Langley-Walnut Grove's Ty Rowell has come into his own as a redshirt junior with the Western Athletic Conference's Lancers. (Photo property of Cal Baptist Athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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“Ty has one of the biggest hearts I’ve ever coached!” High praise as Walnut Grove’s Rowell drops 32 points in Cal Baptist’s OT loss to USC Trojans

Longtime followers of the B.C. high school basketball scene will remember how Ty Rowell had a penchant for sinking baskets that could take your breath away.On Wednesday, however, as the NCAA Div. 1 college hoops season continued its run of season-opening games, Rowell turned the trick on his biggest stage yet.Almost a full year after […]

Sir Charles Tupper head coach Jeff Gourley is all smiles as he poses with his grandson Elliott last March at the Langley Events Centre following the Tabbies win over Vernon in the B.C. AAA bronze-medal game. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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‘Your Coach Forever’: Tupper basketball’s Jeff Gourley on what needs to happen now to insure the future vitality of B.C. high school sports in the post-pandemic era

EAST VANCOUVER — If you’ve ever ventured into a gymnasium on the opening night of the B.C. high school basketball season — as a player, coach or spectator — you can attest to the fact that there is a feeling in the air as palpably uplifting as the one you feel on its final day.Sure, […]

Vancouver College's Jacob Holt joins the B.C. quartet of Messrs. Nash, Denison, Trasolini and Tomley as Santa Clara Broncos. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Climbing Jacob’s Ladder! VC Fighting Irish big man Jacob Holt stokes Santa Clara’s gilded B.C. tradition! Broncos get another one of our very best!

VANCOUVER — Jacob Holt admits he was originally leaning towards playing his university basketball in Canada.One day over this past summer, however, Vancouver College’s then-rising 6-foot-9 senior forward decided to test the waters with a highlight tape he’d put together all by himself.“I probably got 40 calls… it was surreal,” the affable Holt recounted Wednesday. […]

Terry Fox's Mark Prinster (left), pictured with Ravens' co-coach Brad Petersen, reminisces with host Howard Tsumura about the galaxy of talent which played outside of the top tier during the late 1980s and early 1990s in B.C. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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VL Podcast 11.03.20: Terry Fox hoops coach Mark Prinster re-visits B.C.’s Golden Age of 1A-2A basketball (1986-95)!

PORT COQUITLAM — What were the days of B.C. boys high school basketball like in the late 1980s and early 1990s, especially outside of the largest tier of competition? Terry Fox Ravens’ senior boys basketball co-coach Mark Prinster joins host Howard Tsumura on this week’s Varsity Letters podcast to reflect on what now looks like […]

St. Thomas More Knights senior boys basketball coach Aaron Mitchell chats with Howard Tsumura about a life that led to 'A Hoops Journey'. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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VL podcast 10.28.20 edition: St. Thomas More teacher/coach and podcaster Aaron Mitchell takes us on ‘A Hoops Journey’

Welcome to the Varsity Letters podcast for Wednesday, Oct. 28. Our guest this week might be the only person to have led a B.C. senior boys basketball team to a provincial title as a head coach, while also having played in a B.C. senior boys hoops varsity final, a CCAA national final, and a U […]

Riverside's Carlo Muro, a true coach for all seasons, is retiring after a 47-year career. Said former Riverside principal Chris Kennedy: “Carlo is what is the very best of school sports.” (Photo by Mike Schoenhals special for Varsity Letters, property of Riverside Secondary athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Carlo Muro: “Oh hamburger, I gotta go!” After a near half-century as a teacher-coach, one of B.C.’s best takes retirement with no regrets

PORT COQUITLAM — Anthony Ciolfitto asked a simple question, yet the answer he received spoke volumes about one of the most enduring teacher-coaches in B.C. high school sports history.“It was maybe four years ago, and he and I were having a conversation about retirement,” the former principal at Riverside Secondary remembers of a casual chat […]

North Delta's Suraj Gahir (left) has added almost 30 pounds of muscle the past three seasons as he prepares for an NCAA Div. 1 career in the WAC with the Cal Baptist Lancers. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of UBC athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Suraj Gahir: The ex-Huskies star, stronger and wiser, set to pay heartfelt homage to his North Delta neighbourhood when NCAA Div. 1 career begins at Cal Baptist

NORTH DELTA — No one can escape a future full of unknowns, especially these days, but the best way to brace for its inevitable challenges as you set out on a journey is to gain strength from the collective embrace of the neighbourhood which helped define you.For North Delta Secondary’s 2019 grad Suraj Gahir, such […]

Abbotsford Panthers' graduating seniors (left to right) Josiah Levale, Jalem Catlin and Marley Edwards were all members of the senior boys basketball team, yet the entire trio will play different sports at the U Sports level come 2020-21. (Photos by Howard Tsumura, photo collage by Gabriel Lynn property of Varsity Letters 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Three for the show! Abby Panthers’ rare hoops trio of Jalem Catlin, Marley Edwards & Josiah Levale embark on U Sports careers in football, soccer, rugby!

ABBOTSFORD — Greg DeVries is some 30 years into a life of meaningful basketball games and practices, and as such, the head coach of the senior boys varsity at Abbotsford Secondary knows just how special and rare the make-up of his 2019-209 Panthers actually was by asking himself a simple question.

R.A. McMath's Travis Hamberger (left), here being defended by Centennial's Leif Skelding at the 2018 B.C. Junior Varsity championship tournament, will lead his Wildcats into the 2020 TBI this coming December. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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TBI Boys 2020: With a plethora of positivity and plenty of warm hoops karma, B.C.’s best accept invites for an early-season date at the LEC!

NORTH DELTA — Jesse Davis. Everett Swaim. Justin Sunga. Bobby Mabeny. KC Ibekwe. Ben Manns. Caleb Lyons. Rav Randhawa. Clay Kurtz. Karn Shergill. Rourke MacDonald. Travis Hamberger. Gyan Sandhu. Rhys Maestre. Milan John. Daniel Marcelo. Ekman Sohal. Arars Jahangiri. Jaydan Bains. Kyle Kong.

Handsworth's head coach Randy Storey trumpets the leadership skills of graduating senior forward George Horn, who will play for the OUA's Western Mustangs this coming season. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Blair.photo 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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George Horn: Leadership, confidence blossom from within as Handsworth’s B.C. 4A all-star forward charts course for OUA’s Western Mustangs

NORTH VANCOUVER — If you saw George Horn doing his thing in the paint this past March during the B.C. senior boys Quad-A basketball championships at the Langley Events Centre, from those outstretched arms down to the solid base of that 6-foot-8 frame, his presence seemed to mimic that of a mighty oak tree.