Considered UBC's foremost female athlete, was an outstanding UBC and provincial basketball player and golfer. Top scorer on UBC basketball teams in the late 1930s and early 40s. In golf represented BC eight times and Canada once. Coached UBC women's basketball for 11 seasons, coached and played on several Senior "A" champions plus coached Canada's women's National basketball team.
The Ubyssey in 1939 described Ruth Wilson as "often called the best woman athlete ever developed on the campus". Among her athletic conquests were basketball, tennis, golf, softball and volleyball.
Ruth started her UBC athletic career as a member of the Thunderbird basketball team of 1936/37. This same year she was BC’s Junior tennis champion.
After taking a year out, Ruth returned to UBC in 1938/39 and was described as "half of co-ed's defense" on the Bob Osborne-coached basketball team. With UBC this season she was also the top scorer for the entire women's Senior' A' basketball league blending strong offense with her forte - defense.
In the late 1930's Ruth stood out on a UBC basketball team that faced tough competition. In one game she "again was the outstanding player on the floor, after her exit via the foul route varsity collapsed completely".
From 1938 through 1941, Miss Wilson was a mainstay on the Thunderbird basketball teams. In February 1941 "Co-eds Take Title in Overtime" exclaimed the Ubyssey. Although now in the Senior 'B' league, it was the first women's basketball title UBC had won in ten years. Ruth scored 38 points in the three game league final, including 15 in the final game. In the provincial final in Victoria, BC, in 1941, Wilson made a one woman stand by scoring 11 points in the final quarter, in a 34-25 losing cause.
During her UBC days Ruth was an outstanding golfer and, according to the Ubyssey, shot in the low 80's regularly. In subsequent years she would be a member of eight British Columbia golf teams and one Canadian team. In 1961 Ruth, with another UBC golfer, Gayle Hitchens, was on the BC team that won the Canadian team championship by 11 strokes. Locally Wilson had set the Point Grey course women's record, shooting a 72. Wilson competed for UBC on its golf team and in 1939 organized a women's golf club on campus.
Wilson also played volleyball at UBC and was a member of the mixed intramural volleyball championship team of 1939. During the 1939/40 year she was also a member of the UBC archery team under the tutelage of Miss Gertrude Moore. In 1940/41 Ruth was elected to the position of Women's Athletic Representative on campus.
Following her graduation from UBC, Ruth began her coaching career as well as becoming the creator of women's basketball teams. During the fall of 1941 she organized a team of girls who did not attend school, found for them a league, a gym, a sponsor and served as their coach. She also returned to UBC to coach the women's Senior 'B' basketball teams, winning the Provincial title in 1943.
Wilson continued to play for and coach Vancouver Senior 'A' women's basketball teams throughout the late 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, including several Canadian championship teams. Respected and sought after both as a player and a coach, she was instrumental in the formation of the Vancouver Eilers, one of the great teams in Canadian basketball history, and was selected head coach of Canada's first women's National basketball team. It was in fact Ruth's vision and initiative that resulted in the creation of a National team for Canadian women's basketball.
Ruth again returned to UBC to coach the Thunderettes from 1964/65 until 1968/69, helping to bring UBC women's basketball back into prominence. In 1967, Ruth's team captured the Western Canada Intercollegiate Conference championship.
Today, UBC women's basketball is proud to be the beneficiary of the Ruth Wilson Scholarship. Throughout Ruth's extensive and renowned career as a teacher, coach and athlete, she always had a special place in her heart for UBC.
The manager of the 1939/40 basketball team described Ruth as "a proper star, yet unpretentious, warm and friendly". Her UBC coach Bob Osborne felt she was "a top athlete – a leader and all-star type individual." The 1939 Totem described Ruth as "modest as can be, Ruth's record must be pried out of her and her sportsmanlike attitude in everything indicates again her long contact with athletics." Finally, according to the Ubyssey she was "retiring and studious, she takes athletic prowess with the calm and savoir-faire of an Emily Post."
This Inductee is also in the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
Researched and written by Fred Hume, UBC Athletics Historian
