When most university athletic directors retire or move on, they usually detail the national championship banners raised and Olympians or pro athletes produced during their tenure.
Departing University of Victoria athletic director Clint Hamilton can not only point to plenty of those but also to an entire building. He shepherded the $77-million Centre for Athletics, Recreation and Special Abilities (CARSA), built under his reign as senior director of athletics and recreation for UVic from 2005 to 2022.
Hamilton, who replaced Wayne MacDonald 17 years ago, has accepted the position of vice-president advancement at the University of New Brunswick beginning April 1.
“CARSA was an incredible challenge and UVic made a major progressive and creative investment at a time of other pressing needs,” said Hamilton.
“I feel the passion and support for the project every time I go down the Walk of Excellence [UVic sports hall of fame] into the CARSA gymnasium because UVic has a remarkable sports history.”
The athletes who will be in the Walk of Excellence in the future just kept coming under Hamilton’s guidance, right up to last summer in the Tokyo Olympics when UVic Vikes alumni such as rowers Avalon Wasteneys and Caileigh Filmer won gold and bronze medals and former Vikes rugby great Nathan Hirayama carried the Canadian flag into the opening ceremony.
UVic teams won 25 Canadian university championships during Hamilton’s 17 years at the Vikes’ helm but he deflects the glory.
“That was all the result of our incredible coaches and athletes,” he said.
Hamilton had a particular interest in pushing out to the greater community and brought the Toronto Raptors NBA training camp to CARSA gym in 2017 and headed the committee which hosted the FIBA men’s basketball qualifying tournament for the Tokyo Olympics last summer at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The Raptors training camp was a testament to the quality of the CARSA facilities, noted Hamilton.
“Greater Victoria is an incredible community and although the pandemic robbed us of the full showcase that would have been for the Olympic qualifier for Tokyo, the vision, tenacity and support of Scott Lake meant we still staged a world-class event in the most trying of circumstances,” he said.
Hamilton was a national champion basketball player at UVic under legendary coach Ken Shields. Hamilton went on to coach the University of New Brunswick team for seven seasons and became UNB athletic director for five years before taking on the UVic position. As UVic athletic director he also concurrently served two terms as sa国际传媒 West conference president and one term as U Sports national president.
“I’ve seen how university athletics in sa国际传媒 can transform the lives of student-athletes,” said Hamilton, a 56-year-old native of Armstrong, sa国际传媒
He listed establishing the Vikes Championship Breakfast as among his proudest legacies. The annual event has raised more than $8 million in scholarships for UVic Vikes student-athletes since 2008. Many of the headline speakers for the function have been Vikes alumni who went onto become Olympians or World Cup players such as Hirayama, Gareth Rees, Adam Kreek, Stephanie Dixon, Darcy Marquardt, Lindsay Jennerich and Nancy Mollenhauer along with other notable former UVic athletes such as Chris Hebb, Ian Hyde-Lay and Joann Nash.
“We never had to pay to bring in a headline speaker. Every single penny raised went to Vikes student-athletes,” said Hamilton.
UVic has not yet announced the process to find Hamilton’s successor as athletic director.
“While we are sad to see Clint go, both he and I know that once you’re a Vike, you’re always a Vike. He’ll always have a place in our hearts at UVic,” said Jim Dunsdon, Associate VP of Student Affairs for UVic, in a statement.
