The latest inductee to the Pronghorns Hall of Fame has been announced.
Ken Olynyk will be celebrated and inducted on Friday, February 14 when the Pronghorns basketball teams host the Winnipeg Wesman at the University of Lethbridge.
Olynyk has a storied past with the U of L athletics department.
He was the head coach of the men’s basketball team from 1979 to 1988, leading the squad to the CIAU semifinal during the 1983-84 season. In 1985-86, Olynyk coached the Pronghorns to an 86-76 win against Saskatchewan in the Canada West final.
It is a positive time for the seasoned coach, as prior to this announcement, he was inducted into the Canada West Hall of Fame’s class of 2024-25 in the ‘builder’ category, alongside Ron and Jane Graham of the University of Saskatchewan.
Following his time with the U of L, Olynyk coached at the University of Toronto from 1989 to 2003 before making his way to Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.
He says this latest recognition feels great.
“You never start out hoping to be inducted for the Hall of Fame. We had great players. The majority of our players were southern Alberta kids and what I prided myself on was we got every southern Alberta player and student athlete we went after,” Olynyk states.
Referring to the induction as an “honour”, he says his time in Lethbridge was oustanding. “I live in Kamloops now and it’s probably as close as being in Lethbridge as there is, the type of weather, everything.”
Before making his way to Lethbridge, Olynyk taught in Vancouver when he decided to get his Master’s degree at the University of Victoria.
“At that time, I was being prepared as a university coach and ended up getting an interview at the University of Lethbridge,” he explains.
“The job was open in the spring of that year and that was how I ended up in Lethbridge. There were a lot of people who were instrumental. I was familiar with John Affleck [the previous coach]. He was still in Lethbridge at the time, and I actually stayed with him for a while when I first got the job.”
Olynyk recalls that he immediately liked Lethbridge and the local post-secondary.
“We actually shared the upper building of the gymnasium with the fine arts and a couple good friends of mine were in that field. So, it was kind of an interesting comparison between sport and art. It was just a lot of good connections and camaraderie.”
When joining the Pronghorns bench, the coach inherited a relatively young team, aside from veteran Perry Mirkovich, who was in his final year.
“He was one of the most outstanding players I’ve ever had the pleasure of being involved with. He was actually drafted into the NBA by the Portland Trailblazers after his fifth year,” Olynyk says, adding he remains close with members of that 1979 team, including Mirkovich, Kelly Goheen, Rob Wilson and Don Richards.
“We try to get together every year around Waterton for four or five days,” he says.
“They’re friends. They worked hard and played hard and they set the groundwork for the program. Our program has had some great years, not just years that I was there, but definitely years that followed. You never realize how important those foundations are from the people who contributed to that.”
A special memory that stands out to the latest Hall of Famer involves a player with the U of L rival University of Calgary Dinos who went on to become a two-time Olympian for Canada: Karl Tilleman.
“One of the things I found interesting over time is the political correctness of sport. We were battling with the University of Calgary all the time, their coach at the time, Gary Howard, was a very dear friend of mine,” Olynyk states, adding some artistic mid-game taunting came into play during the game.
“It was a caricature of Karl with a Pronghorn butting him in the butt. So that stands out in my mind,” he says with a laugh, noting Tilleman was a good sport about it.
“He said, ‘I always wanted that sign you guys had,’ and we let him take it. He didn’t take offense to it. He went the other way. He thought it was a tribute to him.”
SHARING THE SPOTLIGHT
Olynyk, whose son Kelly currently plays for the NBA’s Toronto Raptors, says he owes a lot to people around him.
“There are so many people who are part of this, it’s not just me,” he remarks.
“It’s the people I worked with and the people who I coached. That’s why I’m now being inducted into the Hall of Fame. I didn’t have a magical wand or anything. It’s all the work, time and energy people put into it.”
Olynyk reflects on his close bond with Dr. Gary Bowie and the rest of the physical education department.
“I think my time there was so enjoyable,” he says.
“It was a great place to have a family and [a] great place to coach and I always felt so supported there. It was also a great facility and a good time when we were in the gym.”
“I think that when you enjoy something and it’s a passion like basketball was for me, it never seems like going to work. It was awesome from that standpoint. My mother put it the most succinctly. She said, ‘You’re at a university and you don’t have a job – you have a position,’ [and] quite honestly, when you have a position, you don’t feel like you’re going to work. If you love it, you won’t work a day in your life.”
Olynyk retired at the end of 2017, but still coached twice afterwards. The first time was during the 2018-19 season at UNBC Okanagan on an interim basis and again in 2021-22 when he led the women’s team at Thompson Rivers University.
“I don’t coach for accolades, but it’s going to be awesome,” he says about his upcoming induction ceremony. “You don’t expect it, but it will be very touching. I’m a tearful guy, so that might be a problem.”
“For me, I just want to thank the community and the professionals at the university who worked with and supported me. I think there were 63 players/student athletes who I worked with and coached during my tenure in Lethbridge. They taught me so much.”
