He may not have the biggest name heading into the Burnaby Sports Hall of Fame this week, but Dave Evans will likely have the most engaging induction speech.
The one-time lacrosse great is known for being quick with the quips and a self-deprecating sense of humour.
Joining the ranks of Harold Snepsts, Barry Seebaran, builders Steve Govett and Doug Ross, coach Darrell Hall and the 1997 under-19 Burnaby Girls Blast soccer team, Evans will be inducted on Thursday into the hall at a gala banquet at the Firefighters Banquet Hall at Metrotown.
Evans humbly appreciates being remembered for a lacrosse playing career that ended nearly 34 years ago.
“It’s just a great honour,” said Evans, 65. “This is the second time I’ve had such an honour, going into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame (in 1995) was special but there’s a total different dynamic going in with such a diverse group of people.
“You’ve got international athletes, an NHL player, national champions – it really reflects the community.”
Evans was a standout netminder during an era where shooters made mincemeat of the record books. From 1969 to 1982, the Vancouver-born, Burnaby-raised netminder was tasked with turning back such hurricane-like talents as Kevin Alexander, Brian Evans, Ron MacNeil, Paul Parnell and Ivan Thompson.
It was a time when New West and Coquitlam both set still-standing records for most goals in a period (13) – by one team. The current mark for most goals by two teams in one period? Thirty – set in 1973 by Coquitlam and New West. Most shots on goal by one team during a league game? Victoria’s 84 in 1973.
It may have been safer to be a UN peacekeeper.
The fans obviously loved it.
“I remember seeing a line of people down 41st Avenue all the way down the street when we played (in Kerrisdale),” recalled the Vancouver Burrards’ netminder. “I was wondering what people were doing – they were buying playoff tickets to our games.”
It all started when the young Burnaby boy grabbed a lacrosse stick to fill the long hours of summer. Growing up near Confederation Park, the summers would be spent diving for balls in the box. His earliest memories were just the sounds and the fun.
“That was the biggest thing for me, just banging the ball against the wall… It was a different place then. We’re talking 50 years ago, and North Burnaby was like part of Hooterville (from the classic TV show Green Acres). Across from our backyard was a pig farm.”
His interest and role in the game grew under the coaching of Burnaby icon Jack Crosby.
“You can name anyone in lacrosse from those years and what we all had in common was Jack,” recalls Evans. “He didn’t teach it so much as he gave you encouragement and the chance to play. He didn’t know how the equipment went on, but he was passionate about the game.”
One year he played for Crosby as a 13 year old, the next he was helping him coach a novice team.
That involvement and interest carried over into his adulthood, and he remains active today as an assistant coach responsible for goaltenders with the Vancouver Stealth.
During his Western Lacrosse Association playing career, which featured a handful of call-ups to Coquitlam and Vancouver as a junior in 1969 and 1970, Evans played in 220 games, backstopping the Burrards to a Mann Cup title in 1977, while earning the league’s W.C. Ellison playoff MVP award in 1973 and ’77.
“Hands-down, when it’s your only Mann Cup win, that’s definitely the easy choice for highlight,” he said. “You remember the whole journey: we caught lightning in a bottle.”
Vancouver fell behind 2-0 in the Ontario-hosted tournament but changed course quickly to prevail 4-2.
“We lost the first two games and I think we attribute that to being overserved,” Evans said with a laugh. “After beating Victoria (in the WLA final) we probably thought it was going to be easier, but then we sobered up.”
He even had a one-season tour in the professional league back east, playing for the Montreal Quebecois.
“We played in the Montreal Forum and used the Montreal Canadiens dressing room,” he recalled. “So you’d look up and see all the plaques and pictures. I remember tying my shoe and hearing someone say ‘Hello.’ I looked up and the guy standing over me was Jean Beliveau. I could barely speak.”
In his 10-year senior A playing career, Evans received the WLA’s Maitland Trophy four times, recognition for displaying value to his team, good sportsmanship and assistance to minor lacrosse.
He only received one Leo Nicholson Memorial Trophy – given to the Most Valuable Goalkeeper, in 1973 – but his netminding rivals in the day included lacrosse hall of famers Joe Comeau of New West, Greg Thomas of Coquitlam, and Victoria’s Larry Smeltzer.
He is glad that he can share this induction with his family, including two daughters, ages 20 and 16, who didn’t see his playing exploits.
“It’s nice for them to hear ‘Dad accomplished something,’” Evans said, again chuckling. “‘Maybe he can’t make pancakes, but I guess he could play.’
“I don’t think anyone sets out to one day get into a Hall of Fame,” he added. “It’s not as much a goal as it is a reward in the grand scheme of things.”
For more information, visit www.burnabysportshalloffame.ca.
