There are few that would argue that Candy Kane is the best volleyball player the Royal City has ever produced. She didn’t start playing until grade 9 at Centennial High School but just four years later she was a member of Canada’s Junior National team. A few months after that, she found herself on the senior national team where she played for two years.
At that point she committed to the University of Hawaii where she would go on to win two NCAA Division I Championships. The Rainbow Wahines regularly drew 8,000 fans for home games as there were no professional sports teams in Hawaii. She won her first NCAA title in 1979 as a rookie and won her second national championship in 1982. In the gold medal match against the USC Trojans, the Wahines dropped the first two games 14-16 and 9-15 before roaring back to win the final three 15-13, 15-10, 15-12. While at Hawaii she had the pleasure of playing for legendary volleyball coach Dave Shoji.
Kane was a backcourt specialist playing defence and serving. She was fortunate enough to play volleyball all over the world with Team Canada and the University of Hawaii in countries like Japan, Cuba, Mexico, Holland and Hungary.
Bill Reid, Centennial’s track coach described her as the ”tall gangly blonde kid with the ever present smile and tremendous athletic potential.” Centennial’s athlete of year in grade 11 was true to coach Reid’s assessment.
Inducted into the Guelph Sports Hall of Fame – Athlete category – on October 27, 2010
