Kiran Basra:
Sport – Kayak,
School – Burnaby Central

Luca Fogalle:
Sport – Volleyball.
School – Burnaby North

Arguably the most successful team in the history of the Burnaby Girls Soccer Club, the Optimists went on to win the national U17 championship. 

The Metro league runner-up coached by Don Gray lost just once in regular season play and began its post-season march with a first-ever 3-0 win over Richmond in the zone playoffs. The Optimists then knocked off league champion North Shore 2-1 in the Coastal Cup A final and followed that up with a second consecutive provincial Cup title, defeating Kelowna 3-2 in the championship game. At the nationals in Prince Edward Island, the Optimists outscored their combined opposition 13-2 before doubling Alberta 2-1 in the gold-medal match.

Back: Don Gray (coach), Becky Toppings, Kim Gray, Ashley Edworthy, Brooke Toppings, Jeanette McKay, Christina Breakey, Jacylyn Rasmussen, Melissa Anderson, Al McKay (manager).
Front: Lisa Jones, Yvonne Nichols, Christie Visentin, Theresa Latham, Bre-Anne Gibson, Alyson Pulham.
Missing: Kim Craig.

High school coach Gianni Buono brought back a winning wrestling tradition to Burnaby Central Secondary.

Buono coached Central wrestlers to 11 provincial boys’ titles, including an unprecedented five B.C. boys’ banners in a row from 1999 to 2004. Buono started at Central in 1991 and went on to coach there for 30 years mentoring multiple dozens of high school finalists and individual BC champions as well..

As a coach of the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club, Buono put more wrestlers on the podium at cadet, juvenile or junior national championships than any other provincial coach. More of his wrestlers have continued with the sport at college or university levels than from any other programs.

The B.C. Wrestling Association named Buono coach of the year at least three times.

As a competitor at Simon Fraser University, Buono won a senior national title in Greco-Roman wrestling in 1989. He also was a bronze medalist in freestyle wrestling at the nats.

Bill Popowich is a Burnaby native and Burnaby South grad who began coaching at New Westminster Secondary School, where he finished his career as NWSS principal, and soon after became involved at the executive level in staging championship basketball tournaments at the zone and provincial levels.

Popowich was the B.C. association’s tournament games coordinator for more than 31 years and was on the group’s scholarship committee. He was presented with an honorary life membership in 1990. As a youth, sports writers named the multi-sport athlete rookie of the year in the local Coast soccer league for the St. Andrews club. Later, he also helped organize and develop juvenile soccer for the Wesburn FC for more than two decades.

Popowich was a volunteer referee and coach in a variety of high school sports. Popowich had more than 40 years of service in many capacities with high school track and field in BC. He also received an honorary life membership from the BC Secondary School Track and Field Association.

The Burnaby/New Westminster Secondary Schools Athletic Association has an award, for which he was the first recipient in 1990, dedicated in his name for dedication and outstanding contribution to high school sports in the region. The BC High School Boys Basketball Association also has a bursary award in his honour.

Popowich passed away in February 2014. He was 83.

Ken Lind turned a career-ending leg injury into a life-long service to the game of soccer. With a promising soccer career behind him, Lind embarked on a 30-year crusade to foster and develop soccer locally, regionally and across Canada.

In 1960, Lind became the youngest founding member of the Burnaby Youth Soccer Association, which included seven years on the board. He later served more than 20 years on the board of the BC Youth Soccer Association, including 11 (1972 to 1982, 1984-85) as its president.

During that that time, Lind helped found an association that promoted the growth of youth soccer on both sides of the border. He ran a BC/Washington soccer exchange for nine years.

In 1960, Lind was an inaugural director of Burnaby Youth district. He was its chair for three of his seven years on the board.

As a director of the Canadian Soccer Association, Lind made a number of key hirings that led to Canada’s Olympic team eventually qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in 1986. Lind is a life member of the BC Soccer (1984) and youth soccer associations, as well as the recipient of a distinguished service award from the Canadian Youth Soccer Association.

Stuart Ballantyne, who graduated from both BCIT and Simon Fraser University, is a worldwide major sports and entertainment producer with down-home Burnaby roots.

Ballantyne was the general manager for the Molson Indy, overseeing the design and production of the Vancouver Champ Car series from 1997 to 2003.

In 2006, he put on the record-setting World Junior Hockey Championships in Vancouver, which raised $9 million for amateur hockey programs in Canada.

The following year, he managed the Master Card Memorial Cup junior hockey championships, which drew record crowds and record profits. The national tournament doubled the record net proceeds of past championship tournaments, raising more than $1.8 million. Ballantyne continued his record-setting ways as CEO of the 2009 World Police and Fire Games, the largest and most successful in the event’s 26-year history.

After those Games, Ballantyne was the project director and general manager of Molson Canadian Hockey House during the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. He also acted as Chief Operations Officer for the WHL’s Vancouver Giants and before becoming the Chief Executive Officer for the 2015 Canada Winter Games Host Society in Prince George.

His extensive background then led to him to joining the Oilers Entertainment Group which owns the Edmonton Oilers, his favourite team as a boy, in 2015. In May 2021, OEG named him President and Chief Operating Officer for Rogers Place and ICE District.

Ballantyne, who was an All-American swimmer and member of Canada’s national team while at SFU, also co-ordinated the Canadian hockey house for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver.

Jay Triano is arguably the best player to ever don a Simon Fraser University basketball jersey.

The Niagara Falls, Ont. native finished his university hoop career on Burnaby Mountain with 11 school records on his resume, including 2,616 career points, 771 points in a single season, 45 points in a single game and 22.9 points per game. He is the only SFU basketball player to have his jersey retired.

During his tenure at SFU, Triano also played on the Canadian national basketball team from 1978 to 1980. He was named national team captain in 1981.

The following year, Triano was a late cut in the National Basketball Association after being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers. He was also the draft property of the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL. 

Triano also gave back to his alma mater as a coach. He was an assistant coach at SFU from 1982 to 1887. In 1988, he accepted the head coach’s duties, where he spent 15 years combined with the Clan as a player and coach.

Triano was named a charter member in the SFU Athletics Hall of Fame in 1986.

Triano parlayed his SFU success into becoming coach of Canada’s national men’s team from 1998 to 2004 as well as being an assistant coach for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors (2002-2008) and then its head coach (2008-2011). Triano has also been an NBA assistant for the Portland Trail Blazers, Phoenix Suns, Charlotte Hornets, Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks.

In 2026, he was named to Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and received Canada’s Order of Sport on Nov. 4, 2026.

Gary Stevens excelled in both lacrosse and soccer.

The North Burnaby product was inducted into the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 2003, following a career in the senior A league through the 1960s, where he was known predominantly as a defensive specialist.

In 210 senior A games with Vancouver, New Westminster and Norburn, Stevens scored 117 goals and 253 total points, proving himself as one of the best all-round players of all-time.

Stevens was the league MVP for the Norburn junior A team in 1961. He was also a two-time all-star and the playoff MVP in 1966 in the senior ranks, while winning four Mann Cups in five appearances in the Canadian championships.

Stevens was equally outstanding at soccer with the famed Firefighters team of the Pacific Coast league.

As a fullback, Stevens was a perennial all-star, named to the B.C. team on five occasions, while helping win his club three Imperial Cups, six provincial titles and two Dominion Cups as Canadian club champions.