An Inspiration

From time to time during our careers we all have bumped into someone who has inspired us.  For me, it was meeting and befriending BC Sports Hall of Fame honoured member and gentleman, Ted Hunt.

An all-round athlete, Ted excelled in rugby, skiing, football, and boxing. He was the recipient of the “BC Athlete of the Year ” award in 1957 and UBC’s Bobby Gaul Trophy in 1958 (awarded in recognition of sportsmanship, leadership, and ability).

Amazingly, Hunt had not played any competitive football until his first pro game with the BC Lions. He played with the Lions from 1957-59.  In his first year he was named “Rookie of the Year. ” The following season he was named “Most Valuable Canadian.” 

In 1951, Hunt was the Western Canadian four-way ski champion, an event consisting of a combination of cross-country, downhill, slalom, and ski-jumping. Hunt was named to the Canadian Olympic ski-jumping team in 1952 and the world championship team in 1954 (Federation International De Ski). He took eighth place at the 1954 Swedish national ski jumping championships.

Hunt played seven seasons with the Vancouver Burrards lacrosse team, winning the Canadian Mann Cup championships in 1961 and 1964.

Unbelievably, Hunt retained an undefeated record in lightweight boxing during his four-and-a-half years at UBC. He was named Golden Gloves “Best Boxer ” in 1957.

On the academic side of things, this scholar earned his doctorate in Russian history.

A believer in life-long learning and sharing his knowledge with others, Ted became an author.  And with that came a passion to turn some of his writings into movies.  That’s where we connected.

For over a decade we have collaborated on pitches to bring his books to the big screen.  To date we have been unsuccessful but we both view it as a delayed “Yes” and we continue to go to the plate … how else are we going to hit a home run!

If dictionaries came with pictures, Ted’s would be beside the word “determination”.

In January this  year Ted had a knee replacement “complemented” with a couple of  leg injuries.   Last week he played his fifth golf game of the season and shot a 78 … By the way, Ted is 82.