University of British Columbia Athletics

UBC Athletics historian and long-time football statistician, Fred Hume entered the UBC Sports Hall of Fame in 2011 nearly 22 years after he began working to uncover the great UBC teams, athletes and builders of sport dating back to 1915. The UBC graduate's efforts soon resulted in the establishment and development of the UBC Sports Hall of Fame which has been instrumental in re-connecting the university with hundreds of its most accomplished athletic alumni encouraging them to become more directly involved with the campus and their former teams.

The work undertaken by Hume included identifying those from UBC history who would be worthy of nomination, researching and writing their biographies, establishing a selection process followed by providing information and images for subsequent displays. Those carefully researched inductee's bios have been utilized at each UBC induction banquet held since its inauguration in 1993 and are also those currently found on the UBC Sports Hall of Fame website.

As UBC's first and sole Athletics historian, Hume also serves as an information resource for coaches, students and faculty together with campus, local and national media. Much of UBC's now established historical sport information including all-time UBC team rosters, sport histories, sport records and historical highlights is a result of his original research - information of value to Athletics' Development and Sports Information teams as well as to the university.

Hume has authored close to 150 historical pieces which have been published in campus newspapers, game programs, magazines and websites, all designed to showcase UBC's rich history in sports – to help the campus better appreciate its provenance. Without Hume's research many remarkable individuals and events would have been lost in time and gone unrecognized.

Hume has also promoted the cause of UBC Athletics by profiling and successfully nominating Thunderbird alumni for such honours as the BC Sports Hall of Fame, Basketball BC Hall of Fame, BC Football Hall of Fame and the UBC Alumni Achievement Awards. He continues to submit written nominations to several Hall of Fames, including UBC's.

In large part due to the supportive and relentless efforts of UBC's Buzz Moore, Fred inherited Athletics' collection of photos, programs and memorabilia and has served as their guardian and the resource for historical images - again extensively used by UBC's Athletics Department.

This sports aficionado has also submitted both UBC and general sport information as entries for several publications including "Canada Our Century in Sport," "The Encyclopaedia of British Columbia", and "The First 100 Years," the history of UBC. Also, both local and national newspapers have published his UBC stories and story ideas. Additionally, his knowledge and researched information formed the content of the first book documenting the history of UBC sports, "Flight of the Thunderbirds," authored by Don Wells.

Fred is an honorary member of UBC's Big Block Club and in 1999 was awarded the Kay Brearley Award for his service to women's athletics at UBC. Over the years he has tutored graduate and undergraduate students and in 2010 created a UBC scholarship available for students specializing in sport history - to perpetuate the spirit and importance of exploring and celebrating the people and accomplishments of the past. This has been further continued through his work with UBC's on-line legacy project led by Dr. Herbert Rosengarten, celebrating UBC's 100 plus years.

In February 2018 Fred received the UBC Alumni Builder Award in conjunction with the university's 100th anniversary.

Hume took this UBC opportunity in 1989 to create something that did not previously exist. He created for the first time the position of Athletic Department historian establishing himself as a campus and community resource for UBC historical stories, information and images. This historian role evolved from his creation of and being solely responsible for the UBC Sports Hall of Fame, a concept that had not previously existed at the school. In general, he has created and documented a history knowledge trail for others to follow.

Researched and written by Len Corben and Don Wells