One of the most prolific youth swimmers from the Foothills will forever be immortalized at the Okotoks Recreation Centre.
Okotoks town council passed a resolution in April to rename the Okotoks lap pool to the Riley Minue Pool, to honour the record-breaking member of the Okotoks Stingrays Summer Swim Club (OSSSC), with the Stingrays hosting the official pool naming ceremony on June 19.
Minue was a member of the Stingrays from 1990 to 2000. He passed away in 2004 after tragically drowning at the age of 20.
Riley’s father Tim Minue said he and his family, including wife Brenda and sons Tyler, 32, and Braydon, 30, were honoured by the gesture by the Town of Okotoks adding the renaming speaks volumes of the character and dedication Riley put into his swimming.
“Riley’s involvement, his leadership, his citizenship, his dedication to the town, to the pool, to the Stingrays swim club, it’s all those things,” Minue said. “For us to qualify the leadership he showed and the overwhelming acceptance by council, by citizens, by people we don’t even know it just qualifies the type of person he was.
‘The unanimous decision by council showed such support to what he meant to the swimming community in Okotoks.”
In the pool, Riley followed in the footsteps of his older brothers and was a successful athlete for the Stingrays for a decade.
He won more than 80 aggregate medals, including two gold medals at the Big Country Games, one gold and one silver at the 2000 Alberta Summer Games, four provincial gold medals as well as holding two provincial records in the butterfly stroke and numerous Stingray club records, among other accolades in his career.
His excellence in the sport extended to his decorum.
“The one story we tell over and over was when (Riley) was at a year-end provincial meet and in the warm-up pool, he’s showing his closest competitor how to improve his technique,” Minue said. “Every competitor he swam against was his friend … you talk about his qualities and highlights and sportsmanship would be right at the top.”
Minue swam competitively until the age of 18, when pervasive shoulder issues pushed him out of the pool and onto the slopes. Riley took up downhill skiing and moved to Whistler, B.C. to work and ski in what was his final year of life.
The impact of Riley’s life on the foothills community was evident in spades at the naming ceremony.
The Stingrays’ full roster of coaches, directors and all of its 80 swimmers were on hand for the ceremony, as were the Minue family and representatives from the Town of Okotoks.
Minue said he was touched by the support shown to both Riley and the Minue family who have lived in the Okotoks area since 1905.
“It was well attended, it was attended by people we didn’t expect, we didn’t know, hadn’t seen in a long time,” he said. “The kids were asking questions, they wanted to know who he is and during the ceremony they were so attentive and so genuinely interested to hear what was being told.”
In a prepared statement, Stingrays president Angie Haworth said the Minue family has given years of support to the summer swim club and the Okotoks swimming community.
“His family has tirelessly fundraised for the community and has given many years of commitment to the OSSSC, without those countless hours, years of support we would not have the club we have today,” Haworth said. “Without his family and friends dedication to the community we wouldn't have the pool, we enjoy using every weekday during our swim season.”
