Santoni is a former standout volleyball player at Regioplis Notre Dame. Enjoyed a great career at McMaster University and represented Canada at International competitions

At six-foot-eight Kingston native Tyler Santoni is used to rising above the crowd.

This fall he will reach even greater heights when he is inducted into the McMaster University Sports Hall of Fame.

Santoni, a Regi grad, played volleyball at McMaster between 2006-2011. He describes the Hall of Fame announcement as, “Emotional and a great honour. It’s an opportunity to look back after the passage of time and understand what you accomplished as a player and a team.”

As for a career highlight, Santoni says it’s all about team success, “Winning three OUAA titles is what I am the most proud of. I always loved team sports, I cared deeply about being a leader and holding myself and my teammates to the highest standard. There is no individual acknowledgement, award or statistic that even compares to hoisting a trophy as a team at the end of the year. “

Almost fifteen years later Santoni’s records at McMaster still stand, 1) Most blocks in a match 2) Most blocks in a season and 3) Total career blocks.

A natural leader, Santoni is proud of being a three-time captain at McMaster. Following his senior year he was named McMaster’s ‘Outstanding Male Athlete’, leading the country in blocks and hitting percentage.

Santoni credits his university coach, Dave Preston, for much of his success, “He is a phenomenal coach. He improved my game so much. I went there as a right-side player, and he turned me into a middle. It worked out well. I enjoyed it a lot.”  

Tyler also represented Canada internationally, competing at the Pan Am games in Mexico and the World University (FISU) games in China.

Canada did not medal at the 2011 Pan-Am games, but Santoni says their match against the U.S.A in front of a sold-out crowd is a career highlight.

“We were down 2 sets to 1, they had us at match point 24-21 in the fourth set, we fought off 11 match points in total and came back to win that set 35-33 and then take them in the fifth set behind an incredible team effort.”

Santoni also won a silver medal for Team Ontario at the 2009 Canada Summer Games.

McMaster won three OUAA titles with captain Tyler Santoni at middle blocker.

An all-round athlete growing up in Kingston, Santoni played almost every sport; hockey, baseball, basketball, tennis and was an avid golfer.

In high school he focused primarily on football until the lanky receiver was noticed by Pat Farrell, long time Regi volleyball coach. Farrell convinced Tyler he was better suited for volleyball.  

Santoni describes it as a major turning point, “It was Pat Farrell my high school gym teacher who pushed me to play volleyball. Pat did a lot for me. Once I started playing volleyball, I really started liking it. I had a growth spurt between grades 11 and 12, and I knew I wanted to play at the university level.”

As for Farrell, the now retired Regi teacher and coach credits Santoni for much of the success of those powerful Regi teams in that era, “Tyler was an excellent captain, a great teammate and a real role model for our future Panthers volleyball players.”

Farrell says he is not surprised Santoni continued to excel at the next level. Joining an already strong McMaster program where he would become team captain, “He demanded the best from his teammates, because he demanded the best from himself.”

Regi is known for its strong volleyball program and Santoni led the Panthers to back-to-back KASSAA City High School Senior championships in 2005 & 2006.

In his graduating year, Regi won bronze at OFSAA and Tyler was named team MVP.

Farrell says Santoni really came into his own in his final year of high school, “He was a dominating right-side player, Tyler totally controlled the net and when we needed a point you knew where the ball was going to be set, but the other team still couldn’t stop it.”

Tyler Santoni still holds McMaster school records for blocks.

Santoni says it’s extra special to be going into the McMaster Hall of Fame with longtime friend and teammate Jeremy Groenveld, “We were in the same recruiting class in 2006, it is the perfect way to put a bow on our careers together as Marauders and represents our friendship through those amazing years.”

He adds, “we were virtually inseparable, we lived together, made our meals together, played on Team Ontario together and won championships together. On top of that both of our names are all over the McMaster Volleyball record books for match, season and career records.”

“We also get to join Jeremy’s brother, Nate, who was elected into the Hall of Fame in 2020. Outside of Coach Preston, Nate was the teammate most instrumental in my development and helped me become the player that I became.”

A commerce grad, Tyler earned his MBA at McMaster (while helping as an Assistant Coach with the volleyball program), and has built an impressive career in the financial services industry. He is a Vice President in Royal Bank’s Asset Based Lending Group in Toronto.

The Santoni’s are a volleyball family.

Tyler led the way for his two younger brothers, Cameron and Connor. They both played at Regi, Cameron won OFSSA gold in 2009 and played at Guelph.

Connor won OFSSA silver at Regi, became team captain at McMaster and won four OUAA championships.

For Tyler Santoni his years of dedication and excellence in the sport will be recognized on October 17th, when he is enshrined into the Marauders Sports Hall of Fame.

Mark Potter is a longtime Kingston broadcaster and honoured member of the Kingston & District sports Hall of Fame.