Varsity Letters — The Podcast is back on the air.
Looking back isn’t our usual habit, but with the pandemic shutting down what would normally be a frenetic fall season of high school and university sports, we’re going to be heavy on history this week.
UBC’s manager of Sports Information Wilson Wong joins us off the top to talk about UBC track star and former Prime Minister John Turner’s time on the Point Grey campus, the 1929-30 UBC women’s basketball world champions (they triumphed in the title game over France at the Women’s World Games, not the Women’s Olympiade as Wong states in the podcast but later corrects!), and 1972 Olympic high jumper John Hawkins, who was also a member of UBC’s 1970 CIAU championship men’s basketball team.
Also joining us is Guy MacPherson, the former radio voice of the Victoria Vikes men’s basketball team. MacPherson, who has hosted the Vancouver-based What’s So Funny comedy show on Co-Op Radio since 2004, joins host Howard Tsumura in chatting about covering the mid-to-late 1980s Vikes, as well the Vancouver Grizzlies in their debut 1995-96 season for the long-defunct Sports Vue newspaper through his column entitled The Sports Guy. MacPherson also supplies a vintage audio clip of an interview he did with with former Prime Minister Turner in the mid-1980s.
Varsity Letters is Canada’s only podcast dedicated solely to the coverage of provincial high school and university sports. We’re produced by Gabriel Lynn, with original theme music written and performed exclusively by Chad Joiner and the MEI Screaming Eagles marching band.
You can catch us Apple Music, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can also keep up to date with our in-depth feature writing at VarsityLetters.ca
If you’re reading this story or viewing these photos on any website other than one belonging to a university athletic department, it has been taken without appropriate permission. In these challenging times, true journalism will survive only through your dedicated support and loyalty. VarsityLetters.ca and all of its exclusive content has been created to serve B.C.’s high school and university sports community with hard work, integrity and respect. Feel free to drop us a line any time at howardtsumura@gmail.com.
