Lorne Davies was Simon Fraser University’s first athletic director and credited with designing, implementing and overseeing Canada’s first financially supported awards program for scholar athletes. Davies was a pioneer in changing how Canadian post-secondary institutions operated in order to keep university athletes in Canada.
He established the first national sports training centres in Canada for soccer, wrestling and track and field. He also established the first women’s varsity softball program in Canada. As well, Davies was the first to offer women athletes top coaching, equipment and scholarships. He hired full-time coaches in all varsity sports and appointed and trained Canada’s first university sports information officer and marketing manager.
Davies sat on the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award board for 20 years and the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame for 30 years, as well as many other volunteer committees. Davies was awarded the Order of British Columbia in 2000. He was named administrator of the year in 1989 by the NAIA and awarded the Premiers award for contribution to sport in 1994.
He was inducted into the SFU Hall of Fame in 1986 and the Western Washington University Hall of Fame in 1995. Davies even has a Grey Cup ring, won in 1964 as an assistant coach with the B.C. Lions.
