A White Rock resident has been inducted into the University of British Columbia's Sports Hall of Fame.
Rick O'Connor was welcomed into the hall's class of 2025 as a builder for his contributions to the UBC women's softball program. He was honoured at a recent event along with Derek Sankey (athlete), Marek Jedrzejek (builder), and the 2003-2004 UBC Women's Basketball Team.
No stranger to softball, O'Connor first started coaching the sport to his eldest son in 1986 in Kamloops, and returned to coaching with the White Rock Renegades when his youngest daughter started playing in 1998, and in the 2000s as well.
He was also the catalyst behind the creation and building of the UBC softball program.
"I became involved in UBC in 2008 鈥� at the time, they were looking for somebody to help build the program. They had a baseball team out there, a very successful one, and they wanted to pair it with a women's softball team," O'Connor said Monday (Dec. 9).
He spearheaded fundraising and lobbying to ensure the program could be established and helped recruit coach Phil Thom, according to a UBC website post.
In 2008 the UBC Women's Softball Team was officially born; in 2009 they were a club team, and a varsity club by 2010.
When UBC Athletics underwent a challenging time with a department-wide sport review in 2013, softball was one of the women's sports on the chopping block 鈥� until O'Connor stepped up and provided the financial support needed to save the team and keep the program running.
O'Connor said it was basically "through persistence and arguing" that it didn't make sense to kill a program that was largely, already self-funded, that the program kept going.
"It doesn't make sense to kill women's sport," he noted.
Despite "a few bumps" along the way, the program continued to grow, especially after O'Connor tirelessly fundraised for Nobel Park, which became UBC Softball's home field. From pub nights to golf tournaments to a scholarship breakfast, O'Connor embraced every effort to support student athletes and give them a chance to play closer to home.
By 2020 or 2021, funding for the softball program team had started to be restored, with enough to allow for a full-time coach instead of a part-time one, O'Connor said.
"Now they've got this beautiful field on campus and they've got a great program, ... and it's a great place for women to be student athletes," he said.
The UBC Sports Hall of fame isn't his first sports-related honour. O'Connor 鈥� who is also a former CEO of Black Press Media 鈥� was also named to the BC Softball Hall of Fame for his contributions to the sport, including sponsoring the annual Canada Cup International Women鈥檚 Softball Championship, held at Softball City in South Surrey, through Black Press Media.
O'Connor said for him, the best legacy is seeing the calibre of those who've gone through the UBC softball program and how they've become "brilliant contributors to society."
"There's so many outstanding 鈥� not just student athletes, but students 鈥� who've come through the program. People from the first graduating class have gone on to become teachers and dentists and speech psychologist and business people. ... When you get together now with alumni, it's just a really impressive group of young women and it's great to see," he said.
He remains grateful to everyone who has supported him and his efforts through the years.
"A lot of the students athletes in the program have come through the South Surrey White Rock area, and have been members of the Renegades program mostly ... I'd like to thank them, but also, our supporters," O'Connor said, noting while they come from all over, many are from the White Rock and South Surrey area "because it's such a hotbed of softball."
"We've had lots of support from people like (Canada Cup chair) Greg Timm and others back when we first started 鈥� I'd definitely like to thank all of them for everything they've contributed over the years, which has allowed the program to become so successful," he said. "I'm very thankful for all the support."
