LEGENDARY softball pitcher Chubb Tangaroa and hockey star Caryn Paewai will be the next inductees into the Unison Hawke’s Bay Sports Hall of Fame.
The long-standing New Zealand representatives will be inducted at the UnisonFibre Hawke’s Bay Sport Awards on May 28 at the Pettigrew-Green Arena in Taradale.
Tangaroa played 16 years for the White (Ed. note: I think they mean Black) Sox including the 1996 World Series. He was also the pitching coach when the side won the World Series in 2000 and 2004.
He was inducted into the New Zealand Softball Hall of Fame in 2004 and was awarded an Order of Merit in 2005.
Other notable successes in softball included four national titles, including three with Auckland Marist and one with Celtic of Palmerston North.
Paewai played 148 tests for the Black Sticks from 1999 to 2008. She represented the side at the Champions Trophy in 1999, 2001 and 2002, the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and 2008 and the World Cup and Commonwealth Games in 2002.
Paewai represented the Bay from 1991-94 and then 2003, 2004 and 2006. She also represented Otago and Wellington and was voted the national hockey league’s most valuable player in 2005.
Sport Hawke’s Bay chief executive Colin Stone said Tangaroa and Paewai made significant contributions to sport in the region and had also performed successfully internationally.
“Not only have they played to the highest level but they have continued to give a lot back to their chosen sports since retiring,” Mr Stone said.
There have been 35 inductees into the Hall of Fame, including All Black legends George Nepia and Kel Tremain, former international cricketer-cum-commentator Ian Smith, legendary amateur golfer Stuart “The Emperor” Jones, jockey Jimmy Cassidy, Olympic rowing twin sisters Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell, All Black hooker Norm Hewitt and former Tall Ferns basketball captain Di Robertson.
Editor’s note:
I first saw Chubb as a young 21-year old pitching for the legendary Long Beach Nitehawks. I remember the stylish delivery, different than the more straightforward delivery of Americans of the time. He was a fan favorite of Nitehawk fans (myself included), who marveled at the movement on his pitches that seemed to jump as they arrived at home plate. He was among the first of many coming through the pipeline of talent from New Zealand. Chubb ranks 29th on the all-time ISC World Tournament win list, with 25 World tournament wins in the 13 years from 1984-1997.
In a 1999 article written by Bob Otto, Chubb was mentioned by ISC Hall of Famer Mark Smith as among the crop of pitchers that elevated the level of play in California:
Q: Who were some of the great pitchers you faced while in California?
A: It’s a pretty impressive list: Peter Brown, Cary Weiler, Bob Todd, Bob
Versteig, my good friend the late Paul Megan, Jay Bob Bickford, Ralph
Salazar, Rich Balswick, KG Fincher, Chuck D’Arcy, Jim Smith, Kevin Herlihy, Steve Jackson, Chubb Tangaroa. Just prior to my arriving in California, Pete Meredith had been in Bakersfield, so the history of attracting world-class pitching to California improved the quality of ball.
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