Description

Inducted June 26, 2025

INDUCTION BANQUET PROGRAM STORY — June 26, 2025

Polish Traditions and Memories “Bubble Up” With Hall of Fame Induction

By:  Ted Kulfan
Sportswriter for The Detroit News

There were still several weeks before the actual evening, before Craig Wolanin was to be inducted into the National Polish American Sports Hall of Fame, and Wolanin was attempting to keep it cool.

It’s a great honor, for sure. Special for himself and his family. But Wolanin had one wish, which would have made it entirely perfect.

“My dad (Bill) has passed and some people in the family, who would have beamed with pride, are gone too,” Wolanin said. “It would have meant a lot to them.

“It’s pretty special for me. I’ve supported the Hall of Fame for years now. Being 100 percent Polish and being an athlete, it just goes hand in hand. I just wish (they could be here).”

Wolanin, a Warren native who attended Warren De La Salle, played 13 seasons in the NHL (1985-98) with five teams – New Jersey, Quebec, Colorado, Tampa Bay and Toronto, after being drafted third overall by New Jersey in 1985. He was a member of the 1996 Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche and played for Team USA at the 1991and 1994 world championships.

Wolanin, a sturdy defensive defenseman, played in 695 NHL games, scored 40 goals and had 133 assists for 173 points and accumulated 894 penalty minutes.

“It just kind of happened,” said Wolanin of being drafted, and having a long NHL career. “We just played hockey back then. We didn’t aspire to be pro athletes. We just played because that’s what we did. We didn’t have any inclination that being a pro hockey player was a possibility.

“It was thrilling (to be drafted so high) but the only coverage was a little blurb in the Detroit newspapers and a little bit larger story in the Macomb Daily.”

Being inducted into the NPASHF has given Wolanin an opportunity to think back to his younger years and the impact of his Polish heritage.

Wolanin’s grandparents were integral parts of his family and his grandmother on his mother’s side was a keeper of Polish traditions.

“They moved from Pennsylvania to Hamtramck and our family traditions, a lot of them, were centered around Polish traditions,” Wolanin said. “Something like this (the induction), it makes things bubble up again and you start talking about these things and it brings everything to the forefront.

“And for that, I’m very happy.”

Normally quiet and not seeking the limelight, the NPASHF honor is something Wolanin is proud of.

“The last thing I want to do is be in any kind of spotlight,” Wolanin said. “But what we have in our community, meaning the Polish American Sports Hall of Fame, it should be celebrated and I’m going to promote it as much as I can.”

Wolanin has attended NPASHF banquets in the past. Each time, he came away pleasantly shocked by the how tight the Polish American community is.

“Our street had about 10 (houses) on it and one of the first times I attended (a banquet), there were three or four different neighbors (attending).” Wolanin said. “I told a couple of them I didn’t know they were Polish (laughing). That was the coolest thing.

“You just start thinking about these things, and it really makes it special.”

Wolanin had a distinguished NHL career, but the highlight was being part of the Stanley Cup-winning Avalanche team. And not just for what it meant for Wolanin personally.

“Because what the achievement meant to others,” Wolanin said. “When you win a Stanley Cup, it’s a culmination of a lot of people’s contributions, and that goes way back to many people, be it family, friends, brothers and sisters, whatever. It’s a truly cumulative thing and that’s what makes having a Stanley Cup fun.

“The impact it has on people around you is incredible. They’re able to touch it, drink from it, party with it, smile with it. It just means so much.”

The 1996 conference final series between the Avalanche and Red Wings was one of the most intense, nasty and emotional hockey series ever. For Wolanin, being from the Detroit area and knowing many Wings players, that made it extra memorable.

“I knew a lot of them socially, but when you play hockey, you play,” Wolanin said. “That was the start of something really good for hockey. That was true hockey, the preeminent rivalry of the 1990s.”

Wolanin was able to have the Stanley Cup for two days. The main party was held at Lake Orion’s Paint Creek Country Club and it was unforgettable.

“It happened to fall on my birthday,” Wolanin said. “It was an absolute blast, just so much fun.”

Wolanin has been in Construction Management the last 21 years at Rochester-based Frank Rewold & Sons Inc. He still plays hockey as part of the Red Wings’ Alumni Team, which plays numerous charity games around Michigan.

Wolanin’s wife Chantal, son Christian (currently playing in the Vancouver Canucks organization) and daughters Camille and Caroline will attend the NPASHF induction banquet, along with, hopefully, his mother, Phyllis.

“She’s a stubborn Polish woman,” Wolanin said. “She’ll say ‘I don’t have to go and I don’t really have to be there’. But I’m guessing she’ll show up and I would expect nothing less from her.”

Wolanin knows how much the induction will mean to her. And for himself, too.

“De La Salle inducted me into its Hall of Fame a few years ago now and I was thinking of not going to it, but I went and I’m so glad I did,” Wolanin said. “I was moved that somebody would think that much of me, that someone would do something like that (induction).

“Emotions will show that evening (at NPASHF). I know I’ll be overwhelmed. I’ll try to downplay it until the day it happens. But it’ll be so special for me and my family.”