Fall05

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THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA THUNDERBIRDS

Women’s Field Hockey:

THREEPEAT?

WHAT’S IN A NAME?AFRICAN ADVENTURETOOTHLESS WONDER

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Address correspondence to:

Marc Weber, EditorUBC, Department of Athletics 272-6081 University Blvd., Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z1email to [email protected]

EDITOR: Marc Weber

DESIGNER: Brent “Sol” Sallee

CONTRIBUTORS: Marc Weber, Fred Hume, Howard Tsumura, Steve Tuckwood, Theresa Jantzen

COVER PHOTO: Tiffany Michaluk, by Richard Lam

PHOTOGRAPHY: Richard Lam, CJ Relke, Andre Ringuette, Marc Weber

BLUE+GoLD is published three times a year by the UBC Department of Athletics in conjunction with the UBC Alumni Association and is distributed free of charge to UBC alumni and friends.

Opinions expressed in the magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Athletics or the University.

fall 2005 | blue+gold | 1

FROm RUGBY lINEOUTS to soccer super-subs, timing is a tricky thing in sport. The same can be said for tri-annual magazines, especially when you’re attempting to pull together an ar ticle titled “10 Burning Questions in ’05-06” that changes more quickly than the leaves once the varsity season gets underway in September. Take our football team for example. one could argue that the biggest question of all heading into this season was ‘Will the gridiron ‘Birds be able to build on a 5-3 season and take the next step in the Canada West playoffs?’ After a 0-3 star t, the answer seemed quite simple: no. But then a funny thing happened on the way to the printer ; UBC rattled off two straight victories to jump back into the playoff race and they had games against 2-3 Regina and 0-5 SFU on the horizon. So, by the time you read this, who knows. Given all the uncer tainty though, it didn’t seem to make sense to include the football squad in the piece – rather leaving room for some often under-recognized teams – but they do deserve a lot of credit for the way they’ve regrouped this season, highlighted by a dramatic come-from-behind 40-33 over time victory over the Clan in Shrum Bowl XXVIII (pictured above).

Lots of other questions just missed the short list too. Will the women’s golf team

2 News+Notes

4 Profile: Julie little

7 Stinky, the Babe, and the Georgia Peach

8 10 Burning Questions in ‘05-06

12 Developments

13 Bridging the Gap

FALL 2005

be able to climb back to the top of the NAIA mountain? How far will the men’s tee ‘Birds jump with the addition of two blue chip recruits? How will the revamped men’s volleyball ‘Birds fare in the nation’s toughest conference? With 28 teams and countless world-class athletes, 10 questions will never be enough. Also this issue, The Province’s Howard Tsumura provides us with

a moving piece on Julie Little, Fred Hume chimes in with an amusing piece on nicknames, and we take a closer look at Thunderbird Athletes’ Council president Eric Wilson. Thanks for your continued support of UBC Athletics and don’t hesitate to drop us a line with your ideas or feedback. Sincerely,

Marc Weber, Editor

MARK YOUR CALENDAR

2005 CIS Women’s Field Hockey Championship

Fri-Sun, Nov. 4-6, Wright Field, UBC

2006 Canada West Swimming Championships

Fri-Sun, Jan. 20-22, UBC Aquatic Centre

They’ve still got it

The 1977-78 Hall of Fame UBC women’s volleyball team – the last from the Point Grey campus to win a national championship – came together after 28 years to compete at the World Masters Games in Edmonton this past summer. Dubbed “Vintage Thunder”, the squad, short just two players and their coach from ’78, began a practice schedule in March and managed to pull out an impressive fifth place finish (behind three national teams from Canada, Russia and Brazil).

Czech-ing in

Graduated all-Canadian point guard Sheila Townsend became just the second UBC women’s basketball player ever to sign a professional contract when she inked a deal with Valosun of the Czech Republic’s 1 Liga recently. The Pitt Meadows native, who spent this past summer helping Canada’s senior national team qualify for next year’s world championship, depar ted Vancouver for Brno – the second-largest city in the Czech Republic – in mid September. The only other T-Bird to play professional women’s basketball was national team member Liz Silcott, who was an all-star for the St. Louis Streak of the Women’s Basketball League in 1979-80 … Townsend is just one of many UBC alums to sign a professional contract this off-season. Check out the TRADITIoN section of www.gothunderbirds.ca for a complete list of T-Birds in the Pros.

Making their Mark

There are lots of reasons why the UBC men’s soccer team is a favourite to win it all in 2005, not the least of which is a star-studded coaching staff. Joining head coach Mike Mosher and returning alumni assistants Lucas Serres and Julian Phillips this season are Mark Rogers and Mark Watson. Rogers suited up for UBC in 1996 and ’97 before

playing professionally in England for eight years, while Watson, who has 13 years of professional experience, is Canada’s second-most capped player ever, highlighted by key role in the 2000 Gold Cup victory.

Swinging sensation

Highly touted men’s golf recruit Cory Renfrew had a pretty good excuse to miss an early season tournament at Western Washington. The Victoria native was at a Canadian Junior Golf Association banquet in Ajax, ont., to receive the Mizuno All-

Canadian Award, granted annually to one male and one female in recognition of their golf ability, academics and community dedication. Renfew was one of three players to commit to head coach Chris MacDonald for this fall. Also new to the program is University of Wyoming transfer David Stewart of Prince Alber t, Sask., and 2004 BMo Financial Group Future Links Atlantics champion Michael Lutes of Moncton, N.B.

NEWS+NOTES

2 | blue+gold | fall 2005 Photo: UBC Athletic Archives

The 1977-78 UBC women’s volleyball team celebrates its gold medal victory.

Weitemeyer is world class

In his first stint with the senior national team, UBC rower Rob Weitemeyer helped the Canadian men’s four capture a bronze medal at the world rowing championships in Japan this past September. The Coquitlam native, who was a spare in Athens, returns to compete for the Thunderbirds this fall along side olympians Ben Rutledge of Cranbrook and Kyle Hamilton of Richmond. Also wearing blue and gold in 2005-06 is German olympian Thorsten Schmidt, who is here on exchange for one year, giving head

coach Mike Pearce his best crew in some time. First up is the prestigious Head of the Charles in Boston at the end of october, where UBC will battle Harvard, Yale and Princeton among others.

Turkish delight

UBC’s Scott Dickens capped off Canada’s medal haul at the World University Games in Izmir, Turkey, this past August with a silver-medal performance in the 50-metre breaststroke, clocking a personal-best

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28.27 seconds. The Ancaster, ont., native became the first T-Bird since Greg Hamm in 1999 to medal in an individual sport at the Universiade, and this winter, the 2004 CIS male swimmer of the year will be back making waves for UBC as the T-Birds host the Canada West Championship, Jan. 20-22 at the UBC Aquatic Centre.

Honouring Noonan

Friday, oct. 21 will be a very special night at the Thunderbird Winter Sports Centre, as the UBC men’s hockey program honours its alumni association’s founding father and driving force Rick Noonan, who is stepping down as president after 30-plus years of


service. From this year for th, the T-Birds’ first weekend at the old barn will be known as Rick Noonan Home opening Weekend, and a special presentation will be made to Rick at the star t of Friday’s game against Lethbridge.

The full Nelson

Former T-Bird basketball player David Nelson continues to give Kevin Hanson’s UBC program the royal treatment each September, inviting players, coaches and alumni up to his beautiful property in Roberts Creek for a preseason getaway. Nelson’s acreage features a full-size basketball court overlooking the ocean, where even the losers in the heated annual 3-on-3 tournament are still winners. n

Photo: Andre Ringuette (freestylephotography.com)

Scott Dickens shows off his silver medal in Turkey.

O u to fA f r i c a

PROFILE

It was the story of a little girl, her grandmother and a toy doctor’s bag, and in the tradition of the best fables, it would always end with the same enduring message.

“My oma,” says Little of her grandmother Adeline, “always told me that nursing is something that is inside of you and I guess that is something that has been passed on to me. It was always her dream to be a nurse, and she always took care of me and my three sisters the same way.”

If a noble life is one that is led by the pursuit of goals and ambitions, then it is an exceptional one that is led only through your purpose, the thing that is inside of you.

It sounded like a fairy

tale, but Julie Little

smiled when she realized it

wasn’t.

4 | blue+gold | fall 2005

For Julie Little, a third-year UBC nursing student and rising star with the Thunderbirds women’s basketball team, that purpose has never felt stronger. In fact, after a summer of volunteer work in East Africa, the fragments of fable that seemed so dusty and lost in that little girl’s doctor’s bag are suddenly real, powerful reminders of why she walks the path that she does.

“It wasn’t until I was older, until my mom (Elle) and oma told me the stories about how I would take out the doctor set and I would go up to my oma and wrap up her feet and pretend I was giving her shots and stuff,” laughs Little. “Stories like that are cheesy. But when I hear them, they make me happy. I love her. She is my angel.”

BY HOWARD TSUmURA


Julie little traded in her playbook for a textbook in Uganda.

Photo: Contributed

INTO AFRICA

When you live with a purpose, you can’t help but have a calling and when Little’s got too loud to ignore, she packed a bag and flew to Africa.

This was last April. Final exams were finished, and while her friends were working on their baseline jumpers in open gym or getting together to catch a movie, Little was in a small village in Uganda, teaching english and math but at the same time, getting an education in life she felt was infinitely greater.

“In the evenings we would go up to the par t of the village where the refugees lived,” Little said of a haven that had been created for those fleeing the civil wars and political upheaval of their native countries: Burundi, Sudan, Rwanda and the Congo.

“They had endured so much physical and emotional trauma,” said Little, “and to see how they could endure all of that and still have so much hope and so much faith, they were absolutely amazing. I have never seen people smile so much, or laugh the way that they did. Even though they had been through so much, they were never hostile or bitter. It was remarkable.”

And through that experience came a renewed sense of appreciation for her life in Vancouver.

“Their whole dream is to come to Canada or to the United States,” said Little, “and all I could think was that when I decided to leave, within a matter of 24 hours, I could escape all of the poverty and everything and just come back home.”

Yet she didn’t.Little travelled on to Rwanda, at one stage visiting a memorial

to some of the million or so inhabitants who had died through the unspeakable horror of mass genocide.

“It was such a beautiful country, lush and green and the people so friendly,” says Little. “And it was really clean and nice because of work done by the UN. But we were walking outside a church and we came across human bones. It was disturbing and so eye-opening. It definitely changes how you feel about a lot of different things.”

STANDING TALL

In Julie Little’s freshman season of 2003-04, the talented but untapped forward from Richmond’s R.C. Palmer Secondary, mostly sat and watched as her talented and more experienced

teammates led the T-Birds to the national championship.It was a mountain the team wasn’t able to scale this past

season, but one Little feels can be conquered again, perhaps this upcoming season.

And if you’re wondering what her take on scaling the heights is, all you need to know is that if there’s a mountain to climb, she’s good to go.

During her summer trek, she met a girl from Australia and the two decided to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

“The most hiking I’ve ever done is like the Grouse Grind,” she laughs. “I’d never even done an overnight hike. And when you climb the summit, you have to go for 18 hours straight with no food and no sleep.”

While Kilimanjaro is no walk in the park, it’s also a peak that doesn’t require extreme technical abilities. Nonetheless, climbing the near 20,000-foot mountain, the tallest peak on the continent, took Little’s breath away.

“It took six days, six days of no showering,” she laughs. “No food, no sleep and the altitude is so high that you star t to go crazy. I was wondering to myself why I was doing it, but when we got to the top it was a wonderful feeling.”

LIVING WITH A PURPOSE

Little is back in the classroom this season, deciding to put off the star t of her demanding clinicals one more year to give her more time to establish herself with the basketball team.

Yet her African adventure has been as indelible an experience as those childhood days spent

with her oma. In fact, one look at her class schedule will confirm that

her experience has peaked interests to par ts of the course selection catalogue that she had never before ventured.

“Ethnic relations, agenda relations, food and nutrition,” she blur ts of courses she has enrolled in as a direct result of her safari. “I am constantly thinking of going back. I don’t want to go anywhere else. I want to go to East Africa. And as a nurse, I could totally see myself living there for a couple of years. Honestly, I didn’t once get homesick the entire time I was there.”

That’s the future nurse talking, but at times, it sounds like the little girl with the doctor’s kit.

“I look back at my pictures from the trip and it just seems so far away but not,” she says. “It feels like it was all just a dream.” n

6 | blue+gold | fall 2005 Photo: Contributed

with his “Gold Dust Twin,” Art “Burp” Willoughby. Future Rhodes Scholar and BC Politician Jack “Spud” Davis was a pretty fair basketball player as was Ken “Hooker” Wright. Rugby had Ben “Thundering” Herd. Track and Field featured Alex “Seagull” Lucas and John “Chic” Turner, while the

Years ago, vir tually all well-known athletes were easily recognized by their nickname. one had to have just a minimal interest in sport to know the “Rocket,” the “Babe,” the “Splendid Splinter,” the “Yankee Clipper” and “Cyclone” to mention just a few. Jackie Parker was known as “old Spaghetti Legs,” Red Grange was the “Galloping Ghost” and Ty Cobb the “Georgia Peach.” Even our own “Buzz” Moore, UBC’s decorated Athletics Department treasure carries the nickname tradition to this very day. No one in these par ts ever refers to him by his given name, Douglas.

It seems previous generations had a substitute name for just about everybody. Yet as society changed, this practice for some reason, faded into relative obscurity.

The UBC campus, bustling with sport during the 1930s, and 1940s was no exception to this nickname phenomenon. Many star campus athletes were saddled with a moniker, maybe not as imaginative as “The Georgia Peach,” but fun nonetheless. Basketball had Ralph “Hunk” Henderson and the great Jim “Bugs” Bardsley along

Stinky,

&the

Georgia

Peach

Babe,the

women’s basketball team was led by Lois “Corks” McEwen. The football team had many, including George “Moanin” Lowe and one of my favourites, the irrepressible Tommy “Stinky” Williams.

“Stinky,” who was also known as the “Grey Ghost,” was a UBC football hero of the late 1930s and quite the character. The story is told by our “Buzz” Moore, who should know because he was there, that team captain Williams would traditionally arrive at the game just as it was about to star t. According to Buzz, Williams would make his entrance attired in his robes and mortar board, stride majestically across the field, then doff his academic costume to reveal his playing uniform and announce, “Let the game begin!”

Today’s athletes are good, maybe better than those of yesteryear, but one would be hard-pressed to believe they are more colourful.

BY FRED HUmE Historian, UBC Athletics


Tommy “Stinky” Williams (top row, third from right) poses with the 1938 Western Intercollegiate and BC Championship football team.

Photo: UBC Athletics Archives

Burning Questions

’05 - ’06IN


’05 - ’06

With the varsity season well underway – and the advantage of a sneak

peak at several teams – we sat down to determine the most tantalizing

topics, the most captivating queries for the upcoming campaign. Here, in

no particular order, are 10 Burning Questions in ’05-06.

10When it comes to CIS women’s rugby, it’s been Alberta and then everyone else since the sport was adopted in 1998. But cracks in the Pandas’ protection are starting to show. Last season, Western put an end to Alberta’s bid for a sixth straight national title and, even before that, the T-Birds showed the gap in Canada West is closing with a relatively narrow 22-12 defeat in the conference final. This year’s UBC squad, under the guidance of Canada West coach of the year Steve Tong, is eager to finally snap the streak and send the Pandas packing, a cause aided by their position as hosts of the Canada West championship (Oct. 21-23, Wolfson Field). With home turf and a strong core of returning players, led by national under-23 prop Kim Donaldson, this year could mark a changing of the guard in the west.

Is this the year women’s rugby topples Alberta? 9

In his first season with the blue and gold, Nanoose Bay native Mike Mason has a chance not just to win gold in the high jump at the NAIA championships, but also to set school and league records in the process. The sophomore transfer from the University of Kentucky is no stranger to rewriting history. As a Grade 10 student at Ballenas Secondary, he broke Olympic silver medallist Greg Joy’s B.C. juvenile record with a jump of 2.12 metres at the provincial championships – a mark he later shattered with a leap of 2.20 in his senior year. At Kentucky he set freshman records, and last year in Italy, he soared a personal best 2.21 metres to claim the world junior championship, a height that matches the current NAIA record set by Lee Pool of Dallas Baptist in 1995. Even the UBC record of 2.24 metres, held by Munich Olympian John Beers, could be in danger this season.

Will Mike Mason jump his way into the record books?

With just eight returning players – and three returning starters – pulling off the elusive threepeat isn’t going to be an easy task for the UBC women’s field hockey squad. In fact, it’s going to be downright difficult. Gone from the lineup is CIS player of the year Steph Jameson, along with injured All-Canadian Laura Dowling and stalwarts Leigh Sandison, Jenn Tait and Steph Quinn. At press time, their aura of invincibility was also gone, as Alberta handed UBC its first loss in 22 games (and almost two years) with a 1-0 defeat at the first tournament of the season – albeit without junior world cup competitors Jessie Denys, Tyla Flexman and CIS championship MVP Tiffany Michaluk in the lineup. With such a challenging road ahead, the program couldn’t have picked a better time to be hosting the national tournament. The friendly surroundings of Wright Field on the weekend of Nov. 2 might just be the edge this young team needs to complete the improbable hat trick.

87Can the field hockey ‘Birds

pull off the threepeat?

Can anyone score on the UBC soccer teams this season?

The T-Bird soccer teams appear poised to make a deep run at nationals this year and they might not allow a goal doing so. A slight exaggeration perhaps, but maybe not far off the truth. Serge Djekanovic joined the men’s program this offseason, and considering he’s stopped shots in Serbian pro leagues, internationally for Canada, and for the Vancouver Whitecaps against Sunderland of the English Premiership, he’s not likely to be phased by too many CIS strikers. On the women’s side, national pool ‘keeper Jackie Dunnett committed to UBC, bringing to the crease a provincial club championship and Canada Summer Games gold medal to go with her international experience. To boot, both sides already possessed established goalies in two-time All-Canadian Hannah Shoichet and 2004 starter Nikolai Matni, giving Dick and Mike Mosher options between the posts. At press time, both soccer squads were ranked No. 1 in the nation – something that hadn’t happened since 1994 – and both were unbeaten atop the conference standings nearing the midway mark of the season. It opponents can’t find a way to solve the savvy shot-stoppers, 2005 could mark the first time in school history that the T-Birds bring home women’s and men’s soccer titles in the same year.

fall 2005 | blue+gold | 9Photo: Richard Lam

By MA

RC WEBER

A deep and talented pitching staff has head coach Terry McKaig excited about the prospect of the program’s first NAIA World Series berth in 2006. Lefty Jeff Tobin and right-hander Joe Forest have both opted to return despite being drafted by Toronto and L.A., respectively, last season. Also back is All-Region southpaw Brad Ashman, and right-handers Doug Grant and Matt Miller, while Midland College (Texas) transfer Shawn Schaefer, another lefty, leads a list of newcomers. And that’s just the potential starters! The bullpen should also be stocked, while position returnees include All-American second baseman Mark Capone, former Red Sox draft pick Adam Campbell (OF) and All-Region team members Tyler Hughes (SS) and Steve Bell-Irving (C). Throw in the fact that the Region 1 winner is set to host the Super-Regional series this season and you could have a recipe for a World Series-bound ballclub.

Will the baseball ‘Birds take the next step in ’06?

How dominant will BJ be in the water?

Graduated all-Canadian point guard Sheila Townsend was one of the most dynamic and talented women’s basketball players ever to grace the War Gym hardwood but her departure leaves as much to brood over as it does to bemoan. No single player will replace her 17 points per game, her athleticism or defensive intensity, not to mention a grueling 35 minutes of court time each and every night. But with several rising stars on board, including guards Erica McGuinness, Cait Haggarty and provincial MVP Candace Morriset, plus some veteran leadership from the likes of posts Kelsey Blair and Kim Howe, it is possible that a more minutes and more ball to go around will help UBC return to their championship form of two seasons ago.

Can theTownsend-less T-Birds get

back to the promised land?4

The last time Brian Johns jumped in the pool for a CIS meet he won seven gold medals, set, or helped set, seven CIS records, and broke a world record in the 400-metre individual medley – a magical mark of 4:02.72 that still stands today. That was two-and-a-half years ago. Since then, the 23-year-old has sat out two years of varsity, suffering through serious

shoulder problems that eventually caught up to him in Athens and forced him to miss the world championships in Montreal. But recent performances would indicate that Johns is well on the comeback trail, and with the Melbourne Commonwealth Games on the horizon in 2006, he could be near form come the CIS championships in Edmonton this February, which isn’t good news for the rest of the CIS. Anything close to that peerless performance of 2003 could net Johns his third CIS male swimmer of the year award, something no one in CIS history has been able to accomplish. With 20 medals already to his name, Johns could also chase down backstroker Mark Versfeld (27) for tops all-time among UBC male medal winners.


6

Brian Johns, photo: Richard Lam

Erica McGuinness, photo: Richard Lam

How dominant will BJ be in the water?

2 Is there enough ball to go around on the men’s hoop squad?

It’s a question that’s been asked often since former Triple A MVPs Pasha Bains and Chad Clifford committed to an already offensive Thunderbirds team more than a year ago, and the answer, quite simply, is yes. Bains, the 2003-04 CIS player of the year and a two-time national scoring champion with SFU, wants only to win a title in his fifth year and seems more than ready to share the rock with returning leading scorer Casey Archibald and Co. Anyone who watched Archibald run himself ragged off screens all last season can imagine how the presence of Bains and Clifford will help open up looks for the slick shooter from Salmon Arm, and the T-Birds’ fastbreak, even without departed point guard Karlo Villanueva, should be one of the best in the nation. Along with the addition of former Triple A all-star Sean Stewart and Vienna import Mathias Dockner in the post, a better question might be, ‘How many times will UBC hit the 100-point mark this season?’ or perhaps even, ‘Can the T-Birds bring home the title for the first time since 1972?’

Athletic Director Emeritus Bob Hindmarch was behind the bench the last time the men’s hockey T-Birds hosted, and won, a playoff series – a claim that Dr. Bob would just as soon relinquish since it was, remarkably, 34 seasons ago. Current coach Milan Dragicevic has done his best to recruit top-flight major junior talent over the past four years and the team finally seems ready to make a significant jump. This past offseason alone, UBC snagged former Vancouver Giants superpest Darrell May, standout defenceman Scott Lynch from the Spokane Chiefs, former UMass-Lowell winger Peter Hay, Everett Silvertips forward Tyler Dietrich and Red Deer Rebels goalie Gerry Festa. If the preseason is any indication (UBC was 5-1 at press time), the long-suffering hockey faithful could be tailgating outside the Thunderbird Winter Sports Centre again this season.


1Will appearance No. 12 be golden for the women’s volleyball ‘Birds?

Six returning starters. Five talented seniors. Two national team players. Is this the season the UBC women’s volleyball team finally

stands atop the CIS podium? One thing’s for certain: it will likely be their best chance for a few years. Led by graduating national team

starting power Emily Cordonier and the senior middle-blocking wall of Shelley Chalmers and Danielle Van Huizen, this team is

built to win the title that has escaped the last 11 squads that have consecutively qualified for the nationals. Early season injuries to

a staggering six players will no doubt slow their progress but come March, expect to see a run for the program’s first championship since

1978. A strong Calgary team with home-court for the nationals will likely be the toughest hurdle, but experience gained in last year’s national final, and a solid supporting cast that includes Stephanie Kurz, Kirby Dow, Maya Miguel and Carla Bradstock could very well

make the twelfth trip a charm for the T-Birds.n

3 Are the UBC men’s hockey ‘Birds ready to rewrite history?

Erica McGuinness, photo: Richard Lam

Darrell May, photo: CJ Relke

Shelley Chalmers, photo: Richard Lam

UBC set to break ground on new pool

At press time, UBC was in the process of announcing that construction on a new ten-lane, 50-metre outdoor pool was set to begin on the north side of War Memorial Gym. The venue will host the 2006 Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in August, marking the first major international swimming competition to be held on Canada’s west coast since the 1994 Commonwealth Games. Check back in our winter issue of BLUE + GoLD when historian Fred Hume says farewell to Empire Pool and we take a closer look at what the new facility means to our world-class swimming programs.

Swimmers returning to campus

Staying with swimming, former T-Bird pool sharks should mark their calendars for the alumni reunion being held at the Aquatic Centre on Fri, Nov. 4. Things get underway at 4:30 p.m. when the current swimming T-Birds host the Thunderbird Cup (formerly College’s Cup). Alumni members are encouraged to cheer on the current team, while catching up with their colleagues at the meet. Thunderbird Swimming Alumni shir ts will be available, along with some refreshments, and swimmers are encouraged to bring photos of their time with the ‘Birds. Thanks to alumnus Ian Robertson for helping to organize the event, along with current varsity swim coach Derrick Schoof. RSVPs are being done online through the UBC Alumni website. Check out www.alumni.ubc.ca/events/calendar to register and find out more details on the event. Families are most welcome.

Buzz Moore Big Block Endowment

The Buzz Moore Big Block Endowment, in its inaugural year, was established not only to honour Dr. Buzz Moore but to ensure his years of unselfish effor t will be enjoyed by Thunderbirds in perpetuity. In just

three months, the endowment has raised more than $45,000 from just 40 donors. Proceeds of the Fund will maintain the ‘Sweater or Better’ program and also provide for the annual Big Block Banquet. The Athletics Department is matching all gifts made to the Buzz Moore Big Block Endowment Fund and, yes, your contribution qualifies for a tax receipt.

7th Annual Millennium Breakfast

Mark your calendars as the 7th Annual Thunderbird Millennium Scholarship Breakfast will take place on March 6, 2006 at the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre. Last year’s event generated more than $600,000 to keep our best student-athletes in Canada, bringing the total to more than $3.3 million. Fur ther details on the event will appear in the winter issue of BLUE + GoLD as we move toward yet another sold out event.

Great support at Athletics’ golf tournaments

Baseball supporters across the Lower Mainland teed off for the 6th Annual Friends of Thunderbird Baseball Golf Classic on Sept. 27. The tournament, held at Mayfair Lakes Golf & Country Club, was another tremendous success with 144 golfers enjoying beautiful weather and fantastic golf while supporting the Thunderbird baseball team. Close to $45,000 was raised, including a special gift of $6,000 from BC Little League Baseball, all of which will support scholarships. A special thanks to Briony Reid for all of her effor ts in making the tournament another success ... The Thunderbird Football Association hosted the annual Frank Gnup Coaches’ Classic at the University Golf Club on Aug. 13. The sold-out event

was highlighted by the establishment of a TFA Scholarship Endowment Fund that will reach the $300,000 mark within the next three years.

Adopting Athletes pays off

The Adopt a T-Bird program provides a great opportunity for alumni, family and friends to support UBC Athletics by sponsoring a specific student-athlete. To date, approximately $10,000 has been raised with the funds going toward funding student-athlete travel, meals and/or equipment costs. The program remains a great success thanks to the generosity of our many supporters. If you are interested in adopting a Thunderbird student-athlete, please visit the Development link at www.gothunderbirds.ca or contact Theresa Jantzen at 604-822-6183.

DEVELOPMENTS


George Hungerford, Chair of the Gold for Life Campaign, secures the first beam for construction of the John M.S. Lecky UBC Boathouse. Joining Hungerford is fellow UBC alumnus Roy McIntosh. The Boathouse, which is being constructed in Delta, B.C. will be floated down the Fraser River to its place in Richmond in early 2006.

rivalry with perennial NCAA champion Berkeley – the team against which Wilson lost his tooth a couple of years ago. “We don’t get many opportunities to play against guys our age,” says Wilson, who has represented Canada at the under-19, 20 and 21 levels, highlighted by a trip to England for the under-21 world championship in 2003, “so UVic and Berkeley are huge games for us. Without those, it would get pretty tough mentally. It’s hard to lose nine straight games.” Back in the more cordial confines of War Memorial Gym’s Room 100, Wilson and the TAC conduct regular meetings to plan out activities for the year, from fundraising events to community outreach initiatives in conjunction with the UBC Learning Exchange. Par t of the money they raise goes toward the peer-voted TAC Performance Award and TAC Leadership Awards, which they hand out at the Big Block Banquet each year. “The TAC is really designed to bring the athletic community together,” says Wilson, who credits former president Jama Mahlalela with much of the recent success. “Rather than having rivalries between teams, we’re trying to create an environment of support and also encourage people to take an active role in the community.” Wilson first brought his unique character to the TAC three years ago as secretary when he added a ‘Looking for Love’ section to the mundane weekly internal emails, a tradition that continues today. “It’s quite exciting,” he smirks. “Last week I put Jack [vice president Jackson Hall] in there. He wasn’t very happy with me.” All kidding aside, the Kitsilano graduate has distinguished himself within the athletic depar tment as well as on the field of battle, helping to bridge the gap between student-athletes and administration, while doing his par t to close the gap between UBC and its rugby rivals.

Voted president of the Thunderbird Athletes’ Council (TAC) by his peers for a second straight term, Wilson spends much of his time on the Point Grey campus devising ways to keep UBC’s student-athletes socially active, as well as engaged in social activism. But come Saturdays, he sheds this support circle to fight over an egg-shaped ball with 15 burly sor ts whose aim is too see him scrambled. “I’m pretty much the smallest guy out there every weekend,” says the T-Birds’ 5-foot-7 flyhalf, conducting the interview with a black eye that rates as “fairly standard” for an in-season look. “If I go to make a tackle and we both fall, I’m a happy guy.” In a new BC Rugby Union format that sees top First Division teams now qualify for a second-half Premier League schedule, the change between fall and winter is a dramatic one for the T-Birds for more reasons than just field conditions. In last season’s Premier League opener, Wilson received a rude welcome from Bayside’s national team openside flanker, who flattened him just seconds in. “I get the ball, pass it off, ‘one, two,’ and he just lays me out,” recalls Wilson. “I was like ‘oh my god, this is going to be a long year.’ ” But the new format should be good for the development of the UBC program. Several years ago, the T-Birds lost players to Premier sides when the program opted to remain in the First Division, and this setup should stem the tide of depar ting talent, if not attract some back. Facing older, bigger, stronger and often internationally-experienced competition on a regular basis has also enhanced the meaning of UBC’s annual ‘Golden Boot’ games against UVic, as well as their storied World Cup

For a likeable guy, Eric Wilson sure takes his share of beatings.

BRIDGING

fall 2005 | blue+gold | 13Photo: Marc Weber

BY mARC WEBER

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