The Sault’s parks and recreation advisory committee has chosen a golfer and a grappler as 2026 inductees to the Sports Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
Don Martone and Brent Fryia were chosen from 19 nominations.<\/p>\n
City councillors are expected to approve the appointments next week.<\/p>\n
The Sault Sports Hall of Fame recognizes athletes, coaches, builders and teams for their accomplishments and the recognition they’ve brought to Sault Ste. Marie.<\/p>\n
Their achievements are engraved on plaques that can be viewed upstairs at the Northern Community Centre.<\/p>\n
Here’s how the committee described its reasons for choosing Martone and Fryia:<\/p>\n
Don Martone<\/p>\n
Golfer Don Martone is an accomplished golfer with a competitive career spanning over 30 years. <\/p>\n
His numerous accomplishments range from the local to the national level. <\/p>\n
In 1998, 1999, and 2000, Mr. Martone played on the Canadian Tour, competing professionally and gaining a wealth of experience. <\/p>\n
In 2025, he achieved a defining moment in his golf career by winning the Canadian Men\u2019s Senior Championship. <\/p>\n
In addition to his competitive success, Don has been an ambassador of the sport through his involvement in local clubs. <\/p>\n
As a co-partner of the Up & Down Lounge, Don has contributed to the growth of indoor golf, providing year-round access through the use of golf simulators. <\/p>\n
Don\u2019s accomplishments and passion for the sport have made him a predominant figure in the local golf community.<\/p>\n
Brent Fryia<\/p>\n
Brent Fryia\u2019s dedication to wrestling and mixed martial arts can be seen not only as an athlete but as a coach and builder of the sport. <\/p>\n
As an athlete, he has achieved many accomplishments, including an 8-4 professional MMA Record (2008-2014), a silver medal at the 2023 World Grappling Championship (40+), and the 2023 and 2024 National Grappling Championships. <\/p>\n
Aside from competing himself, he has many years of experience sharing his knowledge as a coach. <\/p>\n
From coaching high school wrestling to being head coach for Team Canada at the 2024 GAMMA World Championship, Brent has mentored many athletes to achieve their best. <\/p>\n
His contribution to the growth of combat sports is seen locally through the establishment of Steel City MMA. <\/p>\n
It is here that he continues to coach and be an impactful leader within the combat sport community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sault’s parks and recreation advisory committee has chosen a golfer and a grappler as 2026 inductees to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":874033,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82,303354],"class_list":["post-874032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-sports-hall-of-famebrent-fryiadon-martone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874032","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874032\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/874033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}