University of British Columbia Athletics

Ralph "Hunk" Henderson’s story spans four decades and through a circuitous route leaves an important sport legacy. His career began at UBC in 1933/34 when he played on both the Thunderbird basketball team and UBC Junior Varsity football team. The following year Henderson was a first-string end on UBC’s Varsity football team while at the same time an invaluable centre with Thunderbird basketball. Henderson’s two-way play led UBC basketball to the league championship in 1935 and again in 1937 at which time the 'Birds also defeated Victoria for the provincial championship. This team then advanced to the national final against the eastern champion Windsor Fords and upset the 1936 Olympic silver medalists to capture the 1937 Canadian basketball title.

Henderson returned the following year to play both Thunderbird basketball and football where both on the field and the court he was characterized as “hard-nosed... he could intimidate.” Much of the success of Thunderbird basketball during the 1930’s was due to the stellar play of UBC’s “Three Musketeers,” Henderson teaming with Art Willoughby and Jim Bardsley.

In 1939 Henderson left UBC to become the first athlete from UBC to play pro football joining the Edmonton Eskimos. Following the season with the Eskimos Henderson enlisted with the Royal Canadian Air Force, serving in World War Two for five years. In February 1944 it was discovered Henderson was being held in a prison camp in Nazi Germany. He had been a prisoner for over a year and would remain a prisoner for almost two more. Henderson had been shot down over Germany sustaining multiple injuries to his legs and back before being captured. Following his liberation after over three years as a P.O.W. he returned to England on death’s door, not expected to live. Co-incidentally a shipment of the new "wonder drug" Penicillin had just arrived at his hospital. During the next ten days he received injections every 3 hours finally regaining consciousness. “The doctors couldn’t believe their eyes” as Henderson emerged as one of the first Canadians to experience the miracle of Penicillin. 

Upon his return to Canada Henderson re-entered UBC in 1945 and as a veteran again played for the Thunderbird basketball team. This 1945/46 squad proved to be one of the greats, on a par with Henderson’s 1937 team, both inducted into the UBC and BC Sports Halls of Fame. Henderson along with his 1945/46 team mates Sandy Robertson, Pat McGeer and Reg Clarkson dominated the US Pacific Northwest Conference becoming in 1946 the first Canadian team to win an American Intercollegiate Conference. These basketball Thunderbirds had also defeated such teams as the University of Washington, Washington State, Oregon and the Harlem Globetrotters.

Following graduation from UBC in 1946 Henderson continued to be involved on the local sport landscape coaching and managing Senior ‘A’ basketball teams such as the Vancouver Cloverleafs to Canadian championships. In the early 1950’s he emerged as one of the “Founding Fathers” of the BC Lions who were granted a CFL franchise in 1954. He served on the Lions’ Board of Directors, as team Vice President and in 1960 and 1961 as team President.

Henderson passed away in 2003 at age 89 with his achievements and service acknowledged by many in the province including the BC Sports, UBC Sports, and BC Basketball and Football Halls of Fame.

Researched and written by Fred Hume, UBC Athletics Historian