VANCOUVER – Three extraordinary athletes, two unique builders and one historically significant national championship-winning team have been selected for induction in 2016 into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame. The inductees were chosen from a slate of distinguished nominees by an eight-member selection committee representing a cross-section of the university community, including UBC Thunderbirds alumni.

The 2016 athlete inductees are track and cross country standout Jeff Schiebler, 1987 Hec Crighton Award winner, football quarterback Jordan Gagner, and all-time Thunderbirds women's basketball career scoring leader Erica McGuinness.

The 1971-72 men's basketball team will enter the Hall of Fame in the Team category. The squad that was coached by 1995 inductee, the late Peter Mullins, was the last UBC team to win the CIS men's basketball championship, a feat accomplished at War Memorial Gym when UBC hosted the national championships almost exactly 44 years ago.

Veteran Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre physiotherapist Ron Mattison and former UBC Chancellor, the late Sherwood Lett, will be inducted in the Builder category. Mattison, who since 1991 has served as a rehabilitation consultant for varsity athletes, is one of Canada's most sought-after physiotherapists, having served Canadian athletes at the Olympic Games on six occasions. The coach of UBC's first women's hockey team during the university's inaugural academic year 1915-16, Lett was an influential proponent of sport and physical education at UBC throughout his 30-plus years as a member of UBC Senate and Board of Governors. He also played a lead role in the establishment in 1946 of the Department of Physical Education (now the UBC School of Kinesiology) that oversaw the post-war evolution and development of the varsity athletics program.

Inductee Profiles
Athlete category

Jeff Schiebler – Track/Cross Country 1992-96
A prominent UBC track and cross country athlete and 1996 Kinesiology graduate, Jeff Schiebler posted an impressive middle and long distance running career both at UBC and internationally. His career is highlighted by Canadian records in the 3,000m, 5,000m and 10,000m with his 5,000m record holding until 2015 when it was finally eclipsed by Mohammed Ahmed at the Diamond League meet in Brussels. His university, Canada West and CIS records remain unbroken.

In the 10,000m he achieved the Olympic standard and competed for Canada in that event at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. In 2000, the BC native again ran for Canada in the 10,000 at the Sydney Olympics, one of only six UBC track and field athletes to compete in two Olympic Games.

During his UBC career he brought attention to the school's track and cross-country program and was unique in UBC history in that he ran professionally for over seven years. From 1996 through 2003 he ran professionally in Japan competing as a representative of a Japanese electronics firm.

Competitive Highlights

• Holds UBC, Canada West and CIS national records in 3,000m.
• Silver medalist at the 1996 CIS and Canadian Open Cross-country Championships, and qualified to participate in the 1996 World Cross-country Championships in Cape Town.
• Competed in middle distance and long-distance events at two consecutive Summer Olympic Games, in 1996 and 2000.
• Five-time national champion in the men's 5,000 metres.
• Bronze medal winner in 5,000 at the 1999 Pan American Games in Winnipeg.
• 1996 Outstanding Athlete of CIS Championship (co-winner)
• 1996 Bobby Gaul Award winner as UBC's male athlete of the year.

Jordan Gagner – Football 1984-88
Jordan Gagner was the first Thunderbirds player to win the Hec Crighton Award as Canadian university football's Most Outstanding Player in 1987. A quarterback, he spent five seasons at UBC (1984-88) leading the Thunderbirds to back-to-back appearances in the Vanier Cup in 1986 and 1987 and winning the Championship in 1986. He stills holds four UBC Thunderbirds records for career passing, including yards passing (10,187). Gagner led the 'Birds to two successive undefeated seasons and set 12 UBC passing records, including single-season records that stood for over 25 years.

Single Game Records

• Pass Attempts: 52 vs Chico State – 1987*

Single Season Records (all set in 1987)

• Pass Attempts: 418**
• Pass Completions 225**
• Yards Passing 3,328**
• Total Off. (rush & pass) 3,334**

 
Career Records (1984-88)

• Pass Attempts 1,202
• Pass Completion 632
• Yards Passing 10,187
• Total Off (rush & pass) 10,286

*tied by Adrian Rainbow in 1995; surpassed by Billy Greene in 2012
** surpassed by Michael O'Connor in 2015
 
Erica McGuinness – Basketball 2004-2008
While helping lead UBC to three CIS National Championships (2004, 06, 08) sharp-shooting guard Erica McGuinness set six team records, including most career points scored. Only 2004 Hall of Fame inductee Lisa Nickle holds more UBC women's basketball records. A graduate of the Sauder School of Business, Erica was described by UBC coach Deb Huband as "a selfless leader and consummate team player" during what is arguably the most successful era in UBC women's basketball history.

Highlights

• CIS Champion team member in 2004, 06, 08
• 2004 Canada West All Rookie team
• 2006 Canada West All-star
• 2007 First Team All Canadian
• 2008 CIS Championship MVP

Career Records

• Most career points: 2523

Single Season Records (all set over 43 games in 2007-08)

• Most points: 747
• Most field goal attempts: 551
• Most field goals: 258
• Most free throws made: 161
• Most assists: 173

Team Category
1971-72 men's basketball team
The last UBC team to have won the CIS (CIAU) men's basketball championship was that of 1971-72, a team coached by Peter Mullins (1995 inductee) and led by future national team players Ron Thorsen (1993 inductee) and John Mills. After finishing first in the Canada West division of the Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Association with a 13-3 record, the Thunderbirds defeated second-place Alberta Golden Bears (11-5) in two games of a best-of-three conference championship. They then met Great Plains division champion Saskatchewan Huskies for the league championship, prevailing two games to one. With just a 10-man roster, UBC then played host to the national championship tournament at War Memorial Gym. Led by league scoring leader Thorsen's 43-point performance, the Thunderbirds defeated Ontario champion Windsor Lancers by a convincing margin of 117-84 in a sudden death semi-final. As a capacity hometown crowd looked on, Mullins and his charges then won the national title in a hard-fought battle with Atlantic champion Acadia Axemen, taking an 87-80 victory with Mills leading the scoring with 27 points.

"The important story in my view of the 1972 team is Ron Thorsen," reflected Mills many years after one of the most triumphant moments in War Memorial Gym history. "Sadly, he is no longer here to tell his own story, but he was a marvel. He could easily light it up for 40 or more by himself or deliver the ball miraculously into the hands of a waiting teammate for a lay-up. Any success I enjoyed was purely as an extension of Ron's genius. Instructions were simple...get open, get your hands up, make the lay-up."

Individual Highlights

• Ron Thorsen – first-team Canada West all-star and league scoring leader averaged 18.8 ppg
• Stan Callegari – second team Canada West all-star and fourth in league scoring averaged 13.4 ppg
• John Mills – second team Canada West all-star and sixth in league scoring with 13.2 ppg.

Note: 1971-72 season pre-dates All Canadian selection. CIS Tournament MVP not awarded in 1971-72.
Team members: John Mills, Stan Callegari, Peter Herd, Ron Thorsen, Darryl Gjernes, Jack Hoy, Rod Matheson, Bob Dickson, Bob Phillips, Doug Cripps, Coach: Peter Mullins, Manager: Derek Swain
 
Builder Category
Ron Mattison
Ron Mattison was the Head Athletic Trainer at UBC from 1979 to 1986, and since 1991 has served as a volunteer rehabilitation consultant for varsity athletes and as physiotherapist for the Canadian High Performance Swim Centre at UBC.  He is one of Canada's most sought-after physiotherapists and has been a mentor for countless student trainers and current physiotherapy staff. He has also ensured seamless connectivity between student-athletes undergoing injury rehabilitation with sports medicine physicans and surgeons who are among his colleagues at the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre. Mattison has worked as the lead Physiotherapist with the Canadian National Swimming Team since 2006 and has been a member of six Canadian Olympic Medical Teams.

Experience in Sports Community:

• Summer Olympic Games (1984, 1988, 1996, 2008, 2012)
• Winter Olympic Games, Venue Manager Hockey (2010)
• Commonwealth Games (1978, 2006)
• Canadian Men's National Field Hockey Team (1985 – 1992)
• Canadian Men's National Wrestling Team (1984 – 1992)
• Canadian National Judo Team (1996)
• Canadian National Swimming Team (2006 – Current)
• UBC Varsity Athletics (1979 – Current)

Sherwood Lett
As UBC celebrates its centennial year, the Department of Athletics and Recreation is pleased to posthumously honour Sherwood Lett, a pioneer of the Varsity Athletics program that is today the most successful in Canada as measured by number of CIS (and CIAU) national championships won.

As a student at UBC in its inaugural year of 1915-16, he was a member of the men's ice hockey team and the coach of the women's ice hockey team. After receiving a Rhodes Scholarship and completing Law studies at Oxford, he returned to a distinguished legal career in British Columbia as well as over 30 years of volunteer service to his university as a member of both the Senate and the Board of Governors. Throughout this time he was a vocal and active proponent of sport and physical activity as a fundamental component of education. Along with university colleagues Arthur Lord (inducted into UBC Sports Hall of Fame in 1993), Harry Warren (also inducted in 1993) and Gordon Shrum (inducted in 1994), he was influential in the establishment in 1946 of a program and department of Physical Education at UBC, a new academic entity whose primary objectives were to train physical educators in response to demand on the part of schools throughout the province, formalize Physical Education as pre-requisites for all UBC undergraduate students, and to bring greater sport-specific expertise to bear in the coaching of varsity teams. It was to be the first such department in Western Canada and the third in the nation following those at McGill and the University of Toronto.

The new Department of Physical Education also assumed the administrative role for the Varsity Athletics teams. It's first faculty members and staff, including inaugural Athletic Director RJ "Bus" Phillips (inducted in 1993), were able to develop new facilities, establish partnerships with leading sport organizations such as the Vancouver Rowing Club, and attract top-flight coaches from across North America and beyond, as in the case of Australians Max Howell (inducted in 2005) and Peter Mullins (inducted in 1995).

Although UBC had produced numerous athletes who went on to great achievement and distinction prior to the establishment of the Department of Physical Education, the impact of the new department (and later School of Physical Education, Human Kinetics, and today, the UBC School of Kinesiology) was almost immediate, as exemplified by UBC providing seven members of Canada's 1948 Olympic basketball team, coached by the department's inaugural director and alumnus, Robert Osborne (inducted in 1993).