One of the all-time great athletes at UBC, was a UBC rugby star representing Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada internationally. Skied for UBC representing Canada at world championships as a ski jumper and was a UBC intramural champion as a boxer. Played pro football with the BC Lions, Lions' Rookie and Canadian Player of the Year. Also a star lacrosse player.
Ted Hunt, an alumnus of Lord Byng High School in Vancouver, BC, first appeared on the UBC sports scene in November of 1951 as a newcomer on the UBC ski team. UBC at this time competed in several major ski meets throughout BC, Alberta and Washington and Hunt, "UBC's jumper extraordinaire," according to the Totem, was quickly becoming the team's main attraction.
In 1952/53 Hunt again was a member of UBC's ski team earning a Big Block award as a cross-country, giant slalom and jumping competitor. Not only was UBC competitive against US competition, but Hunt himself emerged as one of the foremost ski jumpers in the country. He entered the Canadian championships in 1952 and placed second in the jumping event. Considered one of Canada's best young jumpers in 1953/54, the 20-year-old Hunt took the year off UBC to ski for the Canadian team in its international ski meets, including the World Championships in Sweden.
Returning to campus in 1954, Hunt "ambled onto the varsity rugby scene" as a newcomer on Dr. Max Howell's UBC Braves. The Ubyssey predicted "Hunt may well develop into one of the finer players on the coast". He was "a tower of strength" according to the student paper, as Hunt's play became increasingly recognized this, his first season.
In 1955/56, according to the Ubyssey, "as Hunt goes, so go the 'Birds." The paper described Hunt's passes as "the prettiest to be seen on the coast". According to former international rugby star and now Varsity coach Howell, Hunt "is the best rugby player in Vancouver." The Ubyssey further described Hunt as " the thinker, the one who sets up the plays, on the rugger field his mind works like a turbine."
In 1956/57 Hunt, the newly appointed UBC rugby captain, started the season as one of the UBC players being chosen for a Vancouver rugby all-star team, the first of many such teams for which Hunt would be selected to play, representing his country in international matches. In March of 1957, after UBC handed the UCLA Bruins a 25-11 shellacking, the Ubyssey reported Hunt " made a monkey out of former New South Wales star John Dowse and handled the ball beautifully. Both Hunt and Donn Spence worked well together and according to coach Howell played like Internationals".
This same school year, while playing rugby, Hunt involved himself in his third campus sport as a member of the UBC water polo team. Also a noted diver, Hunt, along with rugby teammate Donn Spence, would entertain the people of Vancouver with their diving skills and routines.
During these same years, Ted spent his summers playing Senior 'A’ lacrosse in the Inter-City league. He spent several seasons as a top player with the Vancouver Pilseners, later known as the Burrards, which included Mann Cup (Canadian championship) victories in 1961 and 1964.
Hunt also participated in UBC's Intramural program, four times winning the Golden Boy trophy as the outstanding boxer on campus as well as the title of breaststroke champion in intramural swimming competition.
Upon his graduation from the School of Physical Education in the spring of 1957, Hunt's UBC athletic career was made complete when Professor Bob Osborne presented to him the Bobby Gaul Award for 1956/57, the highest honour attainable for a graduating UBC athlete. This same year, 1957, Hunt was named the British Columbia Athlete of the Year.
Because of Hunt's rugby talents and general athletic ability, the BC Lions, in the summer of 1957, requested he turn out for the team. Even though he played virtually no football while at UBC, Hunt made the Lions and played for them in both 1957 and 1958. He not only made the transition to pro football but in 1957 was voted the team's Rookie of the Year and in 1958 its Outstanding Canadian player!
Hunt, after completing his Master's and Phd degrees at UBC, phased out his professional football and lacrosse careers yet continued to play outstanding rugby for the next fifteen years. Coach Max Howell claimed Hunt "would be an International in any country in the world." It was due largely to his UBC rugby beginnings and subsequent experience under UBC coaches Howell and Albert Laithwaite that he was able to achieve this distinction.
A championship skier, outstanding in rugby, lacrosse and water sports, as well as a professional football player, Hunt's UBC athletic career was summarized by the school's Athletic Director "Bus" Phillips in 1957 when he stated simply, Hunt "was one of the best all-round athletes ever to attend UBC".
This Inductee is also in the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
Researched and written by Fred Hume, UBC Athletics Historian
