Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
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Every fall, Marjorie Adams gets to hop on a plane for one of her favourite annual trips.
She departs Victoria, B.C. to land in her hometown of Saskatoon, a city which looks a lot different in 2026 compared to when she entered the world nearly a century ago.
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“I do look forward to getting back here,” Adams said.
“My parents lived here, my grandparents lived here, so this was home. I was born in 1927 and I see such a big difference in this city, it’s just amazing.”
At 99 years old, Adams made the trip back to Saskatchewan this weekend to take part in the 2026 Saskatchewan Athletics awards banquet in memory of her late husband Bob.
Alongside her daughter Jaynice, Marjorie spent Saturday night handing out awards to the various winners on behalf of the Bob Adams Foundation, which promotes opportunity and accessibility to track and field athletes across the province.
“I’m very happy that I can come back because it’s a very special occasion for us to think that it’s in Bob’s name,” Adams said. “He certainly was a great supporter of track and field, that was his life.”
Bob Adams was born and raised in Alsask and quickly became one of the province’s most accomplished athletes after he first took up track and field using fishing poles as high jump bars and scraps of metal for shot put.
“He started when he was about nine years old in his little town,” Marjorie said.
“He took all of the ribbons at that time and just continued. He loved the sport.”
Inspired by American track and field star Jesse Owens, Bob joined the University of Saskatchewan Huskies track and field team in 1942 and became one of the top athletes in the country with medals won in discus, high jump, hammer throw, javelin and long jump.
He’d go on to become a Canadian record holder in discus and the decathlon, before qualifying for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.
After a 1955 knee injury, Adams moved into coaching where he represented the country again on the sidelines at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and was a founding member of the Saskatoon Track and Field Club.
Dozens of awards celebrating the province’s top track and field athletes were handed out at Prairieland Park on Oct. 24, 2026 by Saskatchewan Athletics and the Bob Adams Foundation. (Scott Roblin/650 CKOM)
Marjorie remembers those days fondly, as her skills on a typewriter were used for countless numbers of Saskatoon track meets.
“I typed all the event sheets in the early days,” Adams said.
“Especially in the track meets under Griffiths Stadium, I would be holed up under there typing all the event sheets. I had to do them before we got to the track meet, so sometimes I was up until 1 a.m. typing.”
Away from the track, Bob spent 35 years teaching at Nutana Collegiate and Aden Bowman Collegiate and eventually began the Bob Adams Foundation in 1983.
According to Marjorie, his vision for promoting excellence through athletics is something she still sees in the young athletes who walked across the stage on Saturday night.
“To think that it’s 43 years since it was started, I think that is something in itself,” Adams said.
“I don’t think he ever thought it would keep going that long; it’s great. If he was here, he would just love to see all these athletes.”
This year’s Bob Adams Foundation award winners included Maryska Kardynal (U16 female track), Ellise Dyrland (U16 female field), Sawyer Jalbert (U16 male track and field), Autumn Hanna (U16 combined events), Emma Harder (U18 female track), Bailee Chupa (U18 female field), Calum Seargeant (U18 male track), Kyler Duclos (U18 male field), Kerri Lovelace (master female) and Colin Ellis (master male).
As well, coaching awards were given to Erica Gasmo and Chad Salisbury, while Vivaan Jalla-Dhar and Claire Norek won athlete with an impairment awards, to go along with a number of other scholarships and bursaries.
“(Bob) would be very proud of them, he really would,” Adams said.
“They have done so well. I’m glad that we can support them having this banquet and presenting some scholarships, some bursaries and some awards.”
Bob was active in track and field as an official until his death in 2019 at the age of 94, and has been inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame and Athletics Canada Hall of Fame.
For Marjorie, events like Saturday’s awards ceremony help to reflect on what she and Bob built over 66 years of marriage.
“It brings back many, many memories,” Adams said. “We had a good life together and certainly a big part of it was track and field.”
Next year, Marjorie hopes to return to the city she was raised in as a centenarian and continue on the legacy which her family built through track and field.
“It’s a milestone,” Adams said. “I never thought that I’d become 100 years old. Well I haven’t yet, I’m only 99.”
Canadian Olympian Savannah Sutherland and University of Washington commit Jonathan Podbielski were both named female and male athletes of the year by Saskatchewan Athletics.
It’s Sutherland’s fourth straight female athlete of the year win, while Podbielski captured the male athlete of the year award for a third consecutive time.
At the U20 level, Reise Dolan and Hailee Woodhouse were named male and female athletes of the year.
Maitlan Knoke captured athlete with an impairment honours, while Karlyn Wells and Tim Ziegler won coach of the year and official of the year, respectively.
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