Largely responsible for the establishment of football on the UBC campus, coached UBC football team on a voluntary basis to three Western championships (Hardy Cup) over a 12-year span during the '20s and early '30s.
Dr. Burke was UBC's head football coach from 1925 until 1936. Having gained his football knowledge and expertise in the US, Burke, along with Dr. Gordon Shrum, was instrumental in establishing football's credibility and prominent status on UBC's campus. Establishing a new sport was not easy, as inexperienced players and campus opposition, particularly from rugby, provided a significant challenge for Burke and the supporters of football.
During his twelve years as head coach, "Doc" coached three Hardy Cup champions, and two British Columbia champions, defeating teams and schools with longer football traditions and more experienced players. In the late 1920's, even though football was still new to UBC, Coach Burke's teams started to consistently win against local BC competition as well as against the best teams the prairie universities had to offer.
Dr. Burke was a medical doctor who found time within his on-going practice to coach not only the varsity team but also the junior varsity and intermediate football teams which included "those stiff early morning practices," often starting at 6:00 a.m. These were the days when UBC coaching was done on a voluntary basis and where UBC coaches would change almost yearly. The fact that Burke was coach for 12 years during this era was highly exceptional. Burke traveled with the team and coached the games and practices, all the while actively carrying on his medical practice.
According to Gavin Dirom, who starred on Burke's teams in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Burke was very much respected by his players. He was a serious man and in his talks to his players "...would plead with them with tears in his eyes."
Even opponents respected him. A former player with the arch-rival Vancouver Meralomas of that era would decades later make a special point of expressing his admiration for Burke's dedication to UBC, football, and the time he volunteered to both. Over 75 years later, in 2013 Burke was honoured with induction into the BC Football Hall of Fame.
The UBC Totem Annual in 1928 stated "...he has been the hardest working and best-loved man on the football club, because he stands for true sportsmanship of the manliest type. The Doc has always been satisfied if he could turn out fighting Blue and Gold teams, but his efficiency has made them more than fighters - it has made them winners. "
Researched and written by Fred Hume, UBC Athletics Historian
