Back: Bruce Terkelson, Ray Grigg, Don Steen, Warren Clarke.
Middle: George Chapman, Don Cousins, Ray Pletcher.
Front: Gordon Eddy, Jack Newstead, Lorne Barnes, Bob Ramsay, Howard Peterson, Terry Julian – coach.
The 1953 Burnaby South Rebels boys’ basketball team was the first team from Burnaby to win the B.C. inter-high school basketball tournament. The Rebels won the George Sparling trophy with a heart-stopping 53-51 victory over defending three-time champion Duke of Connaught. Don Steen and Bob Ramsay are the only two players in the 64-year tournament to share the honour as most valuable player in the provincial tournament.
In the final minute of the championship game, Jack Newstead nailed two free throws to knot the contest at 51-51. Ramsay then intercepted a long, in-bounds pass with 20 seconds left to play and raced down the court before launching the game-winning bucket with a long, one-handed shot that put South into the record books.
Steen, who had a team-high 19 points in the final game, set a new tournamentscoring record with 83 total points.
