Canada Basketball has announced their Hall of Fame classes for 2021 and 2022, headlined by Canadian basketball legends like Steve Nash, Stewart Granger, Angela (Johnson) Straub, Rick Fox and Tony Simms as players, Michèle Bélanger as a coach and John Bitove as a builder.
“On behalf of Canada Basketball, and players, coaches and fans of our game across the country, I would like to extend a heartfelt congratulations to each of our Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame inductees from both the classes of 2021 and 2022,” said Michael Bartlett, President & CEO of Canada Basketball in a statement released by Canada Basketball.
“To be enshrined in the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame is a great honour and each of this year’s inductees have made a lasting and unique impact at all levels of the sport.”
Canada Basketball will be honouring the inductees as part of their GLOBL JAM event this summer, hosting a Legends Brunch on July 10 and recognizing the inductees at the gold medal 5-on-5 game of the event.
Nash, Granger and Straub headline the 2021 class, while Bélanger, Bitove, Fox and Simms are represent the 2022 class of inductees.
Nash, Granger, Fox and Simms all represented the Canadian men’s team at various international events such as FIBA World Championships and Olympic Games, with all four playing in the NBA as well.
Straub represented Canada on the senior women’s national team from 1972-77 including the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, where women’s basketball made its debut.
Bélanger led the University of Toronto Varsity Blues women’s basketball program to 854 wins, eight OUA Coach of the Year awards, nine OUA championship titles, and the school’s only women’s basketball national U SPORTS title.
Bitove was a lead founder and owner of the Toronto Raptors, leading the bidding process for the NBA franchise and launched the team in 1993, and also lobbied to bring the 1994 FIBA World Championship to Canada.
