British Columbia boasts a rich and vibrant sports history, and Vancouver Sun and Province photographers have had a front-row seat to the action.
The eclectic selection of photographs in Kate Bird’s Magic Moments in BC Sports: A Century in Photos includes Burnaby-born athletes who have competed at the highest levels and athletes who have attended, trained, and competed for Simon Fraser University.
Magic Moments in BC Sports captures an integral part of the province’s identity, in all its diverse, cheering, and face-painted glory.
The book includes photos of these Burnaby legends:
Joe Sakic
“Burnaby Joe” Sakic decided to become a hockey player after watching a Canucks vs Atlanta Flames game at the age of four. He scored 83 goals and 156 points in only 80 games for Burnaby North Secondary, joined the WHL, where he won Rookie of The Year, and was drafted into the NHL by the Quebec Nordiques in 1987. He played for the Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche franchise 1988 to 2009, won Stanley Cup Championships in 1996 and 2001, and won a gold medal and was the tournament MVP at the 2002 Olympics.
Kelley Law
Burnaby-born curling skip Kelley Law won both the Scott Tournament of Hearts and the World Championships in 2000, and placed second in the 2001 Scott Tournament of Hearts. Law won a bronze medal with teammates Julie Skinner, Georgina Wheatcroft, and Diane Nelson at the 2002 Olympics.
Christine Sinclair
At the 2012 Olympics in London, Burnaby soccer star Christine Sinclair captained Canada’s national women’s soccer team to a bronze medal victory. Sinclair broke the record for the most goals scored—6—at an Olympics for women’s soccer, and served as Canada’s flag bearer at the closing ceremonies. The 2012 team featured four other BC players—Sophie Schmidt, Brittany Timko, Emily Zurrer, and Karina LeBlanc. Sinclair has competed in five FIFA Women’s World Cups and has won four professional titles.
Simon Fraser University athletes
SFU athletes, whose photographs are featured in Magic Moments in BC Sports, include:
As a student as SFU, Jay Triano broke or equaled eleven school men’s basketball records, including the most career points with 2,606, and was drafted by the NBA in 1981. Triano coached at SFU 1988–95, for Canada’s national team, and in the NBA.
The Shrum Bowl was an annual football game between the UBC Thunderbirds and the SFU Clan played from 1967 to 2010. The Clan’s record over UBC is 17-15-1.
Carol Huynh trained with Mike Jones’ successful wrestling program at SFU. She won Canada’s first ever gold medal for women’s wrestling at the 2008 Olympics, gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, gold at the 2007 and 2011 Pan Am Games, and medaled at four World Championships.
Arjan Singh Bhullar began his career as a SFU wrestler. He competed in the World University Games, winning a bronze in 2006, and was named the outstanding wrestler in the 2009 NAIA Championships and Canada Wrestling’s Wrestler of the Year. He won bronze at the 2007 Pan Am Games, gold at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and represented Canada at the 2012 Olympics. Switching to mixed martial arts in 2014, Bhuller won the Battlefield Heavyweight Championship in 2015, and in 2017 became the first Indo-Canadian to sign with the UFC.
Bird is the author of the bestselling Vancouver in the Seventies: Photos From A Decade That Changed the City and City On Edge: A Rebellious Century of Protests, Riots, and Strikes. She has been the researcher for numerous books, including Making Headlines: 100 Years of The Vancouver Sun, which won the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award at the 2013 BC Book Prizes. She lives in Vancouver.
