On Jan. 9, the city of Kingston announced that Dr. Janice Deakin, dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research, will be inducted into the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame. The ceremony will take place May 4 at the Ambassador Hotel.
Deakin is the former director of the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies, and will be inducted in the builder’s category of the hall. The award is in recognition of her contributions to the sport of basketball as an official at the provincial, national and international levels.
Deakin was the first woman to receive an officiating licence from the world’s governing body for basketball and spent 15 years as a Canadian and international level official. During that time, she officiated gold medal games at the Pan Am Games, World Professional and International University Championships. Deakin also officiated the woman’s bronze medal game at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the first woman chosen to officiate an Olympic medal game.
This honour is the second for Deakin; she is a member of the Smiths Falls Sport Hall of Fame. She has also received Queen’s Athletics Special Recognition Award and a Canadian Association of Basketball Officials Award of Merit.
Deakin will be inducted alongside seven others, including local retired hockey greats Kirk Muller and Doug Gilmour.
Deakin could not be reached for comment by press time.
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