CHAMPIONS SPEAK  -  2023 Hall of Fame Inductee Don Forth - Builder

Introduction of Don Forth 2023

by ​ Denise Bushnell

Good Evening. 

As a young father Don Forth started his long road of volunteering by just trying to spend time with his young family and jumped on the bench to coach his son's hockey teams making many miles going from game to game, and then later on becoming a referee, (which we all know is a totally thankless job as everyone loves the referees) officiating minor hockey and old timer hockey.

Don has been interested in stock car racing most of his life and in 1968 he was part of the founding group of the Wetaskiwin Stock Car Club and is the only member of the original club that is still active at the racetrack. Don was instrumental in the building of the Sunset Speedway, including creating the clay oval racetrack, running equipment and shoveling clay and gravel. On race nights Don was the flagman for many years and can still  be seen subbing in as the flagman when needed all these years later. In 1994 he was involved in the paving of the Sunset Speedway and in 1995 when the raceway was leased to new management Don transitioned his volunteer efforts to the new group. Sunset Speedway became the Edmonton International Raceway otherwise known as EIR in 2001 and to this day in the months leading up to and including race season you can still find Don there every day during the week helping with new construction and improvements and on weekends he is the tow truck driver, repairman, and jack of all trades as he does any job that needs to be done around the track. His friends at the track say Don definitely gives the young people a run for their money as he is always going from one end of the track to the other getting jobs done and looking to see what needs to be done next. 

Don is a friend and supporter to all racers and their families there, as my own family the Bushnell Race Team can attest to. When my son Mitchell decided to follow in his grandpa and dad's footsteps and get into racing, Don was a huge source of help and support as Mitchell navigated the ins and outs of racing at the EIR. Always at our pits offering encouragement or after hours when we would be with Don at other events just talking shop and letting my family bounce things off him. When my husband Garry decided to join Mitchell and get back into racing, there was Don once again helping us maneuver getting 2 and sometimes 3 race cars to the track in the allotted time space, and as usual Don's calm demeanor as he visited our pits numerous times offering support and words of encouragement to my racers and all other racers in the different classes. To recognize Don's over 50 years of contributions to the racetrack a section of the EIR grandstands were named after Don Forth at a ceremony in September of 2017. 

The racetrack is not the only place that reaps the rewards of Don's volunteering. Don has been an avid bowler for years participating in many different leagues at Western Lanes and to this day still continues to bowl on a weekly basis, and after 32 years of coaching youths has retired from coaching, but still continues to help out at Western Lanes on almost a daily basis during off racetrack months. Now instead of coaching you can find Don manning the front desk handing out shoes, oiling lanes, working on machines just offering to do whatever needs to be fixed or running to get that cold beverage for the bowlers when the lanes are full and all of this is on his own time and done out of the goodness of his heart because he feels the owners of the lanes need help and well he has the time or so he says.  In fact many times, I know for a fact that he has left the racetrack after putting in some hours there or left an Icemen hockey game after working the penalty box for a couple hours and has rushed down to the bowling alley cause they have a big night of bowlers booked in and he needs to be there to assist. I can't imagine the length of some of the days that Don puts in. 

Which leads me to his most recent area that Don has volunteered with, and thatwould be the Wetaskiwin Jr B Icemen hockey board as a director. Being an avid Icemen fan and always in attendance at the games anyway he offered to help out and came on as part of our Icemen family going on 3 years now. At home games you will find Don working the penalty box and again his calm demeanor is a huge asset working the box with hormonal 18-21 year old hockey players. Don can be counted on to jump in and help with any of our extra Icemen events and is always offering to help whether it is cleaning the equipment room, fixing the Icemen dressing room (which by the way Don is coming up very soon, so expect a phone call from us in the next couple months) and is just a dream volunteer on our board as he never says no, all he ever says is "just call me when you need me"! 

Apparently that is also his motto as a Moose member as well, in speaking to some longtime Moose members one thing they said about Don is he tells them just call me and I'll be there. And be there he is from working bingos to washing dishes at catering events he chips in with whatever he is capable of doing. 

Don, I have no idea how you fit so much volunteering in but your days must be longer than 24 hours to fit all that in. 

Don is a modest and quiet individual who doesn't volunteer for recognition but to just help out, and because of such loyalty and dedication I would like to take this opportunity to say... thank you Don for all your hard work in our community. Wetaskiwin is lucky to have volunteers like yourself. 

At this time I would like to call upon Kristi representative of the Board of the Wetaskiwin and County Sports Hall of Fame to make this presentation and I would ask that Mr. Don Forth come forward to receive his award for being a Builder in our community.