By Howard Tsumura(VarsityLetters.com)VANCOUVER — Giovanni Manu came to the Detroit Lions draped in a blank canvas. Now, two NFL training camps later, the 6-foot-7, 350-pound former UBC Thunderbirds standout from Pitt Meadows has put himself in the big picture.“Short story is, if they told me I had to play left tackle against the Green Bay Packers […]
Author: Howard Tsumura
Postcards from The Edge: UBC’s Edgerrin Williams-Hernandez shows he can still deliver the mail! ‘Birds speedy receiver looks to put his own stamp on a special senior season!
By Howard Tsumura (VarsityLetters.ca)VANCOUVER — It’s no stretch to say that over the past 12 months, a lot of Edgerrin Williams-Hernandez’s evenings would end wondering if he was ever going to catch another touchdown pass in Thunderbirds’ blue and gold.In fact until he put all of those doubts to rest with two scoring catches in […]
Tsumura on UBC Football: My two big takeaways from impressive win over No. 8-ranked Manitoba! Why ‘Birds have an enviable QB situation, and why anyone would covet the blue-&-gold’s front 7!
By Howard Tsumura (VarsityLetters.ca)VANCOUVER — It’s not that Blake Nill misunderstood the question.More than that, it’s all part-and-parcel of the DNA of post-game coach speak to remain in the moment. You know, the micro… not the macro.Yet, in the aftermath of a Canada West season-opening 21-9 victory over the No. 8 Manitoba Bisons here Thursday […]
In a case of ‘carpe diem’ defined, UBC’s Theo Benedet puts adversity behind him and seizes the day with Chicago Bears! Handsworth grad still in the battle for starting left tackle spot!
By Howard Tsumura (VarsityLetters.ca)VANCOUVER — Theo Benedet showed up at Chicago Bears training camp and made such an impression that it was senseless to whisper.And on Tuesday afternoon, after the North Vancouver native and UBC Thunderbirds’ alumnus was announced as part of the NFL team’s final 53-man roster, what wound up speaking loudest of all […]
From Ghana to Point Grey: UBC’s Ben Sangmuah may have started late, but fourth-year linebacker a quick study! Birds’ recent NFL successes bring Steelers, Colts, Bears for a Thunderbird Stadium peek!
By Howard Tsumura (VarsityLetters.ca)VANCOUVER — If you could invent a device to measure the collective quickness with which a developing football player grasps the concepts of the game and then proceeds to carry them to the next level, it would be the rare few who would calibrate in the same neighbourhood as Ben Sangmuah.Just four […]
UBC Football 2025: As coach Nill begins second decade at the helm, program’s passing excellence creates a hallmark legacy! Ahead of opener, latest QB room boasting experience and promise!
By Howard Tsumura (Varsity Letters)VANCOUVER — Blake Nill is set to begin his second decade at the helm of the UBC football program, and so perhaps it’s fitting that the coach who landed two of the most prodigious quarterbacks in program history is starting his next big chapter with what not only qualifies as a […]
TBI field finalized: We unveil the 64 boys and girls teams set to take part this December in Tsumura Basketball Invitational 2025!
By Howard Tsumura(VarsityLetters.ca)LANGLEY — The Tsumura Basketball Invitational is once again proud to help usher in a new season of B.C. senior boys and girls high school basketball.The 2025-26 campaign will only be in its second week of play when the TBI begins a two-week run at the Langley Events Centre with our senior boys […]
A Sunday Read: The ‘dream-like’ journey of St. George’s B.C. Quad-A MVP Dorian Glogovac! His 53-point Final Four outing sets new senior boys top-tiered provincial championship-side record!
By HOWARD TSUMURAVarsity LettersLANGLEY — If you watched the way Dorian Glogovac played over the final four games of his high school career earlier this month at the B.C. senior boys Quad-A basketball championships, you’d almost swear that he was performing in some kind of dream state.And maybe that isn’t too far from the truth, […]
B.C. BOYS QUAD-A FINAL: How the simple act of plugging players into a zone offence proved revelatory in Spectrum’s historic title win over Dover Bay! Thunder now Island’s first top-tier repeat champs in 51 years!
BY HOWARD TSUMURAVARSITY LETTERSLANGLEY — There was no time to stand still.The season-long battle between No. 1 Spectrum and No. 2 Dover Bay, one which ultimately manifested itself for a fifth and final time as the finale to an incredible 2024-25 B.C. senior boys basketball season, never pretended, for even a second, to be anything […]
The Mighty Wolves of Windsor: After a 1-3 start to the season, a near-peerless three month, 30-game streak carries North Van’s Triple-A ‘unknowns’ to school’s first-ever B.C. senior boys championship hoops title!
By HOWARD TSUMURAVARSITY LETTERSLANGLEY — The origin story of the mighty Wolves of Windsor might best be told along the lines of some script in development for the next big supernatural teen drama series.Set amongst the towering Douglas Fir, within a secret den somewhere amongst the vast expanse of North Vancouver’s Lynn Canyon Park, a […]