Derek Sankey
Former Canadian Basketball Player
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Derek Sankey (born December 17, 1948) is a former Canadian basketball player. He represented Canada in the 1976 Olympic games and many other international tournaments; was a Canadian university ("CIAU") champion; and has been inducted into many prestigious halls of fame as both a player and part of teams.[1][2][3]
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 17, 1948 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Listed height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) |
| Listed weight | 185 lb (84 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | Lord Byng Secondary School (Vancouver, British Columbia) |
| College | University of British Columbia ("UBC") (1967–1971) |
| Position | Forward |
| Number | 8 |
| Career highlights | |
International career
Sankey represented Canada on their national team from 1970-76.[4] This included the 1976 Olympic games, where Canada competed for the bronze medal and finished fourth overall.[5][6] This was one of the two times in the past 90 years in which Canada competed for an Olympic medal in basketball, the other being the 1984 Olympics.[7] A notable performance from Sankey in these Olympic games occurred against the Soviet Union, where Sankey led all Canadians with 18 points.[8] Sankey had the 7th highest points per minute among Canadians in these Olympics.[9] Sankey is the only University of British Columbia ("UBC") athlete to play for the Canadian men's Olympic basketball team.[4]
Sankey performed well in other national team international tournaments. Sankey represented Canada in the 1972 Pre-Olympic tournament,[1][2][10] where Sankey was the fourth-leading scorer in the tournament and led all Canadians with 22 ppg.[10] Canada finished 6th overall in this tournament.[11] Sankey also represented Canada in the 1970 FIBA World Championship,[1][2] where he was Canada's second leading scorer overall with 13.1 ppg.[12] Sankey also represented Canada in the 1970 World Student Games and the 1975 Pan American Games.[1][2]
University career
Before university, Sankey played at the high school level at Lord Byng Secondary School.[13][14][15]
Sankey played for the UBC Thunderbirds from 1967-71.[4][13] In the 1969-70 season, UBC won the Canadian university CIAU national championship,[4][13][16] the first national championship for UBC.[4][17][18] This season, UBC went undefeated against CIAU competition (23-0).[16][19] UBC decisively won the national championship game against McMaster University by 21 points (96-75).[4][16][19] In this season, Sankey was selected as a CIAU tournament all-star[13][20][21] and as a CIAU All-Canadian honourable mention.[13][22] In the 1970-71 season, Sankey was selected as a WCIAA conference first-team all-star.[13][23]
Post-career recognition
Sankey has been inducted into the Canada Basketball Hall of Fame (1994),[1] the Basketball BC Hall of Fame (2007)[2] and the UBC Sports Hall of Fame.[4] Teams on which he played have also been inducted into prestigious halls of fame: the 1976 Canadian Olympic team was inducted into the Canada Basketball Hall of Fame (2007)[3] and the 1969-70 UBC Thunderbirds team was inducted into the UBC Sports Hall of Fame (1993).[16]