Surrey Sports Hall of Fame welcomes its first 8 people, 2 teams at city hall
Published 9:50 pm Tuesday, June 2, 2026
The first 10 members of Surrey’s new Sports Hall of Fame were celebrated during an hour-long ceremony at Surrey City Hall on Tuesday evening (June 2).
Inducted in six categories are eight individuals and two teams including wrestler John “Earthquake” Tenta, Whalley Little League builder Orest Springenatic, BC Lions football player Terry Bailey, wheelchair tennis trailblazer Sarah Hunter, track athlete/coach Harold Morioka, weightlifter Prabdeep Sanghera, multi-sport builder Cyril William Greenwell, rugby coach Adam Roberts, Surrey Marlins women’s soccer team of 1990-1993 and BC Tigers Hurricanes men’s soccer team of 2018.
The 2026 hall inductees, announced May 6, are recognized for outstanding contributions as athletes, high-performance athletes, builders, coaches, teams and game-changers who have made a lasting impact in Surrey and beyond.
Posthumous honours go to Tenta, Springenatic and Greenwell, represented by family and friends at Tuesday’s ceremony.
Tenta’s daughter, Joanna Sowards, flew in from Cleveland to attend.
“It’s such an honour for him to be recognized like this, and it just felt so important for me to return home to Surrey, where I lived until I was five,” said Sowards, who is working to become a pro wrestler.
“When I was 15 I wanted to follow in my Dad’s footsteps but after he died, it was just hard to watch any wrestling. A few years ago now, I started to enter back into the pro-wrestling world and really learn about my Dad. Growing up, I didn’t know too much about his career, and I was just blown away by how much he did and how well he did, so I started picking up wrestling. I do it for the joy of it, not to be a superstar like my Dad.”
Indigenous welcome led by Harley Chappell, outgoing Surrey police board chair, at Surrey Sports Hall of Fame ceremony at city hall. @SurreyNowLeader pic.twitter.com/85rCb5291o
— Tom Zillich (@TomZillich) June 3, 2026
The 2026 class includes High Performance Athlete category inductees Tenta, Morioka and Hunter, Athlete category inductees Sanghera and Bailey, Surrey Marlins as the lone Team entry, BC Tigers Hurricanes as Game Changer, Greenwell and Springenatic as Builders and Roberts as Coach.
Look for their biographies and photos of Hall of Fame inductees at the Museum of Surrey starting mid-June. Long-term plans are to create a permanent home for the Hall at a new City Centre Arena championed by Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke.
Nominations are now open for Surrey Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2027 on surrey.ca/sportshall.