CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – A coach, a builder and an athlete are the newest members of the UPEI Sports Hall of Fame.
George Morrison, Alanna Taylor and Barb Mullaly were inducted during a ceremony Thursday at the university.
Mullaly, the longtime UPEI athletic director (AD) who died last year, went in posthumously.
She held many roles at the school beginning with Prince of Wales College in 1967 and then when UPEI was formed in 1969, including working as a classroom instructor, a coach and chairing many committees (she was part of the initial UPEI Sports Hall of Fame induction committee).
Mary Lou Turner, her partner for 31 years, gave the induction speech and afterwards said Mullaly would have liked the ceremony but would have credited the honour to others.
“She was someone who wouldn’t want to be in the spotlight. I think she would have appreciated it,” said Turner. “She was all about the team. She loved this university. She would have been pleased to see the 71 academic all-Canadians this past year.”
Taylor played soccer and volleyball when Mullaly was AD and said she saw her as a friend and mentor for her storied career.
Taylor is the first women’s soccer player to go into the Hall and has a case full of Atlantic and national university sports honours for her goalkeeper prowess from 1991-93. She also was a three-time academic all-Canadian.
Taylor also credited her teammates, many who are still friends today more than two decades later.
“Humbled that (Mullaly) and I are being inducted together,” Taylor said. “I share this with my teammates. I really would have taken a bullet for any of them.”
Morrison’s ties to the men’s and women’s basketball programs go back to the mid-1970s and three Atlantic university titles highlight his 17-year stint with the men’s team.
But the Morell native was quick to look to others for his success like Dave (Hermie) MacNeill, who gave him a job as an assistant coach on the women’s team to start his career, and the many top-shelf players that came to the Island. Morrison has also been a sessional instructor at UPEI for several years.
“I’m very pleased to be inducted into the UPEI Sports Hall of Fame. It’s very gratifying to receive an honour like this in a place so close to home,” said Morrison, who started coaching with his wife Anne at Morell Regional High School. “There was a desire to do well and a fear of losing and having the responsibility to get young men to be the best they can be. Mind you, I didn’t always tell them that they were fine young men but they were.”
Need to know
A look at the new UPEI Sports Hall of Fame inductees.
George Morrison (coach)
- Built the men's basketball program in the 1980s that had the Panthers consistently ranked as one of the top teams in the country.
- 17 years as men’s head coach and reached Atlantic university playoffs 14 times and and won three Atlantic titles.
- A three-time coach of the year in the Atlantic University Athletic Association, first with the UPEI women's team
- The first head coach of the men's program at Holland College.
- Coached at the provincial and Canada Games levels and was an administrator at the local and provincial level.
- Inducted in the P.E.I. Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.
Barb Mullaly, posthumously (builder)
- Four-decade career as a classroom instructor, coach and nationally decorated athletic administrator began in 1967 at Prince of Wales College.
- Became UPEI’s the first women's basketball and field hockey coach and served 13 years as athletic director.
- Retired as the first Director of Wellness and Fair Treatment Advocate in 2006.
- Served as president of Atlantic University Sport and chaired numerous committees and sports.
- Upon retirement, she was awarded an honorary lifetime membership in the AUS.
- Long-time chair of the Canadian Interuniversity Sport finance committee and a member of the CIS executive committee.
- Awarded the CIS Austin-Matthews Award in 2007 for outstanding service to university sport.
- Named UPEI Founder in 2010, was the 2013 winner of the Rotary Club of Charlottetown Royalty's Mentor Award and 2016 Sports P.E.I. President's Award.
- Served as president and director of Sport P.E.I., as P.E.I. representative for the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women in Sport, as master sourse conductor in the National Coaching Certification Theory Program and in several capacities over several Canada Games cycles.
- At the time of her death in 2016, Mullaly was active in several community organizations, including the UPEI Retirees' Association.
Alanna Taylor (athlete)
- Played with the women's volleyball team from 1989–92 and became goalkeeper for the women's soccer squad in 1991.
- Named rookie of the year in 1989 and MVP in 1990 for volleyball, and received the UPEI Mickey Place award in 1991.
- In 1992 for soccer, she was named UPEI team MVP, AUAA 1st team all-conference, CIAU second team all-Canadian and finalist for AUAA MVP.
- Also in 1992, named AUAA and UPEI female athlete of the year, and AUAA finalist for the national Howard Mackie Award.
- In 1993, she was named to the AUAA first team all-conference and was a finalist for Sport P.E.I.’s female athlete of the year.
- Academic all-Canadian 1990-93; awarded the Gordon and Muriel Bennett Award as the UPEI student-athlete with the highest aggregate marks over four years.
- Assistant coach from 1998–2002 and head coach in 2003 with the women's Soccer team.
- Past board member of the P.E.I. Recreation & Sport Association for Physically Challenged, Upper Room Hospitality Ministry, Special Olympics P.E.I. and Glen Stewart Home and School Association.
- Board member for Soccer P.E.I.
- First women's soccer student-athlete to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
- Played with the women's volleyball team from 1989–92 and became goalkeeper for the women's soccer squad in 1991.
- Named rookie of the year in 1989 and MVP in 1990 for volleyball, and received the UPEI Mickey Place award in 1991.
- In 1992 for soccer, she was named UPEI team MVP, AUAA 1st team all-conference, CIAU second team all-Canadian and finalist for AUAA MVP.
- Also in 1992, named AUAA and UPEI female athlete of the year, and AUAA finalist for the national Howard Mackie Award.
- In 1993, she was named to the AUAA first team all-conference and was a finalist for Sport P.E.I.’s female athlete of the year.
- Academic all-Canadian 1990-93; awarded the Gordon and Muriel Bennett Award as the UPEI student-athlete with the highest aggregate marks over four years.
- Assistant coach from 1998–2002 and head coach in 2003 with the women's Soccer team.
- Past board member of the P.E.I. Recreation & Sport Association for Physically Challenged, Upper Room Hospitality Ministry, Special Olympics P.E.I. and Glen Stewart Home and School Association.
- Board member for Soccer P.E.I.
- First women's soccer student-athlete to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
