The scholarship has been established to honour Dr. Jeno Tihanyi for his outstanding contribution to swimming and coaching in the North Eastern Ontario Region. It is intended to assist swimmers in the continuation of their competitive swimming endeavours. Ordinarily, two winners, one female and one male, receive $250 each for an essay of 250 to 500 works that describes the coach who most influenced their swimming career.
Team Aquatic Supplies (TAS) provides a total of twelve scholarships, valued at $250 each to the top qualifying male and female high school students from each of the six Swim Ontario regions who combine both swimming excellence and academic achievement.
The criteria specify that the winners are full-time high school students who are not federally or provincially carded. Swimming excellence will be determined from the swimmers' highest scoring long course event from the most recent long course season using the current SNC long course performance point rating charts. Academic achievement will require that the student have obtained a minimum average of 80% (A-) on the previous year's final exams. An individual may receive this award only once.
Dave Kensit was born on July 19, 1943, and lived most of his life in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. He was a teacher by profession and taught at Sault College. Married to Micheline and the father of two children, he was a devoted family man.
Dave became involved in the sport of swimming through his children as a SSMAC parent in 1982. In 1985 he followed his children to the Soo Y Dolphins. Dave was a swimmer's parent and a very active local club administrator.
Dave Kensit was the Northeastern Region Program Coordinator from 1987 to 1990. As such, he was responsible for the program content and scheduling of the regional swim meets. In October 1990, Dave was elected as one of the two regional officials' representatives, and served on the Ontario Officials Committee.
Dave Kensit will be remembered for the various executive positions he held and for his enthusiasm and dedication with which he discharged his responsibilities.
Mr. Dave Kensit passed away on May 13, 1991.
The Dave Kensit Memorial Scholarship was established in 1992 as a perpetual memorial to his valuable contributions to swimming in the Northeastern Ontario Region. The scholarship was made possible through financial gifts from private individuals, Sault College, NEOR swim clubs, Swim Ontario, and the Northeastern Region. It is now sustained through a special levy for the Dave Kensit Memorial Championships. The "A" Short Course Championships were selected to bear his name because of Dave's special interest in this caliber of swimmer. The intent of the $750.00 scholarship is to assist one NEOR swimmer each year to continue his or her educational and competitive aspirations.
For more than 25 years, Fred rams was an exemplary volunteer in the Ontario swimming community. He spent valuable contributing years with his local club, was director of his region for many successful years, and was a long-time member of the Board of Directors of Swim Ontario, where his interest, knowledge and abilities were recognized and appreciated.
Fred realized that Ontario's aquatic heritage was going unrecorded and unrecognized, so he was motivated to provide the leadership necessary to correct the situation. With the support of Swim Ontario's Board of Directors, Fred established the Ontario Aquatic Hall of Fame, and served the interests of aquatics during the years that he was allotted. Without Fred, there would be no Hall of Fame. The Hall's first induction ceremony was in 1990. Extensive work was done by Fred in compiling the history of Ontario aquatics, and he developed a permanent collection of memorabilia - with mobile and permanent displays being established.
In 1997, at the Hall's 8th annual induction ceremony, Fred was inducted as Founder of the Ontario Aquatic Hall of Fame.
Fred passed away in 2002. His loss is felt strongly by all those who knew him. Both Swim Ontario and its Northeast Region have established athlete awards named in Fred's honour.
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