Sabir Butt, Jamie Crombie, Lolly Gillen and Dick Pound have been inducted into the Canadian Squash Hall of Fame at a ceremony held during the semi finals of the Canadian National Squash Championships.
At a ceremony on the Jonathon Power show court at the historic Montreal Forum, former IOC Vice President Pound, Federacion Panamericana de Squash Secretary General Gillen, veteran of four WSF World Team championships Crombie, and four-time Canadian national champion Butt, were formally honoured.
About the Hall of Fame Class of 2023
Dick Pound
For decades, former International Olympic Committee Vice President Dick Pound has been a fierce advocate for the inclusion of squash in multi-sport games, in particular the Olympics, and has invested a lifetime to the sport.
In 2005, Time Magazine featured him as one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World”, and his opinions have been cited in multiple media articles quoting his vision for the game.
In 2014, Reuters News Agency quoted Pound’s steadfast support for squash: “I cannot help thinking, as a member of the International Olympic Committee, that squash should be in the Olympic Games. I cannot think of a better example of fitness, skill, strategy, and fair play than squash.”
In May 2022, the longest-serving IOC member Pound reached the membership age limit of 80, but was unanimously elected an Honorary IOC Member. During his 44-year tenure, Pound was Vice President from 1987-91, and again from 1996-2000. Additionally, Pound, always a staunch champion for fair sport, was the founding President of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) from 1999-2007.
Pound’s personal passion for squash dates to 1966 as a member of the McGill Squash Team when the McGill Men’s Team won the Intercollegiate Squash Championships. He was Chancellor of McGill University from 1999-2009 and has been a member of the Jesters Club since 1969. Pound played for Canada in five Lapham Grant matches and was the Honorary Chair of the 2014 WSF Women’s World Team Squash Championships, held at White Oaks Resort in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON.
Lolly Gillen
Lolly Gillen is Squash Canada’s second longest serving President (2013-2018) and current Secretary General of the Pan American Squash Federation. She has been involved with squash for over three decades, as both a volunteer and a player, amassing 60 hardball doubles titles including four World Women’s, 29 Canadian, two US & 25 Provincial/State Women & Mixed Doubles titles. Gillen, is a former Squash Ontario President and Honorary Member, and has also been Squash Canada’s International Delegate since 2019.
Co-founder of the Canadian Inclusivity Squash Program with Eric Hart in 2019, a programme teaching squash to neurodiverse and physically diverse individuals, Gillen has now started Canada’s first ever Wheelchair Squash57 programme at the Toronto Cricket Club.
Gillen was a member of the World Squash Federations Para Squash and Inclusivity/Diversity Working Group, and is a current member of the World Squash Federation (WSF) Squash57 Commission.
Gillen co-created with Alan Grant, North American’s first ever hardball doubles ranking program which she ran for 16 years, and spearheaded the Squash Canada Doubles Officiating Program in 2002. In 2019 she founded the Road to Podium campaign, Squash Canada’s first ever fundraising campaign directed solely for Canada’s high-performance athletes, raising over $200K in only seven months. She has Chaired or Co-Chaired eight National Doubles Championships, dozens of Squash Ontario Doubles Championships and Canada’s first ever Pan American Squash Championships.
Jamie Crombie
As a junior in Calgary, Jamie Crombie reached a Canadian ranking high of #1 in February 1994, and World Ranking high of #32 in March of 1995. As a former professional squash player, Crombie won 19 Tour Professional Squash Association (PSA) & ISPA Championship titles.
Crombie was member of the Canadian National Men’s Team from 1985 to 1995 in a variety of international World and World Regional Championships. In 1994, he won gold in the Men’s Individual at the 1994 Pan American Senior Championships, and Silver in the Men’s Teams event.
The following year, Crombie won gold in the team event at the Pan American Games in Mar del Plata with teammates and fellow Hall of Famers Jonathon Power, Gary Waite and Sabir Butt. At that same event, he also won a Bronze in the Individual Championships.
Back in Canada, Crombie amassed a total of 15 Provincial Men’s Open Softball titles. Playing in the Masters category, in 2005 he won Gold in the World Master Games Men’s Singles event and Gold in the 35+ Men’s Team event together with the 2005 US Softball Doubles Champion (Michael Puertas).
Today, Crombie is currently the General Manager and Squash Pro at Dayton Squash Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, still competes with his instinctive competitive nature on the masters circuit.
Sabir Butt
Sabir Butt begin his illustrious squash career by capturing six Canadian Junior Championships (1981 – U13, 1982 – U15, 1983 & 1984 – U17 and 1986 & 19876 – U19). Butt became a 4-time Canadian National Men’s Open Champion in 1988, 1990, 1991 and 1994.
After winning the 1984 Scottish Junior Open U16, Butt finished fourth in the 1986 World Junior Championships and was a semi-finalist in the 1986 British U19 Open.
Butt also represented Canada as a senior team member in the 1987 and 1988 World Team Championships and was a member of the Canadian National Men’s Team, winning Gold in the 1992 Pan American Championships Men’s individual, and Gold in the Men’s Team at the 1995 Pan American Games with team mates and hall of famers Jonathon Power, Gary Waite, and Jamie Crombie.
At the 1995 Pan Am Men’s Individual event, Butt won Bronze. In 2002 Butt, with teammates Viktor Berg, Shawn Delierre and Kelly Patrick, captured Gold in the Pan American Senior Championships Men’s Team event
Butt joined the Professional Squash Association in 1985 winning 16 PSA and ISPA Championship titles, and reached a career-high #17 World Ranking in May of 1988. To bookend his stellar squash career, in 1994 he was named Mississauga’s Athlete of the Year.
