Sidney Crosby to headline 'greatest sports dinner' in Nova Scotia

Sidney Crosby will headline a gala dinner to celebrate the greatest 15 athletes in Nova Scotian history, the Nova Scotia Sports Hall of Fame announced Monday.

CEO Bruce Rainnie said the event will be held in the ballroom of the new Halifax Convention Centre on July 26.

Ten of the 15 athletes are alive, and nine of them will be at One Night Only: the Top 15. (Nancy Garapick won't attend.) They will talk about their journeys from the first game to the hall of fame.

"We think this is going to be the greatest sports dinner this province has ever seen," he said. "The key obviously is you can't have a dinner if the person voted No. 1 isn't buying in. I'm pleased to say that No. 87 — the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins — bought into this the second he heard."

Rainnie said Crosby is especially excited to meet Steve Giles, a childhood hero of his. Giles comes from Lake Echo and became a world-champion paddler.

Crosby topped the list of Nova Scotia's greatest athletes. 

Tickets cost $225 for adults and $125 for those 18 and under. The proceeds will be evenly split between the hall of fame and the Sidney Crosby Foundation, which helps young people.

The top 15 are:

15 Rob McCall

14 Mark de Jonge

13 Jamie Bone

12 Ellie Black

11 Karen Furneaux

10 Mark Smith

9 Steve Giles

8 Aileen Meagher

7 Johnny Miles

6 George Dixon

5 Sam Langford

4 Nancy Garapick

3 Al MacInnis

2 Colleen Jones

1 Sidney Crosby