Randy Starkman inducted into Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame

On Oct. 23, sports writer and Ryerson alumnus Randy Starkman became the first journalist to be inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame. Throughout his career, Starkman covered 12 Olympic games and won two National Newspaper Awards for his work.

During the ceremony, Starkman was honoured for his ability to build relationships. Athletes remembered him as a comforting face in the media room, someone who was compassionate and who was capable of telling the human side of sports.    

“What made Randy unique amongst his fellow reporters was how much he cared about the athlete and their story. It's really hard to find that reporter that you really connect with,” said Canadian figure skating Olympian Patrick Chan. “You don't consider them as a reporter. You consider them as family. And Randy was one of those people for me.”

Starkman covered the life of athletes prior  to the Olympics, the trials and tribulations of training for the games, family life, and their impact on their home communities.  

In honour of Starkman, The Randy Starkman Award was given to Olympian Mary Spencer, which recognized her as a Canadian national team member who has used her sporting excellence for the benefit of the community. Spencer, one of Canada’s most successful female boxers and an Ojibway athlete, was honoured for her work in giving back to First Nations communities.

“Randy really showed me the meaning of Olympism...I will never forget what he has done for me, and inspired in me,” said Spencer.  

She will receive $15,000 as part of the award, where $10,000 will be donated to the Randy Starkman Charitable Foundation and benefit an initiative of Spencer’s choice or a charity. The rest will be given for personal use. The Canadian Olympic Committee pledged to match $5,000 to benefit the same initiative or charity.   

Mary Hynes, Starkman’s widow and also a journalist who covered many Olympics, accepted the honour on his behalf at the ceremony.  

“When your beat is the Olympics, most of your editors sort of tune out for years at a time. They aren't interested until the torch is lit at the opening ceremonies. And for Randy, as we all know, that torch never went out,” she said.  

“To him, there was something very particular to Olympic athletes and the amateur athletes. The fact that they weren't on the front page every day,” said Hynes. “I think that's why he had a special passion to tell those stories and to introduce people he had such respect for.”

The induction ceremony was co-hosted by Scott Russell, a veteran reporter who has covered sports for more than 25 years, including14 Olympic games. During the ceremony, Russell said he recalled athletes who opted to speak with Starkman first, before they would talk to anyone else.  

“They’d go, ‘not now Scott, I got to speak to Randy first’...He hung around all those newsrooms, and mix zones from every Olympic Games from 1984 in Sarajevo to 2010 in Vancouver, longer than anybody else did because he wanted the Olympic story and (to) bring it home to Canadians,” said Russell.   

You can watch the full ceremony on CBC. Starkman's induction begins at 1:30:00. (external link)