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Michael Thomas Category Official Tribe St. Croix Ojibwe Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 4/21/1955 Michael Thomas is a Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) basketball official for 27 years, officiating the State Tournament for 11 years with two championship games. He started officiating basketball for all Native American basketball tournaments and quickly worked his way to MSHSL and up to the varsity level. The highlight of his career is officiating for Native youth that make it to the State Tournament. Michael has been involved in many different sports as a player himself, coach or official. Personal highlights include winning the State Championship in boxing and on to Nationals in Reno Nevada. Scoring 67 points in a single basketball game at the Minneapolis American Indian Center. Coaching his grandkids and great grandkids in multiple sports, with many championship trophies to prove it. Michael served in the US Army for three years and has done honor guard at Pow Wows as a veteran. He sang on his father’s drum, Minneapolis Ojibwe, with his brothers for many years, he is an avid deer hunter and was a postal carrier for 32 years. Michel is most proud of the family he raised with his wife, Debra who he has been married to for 46 years. Home 2025 Banquet 2025 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

Brady Fairbanks Category Athlete Tribe Leech Lake Ojibwe Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 8/11/1989 Brady Fairbanks, 2007 graduate of Cass Lake Bena High School (MN), was a Minnesota High School All-State athlete in football and basketball. During his high school career, Fairbanks was a three-year starter on the basketball team leading CLB to an 83-11 record, including 42-0 in conference play. In 2006-2007, he led CLB to the Class A State Championship game where the team came up just shy of victory in a memorable game. Accomplishments include: • Conference MVP (‘06 and ‘07), • Section 6 MVP (‘06 and ‘07), • Honorable Mention State (‘06), • 2nd Team All State (‘07), • McDonald’s All-American Nominee, • Minnesota Native American Athlete of the Year, • National High School Player of the Year (Native Elite Showcase) Fairbanks accepted a full scholarship to NCAA DII Bemidji State University, becoming a starter and earning a spot on the All-Freshman Team in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). Transferring to Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) after his junior year, Fairbanks had a historical year becoming the school’s first male athlete to become a NAIA All-American. Accomplishments include: • 7th nationally in scoring (20.9), • 14th in rebounding (6.3), • First Team All-Conference, • Conference New-Comer of the Year, • Team MVP, • 1,000+ Points (Collegiate Career). Photos: Haskell Athletics and Ryan White Home 2025 Banquet 2025 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

Angelo Baca Category Athlete Tribe Diné/Hopi Year Inducted 2022 D.O.B. 2/13/1980 Angelo Baca is a cultural activist, scholar, filmmaker and currently a doctoral student in anthropology at New York University. He is the cultural resources coordinator at Utah Diné Bikéyah , a nonprofit organization dedicated to the defense and protection of culturally significant ancestral lands. The National Parks Conservation Association recently designated him as one of “10 Under 40” dynamic cultural activists who make up the association’s Next Generation Advisory Council. He has published a widely read op-ed in the New York Times. Shash Jaa’: Bears Ears is Angelo Baca’s latest award-winning film about the five tribes of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition that worked together to protect 1.9 million acres of Utah wilderness through a national monument designation. His work reflects a long-standing dedication to both Western and Indigenous knowledge. Baca is also the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Champion in Cross Country and on the outdoor track in the 3000 meters steeplechase and 5000 meters in 2002-03. He also is a seven-time NJCAA All American in Cross Country, Track and the Half Marathon. Currently, he is training for trail races and long distances runs across Indigenous landscapes in Navajo country. Home 2025 Banquet 2025 Banquet Sponsorship About Inductee Search Provincial Nominees Contact More

< Back David Powless David Powless Oneida Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2022 David Powless’ high school football team was the undefeated Illinois State Champions of 1960. He was an All State offensive tackle. He received college football scholarship offers. He chose the Oklahoma University (OU). He left OU as a sophomore and went to the University of Illinois and played offensive guard on the University of Illinois Big 10 and Rose Bowl Championship team in 1964. In 1965 as a graduating senior he was drafted in the National Football League (NFL) by the New York Giants and also by the American Football League (AFL) by the Kansas Chiefs. He was with the New York Giants one year and then went to the Washington Redskins his second year. That year he had a spinal injury requiring surgery that ended his football career. Powless worked for Native American tribes including his Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin. He also owned several personal businesses. His expertise was in economic development. In 1983 he received an award in the “White House Rose Garden” from Vice President of the United States George Bush for the development of recycling technology. In 2008 he was inducted into the American Indian Athletic Hall of Fame for his athletic contributions. <Back

< Back Kalley Armstrong Kalley Armstrong Algonquin (Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg) Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2023 Kalley Armstrong is the granddaughter of Toronto Maple Leafs legend George Armstrong. Kalley played four years of NCAA Division 1 hockey with the Harvard University Women’s Hockey Team between 2010 and 2015. Kalley grew up idolizing the hockey careers of both her grandfather and her father. She played her junior hockey with the Toronto Aeros hockey club. In her final year as captain, the team won the Provincial Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) and the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association (OWHA) championships. She also competed that year at the National Women’s U18 Championships for Team Ontario. With the Harvard Crimson, Kalley was selected to the All-Ivy League Second Team and named the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Best Defensive Forward. In her senior year, she captained of one of the best teams in Harvard Women’s Hockey history. The Crimson captured the 2015 Ivy League Championship, the 2015 ECAC Season Championship, the 2015 ECAC Tournament Championship, and the 2015 Beanpot Championship. That year the team finished as the 2015 Frozen Four National Championship Runner-Up. In 2019, Kalley started her own hockey school, Armstrong Hockey, in honour of her grandfather’s legacy and accomplishments as a proud Indigenous athlete. Armstrong Hockey is dedicated to the development of Indigenous youth hockey and the mentorship of First Nations girls. Kalley is currently working on her PhD at Western University focussing on the experience of girls playing hockey in residential school. <Back

< Back Michael Linklater Michael Linklater Cree from Thunderchild First Nation Treaty 6 Territory Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2023 Michael Linklater has established himself as one of the world’s top 3X3 basketball players. As team captain he represented Saskatoon in FIBA’s 3X3 World Tour as well as the Canadian National team at the World Cup. Linklater picked up a basketball at an early age on an inner city court and in 2010, he made history as team captain when he lead the University of Saskatchewan Huskie men’s basketball team to its first and only Canada-West Conference Championship and CIS National Championship. Michael played for the Saskatchewan Rattlers in 2019 in the Canadian Elite Basketball League and won the league championship during the inaugural season. Michael was inducted into the Saskatoon sports hall of fame in 2022. Michael has utilized his wealth of athletic accomplishments to help create awareness about issues, off the court. He is a proud Nehiyāw (Cree) descending from the Thunderchild First Nation, located in Treaty 6 Territory. Linklater is the founder of the International Campaigm, “Boys with Braids.“ He has won numerous awards as an advocate for Indigenous youth and for his community involvement. Over the past two and half decades, Michael has delivered hundreds of keynote addresses to tens of thousands of youth and adults across the world. He is also a certified Yoga instructor and incorporates his traditional spirituality into each practice. Most importantly, Michael is a proud father who understands the significance of his cultural traditions and role modelling a healthy lifestyle to his children. <Back

Gerald (Jerry) Gourneau Turtle Mountain Chippewa Induction Category: Year Inducted Trainer 2023 <Back Gerald (Jerry) Gourneau, Mukaday Maaingan (Black Wolf) from the Horse clan is from the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation in Belcourt, North Dakota. Jerry holds a Master’s degree in Administration graduating from Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD. He has worked as a teacher, administrator, project coordinator, director, and self-employed horse trainer. Jerry’s desire for thoroughbred horse racing and training began at the age of 16 when his father Larry Sr. with brothers Bill and Dave Sr. later identifying as “Gourneau Brothers Racing” purchased their first horse named “Sima’s Award”. His passion for racing grew as he began to work at various racing circuits in the United States and Canada. Tracks he frequented are Turf Paradise, Delta Downs, Fairgrounds, Sam Houston and Lone Star Park, Century Mile, Fonner Park, and Assiniboia Downs. He began to perfect his skills and knowledge as a horsemen along with the love of horses and his family pushed him to do the very best he could in making his First Nations people proud. Jerry just completed three consecutive years as the leading trainer at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg, MB earning purse money of $1,850,050.00. The first leading trainer title came in 2019 and was successfully shared with his brother Dave Sr. The most memorable and meaningful times in horse racing are with family from Belcourt, ND and his wife Lyn Blackburde from Rainy River Manitou Rapids First Nation in Treaty 3 Ontario. Jerry was recently highlighted in a book published by the Manitoba Aboriginal Sport and Recreation Council celebrating the history of over 100 Indigenous athletes from Manitoba, Canada titled “A History of Excellence, The Untold Stories of Manitoba’s Indigenous Sport 2021”.

< Back Dale McCourt Dale McCourt Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete/Coach 2023 Dale McCourt played major junior in the Ontario Hockey Association (today's OHL). As a 15-year-old, he was already playing Tier II junior hockey when called up by the Sudbury Wolves for part of the 1972–73 OHA season. He joined the Hamilton Red Wings for the full 1973–74 OHA season, and was team captain by the time the renamed Hamilton Fincups won the 1975–76 OMJHL Championship and then the national 1976 Memorial Cup championship. In 1976–77, McCourt led the relocated St. Catharines Fincups as the team won the OMJHL Regular Season Championship. That season, he was awarded the Red Tilson Trophy as the league's Most Outstanding Player and was voted the nationwide CHL Player of the Year. Dale was also awarded the William Hanley Trophy as the OMJHL's Most Sportsmanlike Player in both 1975–76 and 1976–77. In the 1977 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships, McCourt scored 18 points, a Canadian record he shares with Brayden Schenn and one point more than Eric Lindros and Wayne Gretzky. McCourt was drafted 1st overall by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1977 NHL amateur draft. He successfully scored 33 goals in the first year with the team and was entitled to NHL rookie of the year with the Red Wings. McCourt was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in December 1981 and claimed on waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs in October 1983, finishing his NHL career at the end of the 1983–84 NHL season, with 478 points in 532 games played. McCourt then played for 8 seasons for HC Ambrì-Piotta, in the top Swiss league where his number 15 jersey is retired. His coaching career highlight includes representing Italy as an assistant coach with the Italian National Ice Hockey Team at the 1994 Winter Olympic Games. <Back

Tim Moccasin Cree Induction Category: Year Inducted Trainer 2025 <Back Tim Moccasin is a professional jockey from the Saulteaux First Nation in Saskatchewan. Tim’s passion for horses started at a young age; spending much of his time with friends and family riding and working with horses. At the age of 12, Tim was already competing as a jockey in bush meets throughout Saskatchewan. Tim started his professional racing career in 1994, at the age of 16, at Marquis Downs in Saskatoon. He obtained his first professional win that year on a horse named Moneytree Muncher. Tim went on to win multiple leading jockey awards at Marquis Downs. The majority of his career was spent in Saskatoon but has also raced at tracks inManitoba and Alberta. During his career as a professional jockey Tim competed in both thoroughbred and quarter horse racing. Tim has 3,349 thoroughbred starts with 624 wins, 518 seconds, and 463 thirds. Tim has 283 Quarter horse starts with 58 wins, 48 seconds, and 53 thirds. In his 2001 season at Marquis Downs Tim set, and continues to hold, the North American record for the most consecutive wins with 14 wins. Tim rides a little less professionally but continues to dedicate a large part of his life to horses. In recent years Tim has competed in Indian Relay racing with its growing popularity in Saskatchewan. He enjoys interacting with the younger generation of riders giving them advice so they can become more confident and safer riders. The next step in his thoroughbred racing career is to become more involved in the training aspect of racing. Tim continues to reside in Saskatchewan with his wife and during the off-season he enjoys being with his children and watching them participate in sports such as hockey and volleyball.

Officials Michael Thomas St. Croix Ojibwe

< Back Neilson Powless Neilson Powless Oneida Induction Category: Year Inducted Athlete 2022 Neilson Powless burst onto the United States road racing scene as a 19-year-old and found instant success, finishing ninth overall at the 2016 Amgen Tour of California and winning a stage at the Tour de l’Avenir. Those results shot him to the World Tour where his adaptability accelerated his learning curve. His sporting family laid the foundation for his future professional success. His mom ran the marathon in the 1992 Olympics. His dad was in the Air Force and raced Ironman’s, winning an award for being the top Ironman finisher who was also in the military. His sister, Shayna is also a professional cyclist who has raced for the US National Team. Family time in the Powless household was spent outdoors: swimming in the lake, running, and riding bikes on the trails in Northern California. Before pursuing cycling, Powless won both XTERRA National and World Championships in 2012. Since entering the World Tour, with most notable results including: Winner of 2021 Klasikoa Donostia San Sebastián and the first time an American has won a World Tour one day race in over a decade, and; 5th place in 2021 Pro World Championships and the best result for an American in over two decades. Competed twice in the Tour de France and first ever North American Native to compete in the Tour de France. Neilson Powless became a professional cyclist in 2018 after stand out performances in the Tour of California, Tour de L’Avenir, and World Championships for U23 cyclists. Since joining the ranks of World Tour professionals. Neilson has most notably led Polka Dot jersey competition as the best climber in the Tour de France for a record 13 days as an American. Neilson has also won professional races across the globe from Europe to Asia. Some of which include the Klasikoa San Sebastián, Japan Cup, Étoile de Bessèges, and the Grand Prix de Marseilles. After finding a niche for himself in 1 day races, Powless now has his eyes set on the prestigious “Monuments” in cycling. In 2023, Powless finished 5th in the cobblestone monument, Ronde Van Vlaanderen. Since then his dream has been to become the first American to win the Ronde Van Vlaanderen. Photo: Getty Images Photo: Getty Images <Back

Algonquin/Iroquois Danny McCourt Algonquin/Iroquois Induction Category: Year Inducted Official 2023 <Back Danny McCourt worked as a National Hockey League Official for 25 years, just under 1,700 games from 1979 to 2004. From 2005 to 2022, he held the position as an NHL Officiating Manager in the Scouting & Development Department. From 2022 to current –he serves as a Consultant to the Senior Vice President & Director of Officiating for the NHL Stephen Walkom. Danny was hired by the NHL after working 1-1/2 years as an amateur Official living in Falconbridge, Ontario and one year in the International Hockey League, based in the Detroit area. When the WHA folded, the NHL took in four teams and needed 16 more officials. Six came from the WHA and he was one of the other 10 hired. His junior hockey playing career ended with winning an SOJHL championship with the Windsor Spitfires. Never being drafted to play in the NHL and knowing nothing about playing hockey in Europe, he changed his focus to officiating. Coaching was an option, if officiating didn’t get him to “the show” but he thought he could pursue that when he was older. When asked about his most memorable moment in the NHL, without hesitation he says his first regular season face-off in Edmonton versus Detroit and the two centres’ were his brother Dale, fellow 2023 NAIAHF inductee, and Wayne Gretzky. Dale won the face off.