A resident of Burnaby for more than 50 years, John Haar, is the only athlete in UBC history to be offered professional contracts in three different sports… baseball, soccer and football.
He turned down offers from BC Lions and Dallas Cowboys and Canada`s National soccer team to sign professional contracts with San Francisco Giants (1964) and New York Yankees (1966) and played in both their minor league systems for four years.
He was Canada`s national baseball team coach and manager for a number of years and in 1986 when the National Baseball Institute was formed, he became head coach and manager. Eight players from the NBI went on to major league careers and 30 players signed professional contracts.
He has twice been inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and in 1992 was named World Coach of the Year in International Baseball.
