The University of the Fraser Valley athletic department has unveiled its inaugural class of Cascades Hall of Fame inductees.
Former UFV athletic director Jane Antil and basketball coach Pat Lee will be honoured as builders; women's basketball standouts Carolyne Lucy and Tracy MacLeod will be inducted as athletes; and the 1987-88 men's basketball squad will be celebrated in the team category.
Hall of Fame festivities, including an on-court ceremony between games, will be held Jan. 6 in conjunction with the Cascades basketball home games vs. the MacEwan Griffins (women 6 p.m., men 8 p.m.) at the Envision Athletic Centre.
The Cascades Hall of Fame was launched in June, and a selection committee chaired by UFV director of athletics and campus recreation Steve Tuckwood was convened to evaluate nominations from the community. The Hall of Fame will include plaques displayed in the Envision Athletic Centre mezzanine, along with an online component at ufvcascades.ca.
Antil is the Cascades' longest-serving athletic director, having led the department for 15 years (1987-2002). The men's and women's soccer teams and the rowing program were established during her tenure, and she raised significant funds for an athlete scholarship program. The Cascades excelled under Antil, winning nine BCCAA (now known as PACWEST) conference championships, two CCAA national championships, and six other CCAA medals (five silver, one bronze).
Lee helped the men's basketball program thrive at the CCAA level during his 12 years at the helm (1995-2007). He guided the Cascades to three national championships in a five-year span (2000, 2002, 2004), along with four BCCAA conference titles. He also helped usher the Cascades into the CIS (now known as U Sports), and led the team to a Canada West playoff berth in their first season, 2006-07. He also coached Cascades women's basketball during its first two seasons, 1985-86 and 1986-87, winning BCCAA silver medals both years.
Carolyne Lucy (now Rollins) was the Cascades' first women's basketball star. She led the program to a trio of BCCAA silver medals over its first three seasons of existence (1985-88), picking up conference first team all-star honours each of those three years. Lucy was the first Cascade to be named a CCAA All-Canadian, an accolade she earned on two occasions (1986 and 1987), and she owns the third-highest scoring average (13.6 points per game) in the Cascades' BCCAA era (1985-2006).
Tracy MacLeod (now Johnson) starred for the Cascades for two seasons (1990-92) and led the team to its first BCCAA conference title and CCAA national medal, a silver, in 1991-92. She was named a first team conference all-star both of her years on campus, and earned a CCAA All-Canadian nod in 1991. MacLeod has the highest single-season scoring average (18.8 points per game) and highest career scoring average (14.1 points per game) in the Cascades' BCCAA era.
MacLeod went on to star for the Brandon University Bobcats, where she established a memorable legacy. She broke her lower leg during a game in 1993, and five months afterward, following numerous surgeries, she had her leg amputated eight inches below the knee. Defying all odds, she was back on the court less than three months later, playing with an artificial limb. A U Sports national women's basketball award for perseverance is named after her.
The 1987-88 men's basketball team was a historic trailblazer for UFV, then known as Fraser Valley College. They won the Cascades' first conference championship, going 12-2 during the BCCAA regular season and 2-0 in the playoffs, defeating Trinity Western to clinch the title. They advanced to the CCAA national championship tournament in Nova Scotia, where they posted a 1-2 record and finished fourth.
Head coach Tom Antil and assistant coach Sam Vandermeulen guided the team, which included Greg Margharitis, Steve Klassen, Brian Phillip-Stewart, Kirk Tyfting, Bruce Hamilton, Mike Jackson, Steve Antil, Mark Klassen, Stan Thiessen and Ron Driediger.