University of British Columbia Athletics

A graduate of Notre Dame High School, Akbal Singh had lost both parents as youngster. It was UBC's head football coach, the late Casey Smith, who showed faith in Akbal and in 1996 gave Singh a chance to play football at the university level. He had been more or less written off by much of the football community because of the turmoil within his past. This opportunity turned out to be the beginning of a spectacular UBC football career.

While in high school, Singh had been a provincial rushing champion and All-Star and following a year in junior football entered UBC playing for Coach Casey Smith. It was in Singh's second year as a Thunderbird when he experienced a highlight, being part of a powerful Vanier Cup Champion, only the third UBC team to win the coveted National Championship. But it was in his last two years, 1998 and '99 when Akbal took over as the feature running back, that his career took off.

Short and quick, he became one of the most exciting running backs in school history. In '98 he was the Canada West rushing champion as well as the leader in touchdowns scored. He was selected '98 Canada West All-Star and named to the All-Canadian team. He was also awarded the Frank Gnup Memorial Trophy as Canada West's Player of the Year and the West's nominee for the Hec Crighton Award as the nation's best player.

In 1999 he again was the Canada West rushing champion, setting a Canada  West  record  with 1417 yards . For the second year in a row he recorded the Conference best in yards rushing in one game, running for 305 yards against  Alberta.  He also established a UBC rushing record for a season with a net total of 1787 yards, impressive considering  the  number  of outstanding backs UBC has had both before and since Akbal.  In fact his total offense for that season, 1959 yards, also remains a UBC record. Twice in '99 he was the nation's "Player of the Week" and again was Canada West All-Star, All-Canadian and  the Canada  West  Player  of  the Year, the second consecutive  year  he  was  the  West's Hec Crighton  nominee,  all  the  while leading UBC to a 7-1 record.
When Singh completed his UBC career (and was drafted by the BC Lions) he had rushed for 3438 yards over four Canada West seasons - a UBC record for Conference games. Later in 2018, he was inducted into the BC Football Hall of Fame.

Unfortunately, in 1998, we lost Coach Casey Smith to cancer but Singh remembered, "He (Casey) was always watching out for me." Coach Jay Prepchuk who succeeded Smith said (Singh) "is  unbelievably dedicated to excelling...  he's the most polite, coachable player I've  seen."  While Akbal was a student at UBC he was Godfather to three children of a close friend. Akbal stated, “I take great pride in being chosen... they think I'm a good example to the children.”
 
Researched and written by Fred Hume
UBC Athletics