Franchuk, Gregg, Kinsella, Kowalchuk, Lizzi among Alberta Sports HOF inductees
Canadian coaching legend Orv Franchuk (Amesbury, Alta.) is among the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame’s 2025 inductees.
*This article was originally published on Alberta Dugout Stories on September 26, 2025. You can read it here.
September 27, 2025
By Joe McFarland and Ian Wilson
Alberta Dugout Stories
Baseball players, coaches, builders and dreamers are taking their place among the sporting legends of Alberta.
Five major baseball figures in the province – Orv Franchuk, Dr. Randy Gregg, W.P. Kinsella, Mel Kowalchuk and Reno Lizzi – are part of a major induction ceremony that will take place at the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in Red Deer on Sept. 27th.
The event, dubbed “Legends Unveiled: A Once-in-a-Generation Celebration,” will celebrate a class of more than 25 inductees from several sports, including rodeo, hockey, curling, motorsport, horse racing and football.
In an effort to identify and recognize candidates who had previously gone unnoticed over the years, the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame formed a special committee to bring forth worthy nominees for induction. The result was this larger than usual class of honoured members, which includes football great Warren Moon and former National Hockey League players Gary Unger and Al Hamilton.
“This celebration is about shining a long-overdue spotlight on the remarkable individuals whose impact on sport in Alberta is truly inspiring,” said Tracey Kinsella, executive director of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, in an interview with rdnewsNow.
“We’re honoured to recognize this extraordinary class of inductees and share their stories with Albertans.”
Photo: Alberta Sports Hall of Fame
Here is a closer look at the baseball greats that are being recognized:
ORV FRANCHUK
A talented pitcher and outfielder, Orv Franchuk played college baseball at Pepperdine University and was poised to pursue a professional career until a torn Achilles tendon derailed his plans. The Wandering River product pivoted to a career in education while baseball repeatedly lured him back. He served as a scout for the Cincinnati Reds from 1977 through 1984 and later worked as a hitting coach in the California Angels minor-league system. Franchuk continued to teach when he wasn’t at the diamond but he had to chose between the two fields in 1995 when the Oakland Athletics gave him an ultimatum.
“Oakland said we want you to come on full time, you need to make a decision,” Franchuk told The Edmonton Examiner newspaper.
“You’re either going to continue teaching or you’re going to come and do the baseball thing. It just seemed like the right time and I’m happy that I did because it turned out really well for me.”
In choosing baseball, Franchuk was rewarded with a job as the hitting coach for the Edmonton Trappers – the top affiliate of the A’s – from 1995 to 1997. He was part of back-to-back Pacific Coast League (PCL) championship teams during that time.
Franchuk managed the Vancouver Canadians of the PCL in 2002 before joining the Boston Red Sox franchise as a minor-league hitting coordinator from 2003 to 2006, a role that saw him help the Major League Baseball (MLB) team capture a World Series title in 2004, breaking a championship curse that had lingered since 1918.
He continued to work in the minors, including a couple of seasons as hitting coordinator at the Double-A and Triple-A levels with the San Diego Padres affiliates, until opportunities arose in his backyard. Franchuk was named the manager of the Edmonton Capitals of the independent North American League in 2011 and delivered a championship to the city in his lone summer with the club.
From 2014 to 2018, Franchuk coached the Edmonton Prospects of the Western Major Baseball League (WMBL) alongside his friend Ray Brown.
The former Alberta Major Baseball League player also has extensive international experience. He was a coach with the Canadian National Team at the 1978 Amateur World Series, the 1981 Intercontinental Cup and the 2007 Baseball World Cup.
DR. RANDY GREGG
Dr. Randy Gregg is often recognized as a key member of the Edmonton Oilers dynasty that won five Stanley Cup titles in the National Hockey League from 1984 through 1990. That distinction is well-earned, as the defenseman was one of only seven players who were part of all five championship squads.
As good as he was at the rink, Gregg is also being recognized by the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame for his contributions to baseball.
The University of Alberta alum starred with the Edmonton Tigers of the Alberta Major Baseball League from 1975 to 1982. When the Tigers advanced to the national championship in 1978, Gregg connected for seven homers in three games to help the team win a title. He was named the most valuable player of the tournament for his hard-hitting efforts.
The NHL came calling after those diamond days, but baseball remained on Gregg’s mind for years to come.
He brought West Coast League (WCL) summer collegiate baseball action to the provincial capital in the form of the Edmonton Riverhawks.
The ‘Hawks have played out of RE/MAX Field since 2022 and proved to be a massive hit with sports fans in the area. The team has set new WCL attendance records for three straight years with Gregg serving as managing director of the franchise. In 2025, a total of 131,966 fans attended 27 home games for the Riverhawks, resulting in an average attendance of 4,888 people.
W.P. KINSELLA
If you are romantic about baseball, author William Patrick Kinsella may have something to do with it.
Born in Edmonton in 1935, he was raised in Darwell, Alberta until the age of 10. Kinsella returned to the capital city for his junior high and senior high school years.
As an adult, he worked as a government clerk and credit bureau manager before venturing out of Alberta in the late 1960s. Kinsella headed west to Vancouver Island, where he enrolled in writing classes at the University of Victoria and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing in 1974.
From there, Kinsella went south of the border to the well-respected Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. Suffice to say, that’s where the magic happened … or, at least, that’s where it started. Iowa provided the backdrop, the inspiration, and the guts of his masterpiece work of literature, the novel Shoeless Joe.
It was that book that provided the source material for the Hollywood movie Field of Dreams, a 1989 classic that delivered the oft-misquoted line “If you build it, he will come,” into the hearts of baseball fans. Diamond devotees could never look at cornfields quite the same way after that film came out.
Kinsella, who taught at the University of Calgary before he garnered an audience for his writing, authored several works about the indigenous people of Canada, including Dance Me Outside and The Fencepost Chronicles.
It was baseball, however, that generated his largest audience. Kinsella wrote 40 short stories and three novels about the sport. The Iowa Baseball Confederacy, Box Socials, The Thrill of the Grass and The Further Adventures of Slugger McBatt are among Kinsella’s more popular baseball offerings.
Before he passed away in 2016, Kinsella was made an officer in the Order of Canada in 1993 and the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame presented him with the Jack Graney Award for his contributions to the sport in 2011.
After his death, William Steele released a biography entitled Going the Distance about Kinsella. The MLB Field of Dreams Game, played in Dyersville, Iowa in 2021 and 2022, served as a testament to Kinsella’s lasting impact on baseball.
MEL KOWALCHUK
Best remembered for his efforts to bring Triple-A ball to Edmonton, Mel Kowalchuk was always very active in baseball.
The former president of the semi-pro Edmonton Central Tigers of the Alberta Major Baseball League, Kowalchuk started to crave high-level baseball while taking regular time off to go watch MLB spring training games.
After Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Calgary all entered the Pioneer League, he spearheaded efforts to add Edmonton into the mix.
Unfortunately, those plans never materialized, but when the Pacific Coast League came calling in 1980, he refused to let that opportunity pass by.
The Edmonton Trappers were born in 1981 and stayed in the capital until 2004, bringing with it several stars including Ron Kittle, Devon White, Dante Bichette, Fernando Valenzuela, Jason Giambi and Johan Santana.
The Trappers also captured league titles in 1984, 1996, 1997 and 2002.
RENO LIZZI
If Reno Lizzi doesn’t try to bring the first Pioneer League team to Alberta, we don’t see Andre Dawson in his first professional baseball season with the Lethbridge Expos in 1975.
A man known for his generosity – described as someone who would “give you the shirt off his back” – Lizzi was first approached by the league’s president about getting a team set up in the city.
After quickly gathering a team of local businessmen willing to invest in the idea, he worked hard to bring Henderson Stadium (now Spitz Stadium) up to professional standards.
Following two years with the Expos, Lizzi and his group went looking for another affiliation, originally asking the newly formed Toronto Blue Jays if they wanted to connect.
The new Canadian MLB team couldn’t commit to the 1977 season, so the Lethbridge contingent connected with the Los Angeles Dodgers, leading to a seven-year marriage.
Fans in Lethbridge were treated to several future MLB players including Mike Marshall, Candy Maldonado, Ron Kittle, Steve Sax and Sid Fernandez, as well as three Pioneer League championships (1977, 1979 and 1980).
The Pioneer League returned to the city in 1992 with the Mounties, then with the Arizona Diamondbacks’ new affiliate, the Black Diamonds, from 1996-1998.
Nicknamed “Mr. Baseball” in Lethbridge, Lizzi passed away in 2005, but his name lives on in the Reno Lizzi Scholarship at the Vauxhall Academy of Baseball. He was also honoured with the Spirit of Baseball Award by the Lethbridge Bulls at their Legends of Sports Gala in 2016.