Simon Fraser running back Mason Glover feels the school's student-athletes "have been heard" in their efforts to change the name of university's sports teams. (Photo by Paul Yates property of SFU athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football University Men's Basketball

Simon Fraser student-athletes vote 97 per cent in favour of change, Clan moniker could be replaced by September

BURNABY — It’s hard to remember a span of time over the entire 55-year history of Simon Fraser athletics as emotionally charged as these past three days.

UBC Thunderbirds head coach Blake Nill feels that if given a safe environment with which to play, that 2020 could be the year that the Shrum Bowl returns after a 10 year absence. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
There is still hope that players like Fraser Valley Cascades' rising second-year forward Katie Lampen (right) and the rest of the B.C.-based teams in the Canada West women's and men's soccer worlds will be able to play meaningful exhibitions later this fall, if the environment is deemed safe by provincial health, as well as university authorities. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2019. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football University Women's Soccer

Despite a cancelled fall season, B.C.’s Canada West schools keep alive hopes of meaningful inter-province competition!

The Canada West’s fall sports season may have been officially cancelled Monday due to the COVID-19 pandemic, yet some coaches and administrators from the conference’s B.C.-member schools seemed united in their hopeful belief that with a continued flattening of the curve throughout the summer months and all the appropriate green lights flashing, that its core […]

Terry Fox's Jaden Severy (right, 23) rushed for 274 yards and three touchdowns back in November of 2018, during the early stages of a Subway Bowl playoff win over Carson Graham played at Simon Fraser's own Terry Fox Field. Severy will suit up for the Clan in 2020. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Eric Hamber's Luke Lee (left) and Mathis Henderson are the first Griffins recruited to join university football programs since Vancouver's Griffins started their own high school program from scratch back in 2010. (Photos courtesy UBC Football and Eric Hamber Athletics copyright 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football University Football

Eric Hamber’s gridiron pioneers! UBC-bound Luke Lee, Bishop’s-bound Mathis Henderson are Griffins’ first-ever university football recruits

VANCOUVER — They have spent the past decade as Vancouver’s only public high school football program, and now, the Eric Hamber Griffins are taking the next step in their gridiron evolution.For the first time since planting roots as a start-up junior varsity program in 2010, followed by a debut senior varsity season in 2011, the […]

Garrett Rooker, a 6-foot-3 two-sport star at Clear Springs High, just outside of Houston, is headed north to join the UBC Thunderbirds as both a quarterback and guard-forward. (Photo provided by UBC football and Garrett Rooker)
Feature University Football University Men's Basketball

Garrett Rooker: How the UBC Thunderbirds found a Texas 6A-tier football/basketball standout in time for the 2020-21 season!

VANCOUVER — UBC reputation as one of the world’s great universities is certainly no secret to academia’s global community.On Friday, however, that same reputation not only earned the the school a top-flight entrant into its kinesiology program, but a blue-chip high school senior from Texas with the ability to be a difference maker both barking […]

UBC's Trivel Pinto (1) is set to catch the offerings of Bo Levi Mitchell after being selected in the second round of the CFL Draft on Thursday by the Calgary Stampeders. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
A study in determination over his entire four-year Clan career, SFU's Rysen John signed a contract with the NFL's New York Giants on Sunday. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Rysen John: The Simon Fraser Clan’s pass-catching giant inks contract, set to attend main training camp with the NFL’s New York Giants

BURNABY — Its three-day virtual draft had just ended Saturday afternoon when Rysen John found out that even in these times of global pandemic, nothing has slowed NFL teams from reaching out and finding the best college football talent around.“After the last pick of the draft, I was like, ‘OK, cool,’” said John, the Simon […]

The graphic following his selection during the ESPN/NFL Network-produced coverage of the 2020 NFL draft, broadcast in Canada by TSN, told the story of Chase Claypool's rise from the Abbotsford Panthers to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Feature High School Football University Football

Chase Claypool drafted by Pittsburgh Steelers! Abby/Notre Dame star receiver ready to become a Big Catch for Big Ben!

Chase Claypool’s gridiron journey will move from one fabled football locale to another.Four seasons after Abbotsford’s Big Catch announced himself to the college football world in South Bend, Ind., with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the 6-foot-4, 238-pound receiver is on his way to Steel City for the start of his NFL career with the […]

Notre Dame senior wide receiver Chase Claypool has always found the time to stay connected with his former high school head coach Jay Fujimura and the rest of the Abbotsford Panthers football program. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Football University Football

Chase Claypool: From Abby Panthers to Notre Dame, Irish star receiver shows why he’s a big catch ahead of NFL Draft 2020!

It was back on Feb. 27 that the NFL’s statistical research department sent out a tweet which seemed to officially confirm the unique qualities of Notre Dame senior receiver Chase Claypool.