Colin Campbell recognized by Tillsonburg sports hall

Colin Campbell recognized by Tillsonburg's sports hall

Oxford County has been the home to many top-notch athletes -- Woodstock, Tillsonburg and all corners of the county.

This past week (May 21) in Tillsonburg, one of my choices for Oxford greats in Colin Campbell received Lifetime Achievement recognition from the Tillsonburg Sports Hall Of Fame. It was the second time Campbell was inducted as he was previously recognized for a NHL career of 736 games between 1973 - 1985, playing with Detroit, Vancouver, Edmonton, Pittsburgh and even the former Colorado Rockies. 

Campbell, 73, who played his OHL hockey with the Peterborough Petes, is the long-time executive vice president and director of hockey operations of the NHL and was inducted into the Hockey Hall Of Fame in Toronto in 2024.

The link to the full list of 2026 inductees in Tillsonburg is included below and you can see by the town's website that many other noteworthy athletes, coaches and builders of sports have been honoured along with several teams.

In coaching circles, Campbell was an assistant with the Red Wings and Rangers, and became New York's head coach during the 1994-95 season. When the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 93-94 season, Campbell was an assistant coach for Mike Keenan. 

In the spring of 1997, his Rangers lost in the East final to Philadelphia. 

By 2000, Campbell was hired by the NHL as the league's Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations, which is a role at that time linked to assigning discipline and suspensions to players.

Another accolade -- on Jan. 11, 2020 a banner raising ceremony was held in Peterborough for Campbell.

His son Greg played over 800 regular season games in the NHL.

Thinking of Tillsonburg, and don't let your back ache too much on this trivia question, but who is the only Oxford County hockey player to win Gold at the world juniors -- Jeff Bes in 1993 is Sweden.

WOODSTOCK

Meanwhile, the Woodstock Sports Wall Of Fame is not planning an induction for 2026, but a link to the form to nominate is included here:   https://www.cityofwoodstock.ca/recreation-culture/festivals-and-special-events/sports-wall-of-fame/

LINKS FOR TILLSONBURG EVENT:

https://www.tillsonburg.ca/recreation-and-culture/sports-hall-of-fame/   

https://www.tillsonburg.ca/news/posts/tillsonburg-announces-2026-sports-hall-of-fame-inductees-town-of-tillsonburg/

https://www.nhl.com/news/colin-campbell-elected-to-hockey-hall-of-fame-in-builder-category

https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=792

www.hockeydb.com