaches/builders/teams biannually highlighting achievements from west-end Ottawa region. The addition twelve inductees brings total membership up eighty-seven individuals plus four teams. Class Of Twenty-Twenty-Five includes: · Brianna Hennessy: para canoeing athlete First Canadian woman winning silver medal Paralympics Paris last year co-flag bearer closing ceremony · Julie Brousseau: swimming athlete helped Canada secure fourth place Women’s Four By Two Hundred Metre Freestyle Relay First Summer Olympic experience Paris twenty-twenty-four multiple international/domestic medalist record tying eleven accolades won summer games twenty-twenty-two. · Kayla Maduk : Taekwondo athlete Medaled World Championships between two-thousand eleven/two-thousand fifteen inspiring future martial artists through Believe Program · Katie Xu : figure skating/swimming earned medals Special Olympic competitions Canadian/worldwide mainstream events. · Kate Miller : diving athlete Gold Medal World Junior Diving Championships Silver Pan-Am Games Fourth Place Women Ten-Metre Synchro Twenty-Twenty-Four Paris Olympics. · Mark Moors : football athlete Grey Cup winner nineteen-eighty-four Winnipeg Blue Bombers ten-year CFL career Vanier Cup champion Acadia University seventy-nine. · Mike Racicot : extreme sports/skateboarding posthumously led efforts towards Walter Baker Skatepark world-renowned BASE jumper until his passing two-thousand eighteen · Tony House : coach accomplished numerous provincial/national championships established Topflight Academy targeting elite high school student-athletes. · David Rattray : builder previous chairperson revitalized wall via digital upgrades fund raising outreach significant national/local community leader volunteer. · Gerry La Porte: Builder lawn bowls respected figure advocating inclusivity within sport serving leadership roles Ottawa/Ontario levels president N e pe an Lawn Bowls Club · Bill Mantle: builder sailing posthumously co-founded local sailing club late nineteen-seventies developed recreational landmark benefiting thousands annually. Martin Cleary has covered amateur sports over fifty-two years receiving accolades such as past Canadian sportswriter award honoree lifetime achievement recognition via Ottawa Sports Awards retired full-time work Chronicle Ontario back twenty-twelve continuing write bi-weekly High Achievers Citizen/Sun When pandemic hit he launched High Achievers Stay Safe Edition sharing positive news amid hardships starting Twitter now here located ottawasportspages. ca Reach him through email martincleary51@gmail. com Twitter @martinclearySource link
