A storied history: Vancouver 2010 marks one chapter in UBC's Olympic path
Across UBC varsity athletics decorated history, there are dozens and dozens of athletes that tie our campus to the Olympics. From rowing to skeleton, and everything in between, there are countless remarkable moments and success stories from over 90 years of Olympic Games.
To celebrate the 2010 Olympic anniversary, over the next two weeks on gothunderbirds.ca we are looking back on several of those moments and athletes, from the founders of our Olympic history to iconic Thunderbird Olympic achievements and memories.
SETTING THE UBC OLYMPIC FOUNDATION
UBC's Olympic history dates back as early as 1928, with our first medal coming in 1932. It began an era of firsts at the Olympics for the Thunderbirds, including a unique tie to Hockey Canada.
Ned Pratt
UBC's Olympic podium history dates back almost 90 years, with Ned Pratt winning the first Thunderbird Olympic medal, a bronze, in the 1932 Los Angeles Summer Olympics in the double sculls with partner No
ël de Mille.
Pratt and de Mille earned their place on the Olympic team following the Canadian Olympic trials, where they defeated Bob Richards, a 1930 British Empire Games gold medalist, and Theo Debois, an eventual Lou Marsh Trophy winner in 1941 for being Canada's top athlete.
Following his Olympic bronze medal with de Mille, Pratt was elected captain of the Vancouver Rowing Club and continued to row for UBC until his graduation.
After his retirement from athletics, Pratt became an architect and was an influential part of Vancouver's architectural modernization, including the expansion of UBC's campus. With his firm, Thompson, Berwick & Pratt, the Olympian designed War Memorial Gym, a facility the Thunderbird basketball and volleyball programs call home today.
Pratt is the first in a long, prestigious line of UBC rowers who have medalled at the Olympics. Twenty years later, the Canadian men's four crew, made up of four Thunderbirds, won UBC's first ever Olympic gold medal at the 1956 Games — one of over 40 medals in total that the rowing program has accumulated.
Pratt and de Mille were inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 1980.
Father David Bauer
Just behind Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre lies a smaller, unassuming hockey rink — but one that is a definitive remnant of Canadian Olympic history. Its walls, and its name, hold a hockey legacy unique to UBC: Father David Bauer Arena.
The arena is named after a trailblazer in Canadian, international and Thunderbird hockey: Father David Bauer. Bauer introduced the idea of a national hockey team to Canada at the annual meeting of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1962, with the hope of calling UBC the team's home base — it was accepted. He formed the team with a base of UBC players, and the foundation of Canada's national team was born.
Bauer coached UBC's roster to the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union national final through the '62/'63 season, and then coached several of those players to the 1964 Innsbruck Olympics with Team Canada. There, Bauer led a team to fourth place finish on goal differential —- an impressive feat with a team made up almost entirely of students.
Following the Innsbruck Games, Bauer stayed with the UBC hockey program through the '70s and '80s in advisory roles, while overseeing the Canadian teams for the '68 and '80 Olympics Games.
In 1981, he was appointed vice-president of Hockey Canada and chairman of the Canadian Olympic program.
Bauer had an iconic career in hockey coaching. Not only did he champion the Canadian national team concept, but he led over 80 UBC players through the national system. With a philosophy of education and hockey going hand-in-hand, his players went on to successful careers in fields like medicine, law and education.
Just before his passing, Father Bauer was celebrated with the Order of Canada. Today, he is remembered not only through the UBC arena, but Calgary's Father David Bauer Arena, and the Father Bauer tournament and Father Bauer Scholarship here at UBC.
