VANCOUVER – The UBC Thunderbirds honoured the best and brightest in the blue and gold Thursday night at the 2021 Big Block Awards.
For the second consecutive year, the awards gala was moved online to allow for a safe, virtual gathering experience for Thunderbird student-athletes, coaches, staff, alumni, and fans to celebrate what has been a most unique and challenging year.
Due to the lack of standard competition and the cancellation of U SPORTS and NAIA seasons across the board, several annual honours were not awarded this spring. However, each program highlighted their own outstanding athlete from the past year as a way to recognize a variety of contributions in a pandemic riddled season which tested the T-Birds in so many other ways.
One of the most decorated student-athletes in UBC history, graduating swimmer Markus Thormeyer capped off one of the most outstanding T-Bird careers of all time by receiving the Bobby Gaul Memorial Trophy.
In his five seasons with UBC, Markus led the Thunderbirds to four straight national championships, winning 27 U SPORTS medals in the process, 24 of them gold. Markus holds nine school records, three U SPORTS records, and two national records. He competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics and will represent Canada again this summer in Tokyo. A five time Academic All-Canadian, Markus was named a U SPORTS Top 8 Academic All-Canadian for 2020.
Also a five-time Academic All-Canadian, women's field hockey's Margaret Pham was awarded the May Brown Trophy as UBC's most outstanding graduating female athlete.
A two-time U SPORTS national champion, Margaret has been recognized as an All-Canadian and a three-time Canada West All-Star. She has been a member of both the Canadian national junior and senior teams. Margaret is also a Wesbrook Scholar Award winner, the most prestigious academic award at UBC.
In a year with so many additional challenges, especially for student-trainers, Lief Olsen's work with the T-Birds baseball program earned him the Carolyn Dobie-Smith Award, given annually in honour of the women's volleyball trainer who suddenly passed in 1992.
Working with the baseball team for the past two seasons, Lief has taken dedication to the next level, consistently putting his athletes and the team before himself. An excellent communicator, Lief is there for his teammates, day or night, always addressing whatever is before him in a calm and confident manner.
The Thunderbird Athletes Council also handed out the Buzz Moore Leadership Award to women's rugby's Kendra Roberts and Ethan de Graaf of the men's golf team.
As part of the virtual show, four members of the greater Thunderbird community were also welcomed to the Big Block Club as Honourary Blockers.
Diane Clement has had a lasting impact on the Thunderbirds community, as well as the lower mainland and Canadian sport community. The first female track and field coach at UBC and a former Olympian, Diane is also a co-founder of the Vancouver Sun Run and an author of eight cookbooks promoting healthy living.
Also inducted into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame as part of the 2021 class, Jack Taunton is a co-founder of the first sports medicine clinic in Canada and has served as Chief Medical Officer at eight Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Leona Sparrow is a triple UBC alumna and Honourary Degree recipient who has held important leadership roles for the Musqueam Indian Band and as the designated liaison between the Musqueam and UBC. Leona also competed for the blue and gold in both basketball and track and field.
Since joining UBC as Vice President, Students in 2019, Ainsley Carry has been a strong supporter of Thunderbirds Athletics. No stranger to varsity sports himself, Ainsley played football at the University of Florida.
While the ceremony itself Thursday night was quite different yet again, the Big Block tradition of honouring the very best of the UBC Thunderbirds carried on proudly. The virtual event allowed Thunderbirds past and present a chance to look back on one very challenging year while looking forward together to a much brighter 2021-22.
Click Here for a complete list of Big Block Awards and past winners.
