The Barons were also the Burnaby men’s open league A-division playoff champions, as well as winners at the Al Sorenson memorial 30-and-under tournament in Abbotsford and a 40-and-under invitational competition at South Memorial park in Vancouver. The Barons were the first team to be inducted into the Slo-Pitch National B.C. hall of honour in 2001.

Stan Stewardson built Simon Fraser University men’s basketball into a winning program in two separate decades. Stewardson guided the Clan to successful seasons &endash; once in in the 1970s and again in the 1980s &endash; on both occasions taking the team from single-digit victories to 20-win seasons.

He coached at SFU for a combined nine seasons. His 1986/87 team recorded a 24-10 season, the best-ever season for a Clan men’s basketball team.

Stewardson coached 11 national team players and 16 went on to professional careers, including B.C. hall of fame player Jay Triano.

A true ambassador for the sport and an inspiration to all, Agatha Van Der Starre currently holds four International masters speed skating world records for women 75 and older, including the 500-, 1,000- and 1,500-metre distances.

Van Der Starre competed in her first B.C. Winter Games in 1980 and took over as president of the tiny Burnaby Speed Skating Club the following year. She built it up from just five members, putting in countless hours at the community and provincial levels.

Her first records came in 1991 and Van Der Starre continues to break new records with every fresh step on the ice.

Jean Peters started the club with just seven swimmers and learned on the job, being solely responsible for all coaching, financial management and administrative duties.

When numbers grew, Peters hired coaches and organized volunteers, while earning her level one coaching certificate.

Peters received a Burnaby Chamber of Commerce award for dedication to sport in 1987. Two years later, Caprice sent a masters team to compete internationally in Denmark. By 1990, she had a Caprice team competing in Calgary.

Dante Maglio refereed more than 20 international soccer matches, including World Cup elimination matches. After receiving official FIFA referee status in 1971, Maglio spent 10 years officiating for the professional international association, including such teams as Juventus, Roma, Manchester United, Liverpool and Glasgow Rangers.

Maglio also refereed for 10 years in the North American Soccer League, including the Soccer Bowl final in Toronto. He was the official ref at the Olympic Games in Montreal, the 1975 Pan American Games and International Challenge Cup in New York in 1978.

Maglio was awarded the best referee in Canada award in 1975. He officiated the opening game at B.C. Place between the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Seattle Sounders. He was also made a life member by the B. C. Soccer and Vancouver referees associations.

Ron Crosato holds the Western Lacrosse Association record for most games refereed with 581, including 146 playoff games and 27 Mann Cup appearances.

Crosato has refereed 11 senior A Mann Cup finals and eight Minto Cup junior A national championships. He officiated the world box lacrosse championship game and was selected to referee the game as a demonstration sport in 1978 at the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton.

Crosato was a referee for six season with the pro National Lacrosse League. He also refereed exhibition games with Team Canada during a 1982 field lacrosse tour. He was named senior box referee of the year five times in his 31-year career in the WLA.

In high school football, Crosato also helped coach the St. Thomas More Knights to 10 Quadra Cup championships in 11 seasons, including nine in a row up until 2006.

Glen Johnson, a graduate of Burnaby North Secondary and the Norburn Club program, was the first Canadian-born player to ever play in the English soccer league’s first division.

Considered one of the finest strikers ever developed in Canada, Johnson played with West Bromwich Albion from 1969 to ’71, making his English league debut Aug. 22, 1970 against Blackpool as an 18-year-old. But, an injury cut short his football career in Europe.

Johnson was the first player to sign with the Vancouver Whitecaps when they entered the North American Soccer League. He played three seasons with the ‘Caps and scored 14 goals. Johnson went on to play for Canada nine times, captaining the national team in his debut in 1972.

Johnson was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2007.

Dr. Hugh Fisher began serious kayak training on Burnaby Lake, near his home, in 1974.

Fisher parlayed that into an Olympic gold medal with partner Alwyn Morris at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics in a world record time of 3:24.22 in the K-2 1,000 metres. The pair also teamed up to win the bronze medal in the 500-m kayak final. Earlier,

Fisher and Morris won a silver medal in the 1,000-m at the 1982 world championships and a bronze at the worlds in the 500-m in ’83.

He was a Canadian champion 22 times and also a four-time world outrigger canoe racing champion.

Fisher is still actively racing and coaching. He won 10 gold medals and four silvers at the 2005 World Masters Games. He was fourth in solo kayak at the 2007 world masters championships. In 1985. he was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame.

Neil Ellett made 22 appearances for Canada’s national soccer team at the Pan American and Olympic Games and the World Cup. Ellett is known for scoring the game-winning goal against Mexico in Olympic qualifying playdowns at the old Empire Stadium on the PNE grounds in 1971.

A graduate of Burnaby North Secondary, Ellett played for the Vancouver Whitecaps in 1974 and ’75 and scored that team’s first-ever goal in his debut.

Following his playing days, Ellett became a top-flight referee.

Alex Devlin was an All-American and NAIA all-star during his basketball playing days at Simon Fraser University. He went on to play on the Canadian national team for four years.

Devlin was a member of Canada’s fourth-place finishing team at the 1976 Olympics Games. A graduate of Burnaby Central Secondary, Devlin also coached at SFU from 1976 to ’78. He helped Canada to fourth place at the World Student Games in 1973 and eighth at the world championships a year later.

Devlin also received an invitation to the NBA Portland Trailblazers rookie camp in ’73. Devlin is currently an active and successful high school basketball coach in Port Moody. In 2007, he was inducted into the B.C. and Canada basketball halls of fame.