It is safe to say that Ian Hyde-Lay is the only person who has been to the rugby World Cup as a player and referee and was also mentioned in a Basketball Hall of Fame induction speech.
That’s what happens when you are the Swiss Army Knife of sports. But more than his own exploits, as a former rugby player for sa国际传媒 and basketball player for the University of Victoria Vikes, is Hyde-Lay’s legacy in teaching and coaching for 39 years at St. Michaels University School. His Blue Jags rugby teams won seven sa国际传媒 high school championships, producing numerous players who went on to represent sa国际传媒 in the World Cup, and his SMUS basketball teams won three sa国际传媒 high school championships in seven championship-game appearances, most famously the title in 1992 led by Basketball Hall of Famer, Olympian and two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash.
“It kept it fresh for me. Basketball would finish and rugby would start,” said Hyde-Lay.
“We never mentioned winning. It was simply a byproduct of the process.”
Hyde-Lay recently retired and will be honoured with the Ian Hyde-Lay/Simon Ibell Student Bursary in his name and that of the late former SMUS and UVic Vikes basketball team manager Ibell. A gala/roast is being held for Hyde-Lay on Feb. 10 at the Bard and Banker, in aid of the bursary endowment, with tickets through Chris Spicer at 250-888-8859 or [email protected].
Hyde-Lay was a little-known walk-on out of Shawnigan Lake School when he earned the 12th and final spot on the UVic Vikes basketball team in 1975-76. He graduated five years later as captain of the team and a conference all-star and absorbed the lessons learned under legendary UVic head coach Ken Shields.
“I always told my high school players to be the hardest-working team. Nobody outworked us,” said Hyde-Lay, who was also UVic assistant coach for 12 years. “The building blocks in sports apply to life. Sometimes it takes tough love. There can be no job on a team that a player believes is beneath him or her.”
Hyde-Lay’s SMUS rugby teams produced the likes of many-times sa国际传媒-capped and World Cup players such as Gareth Rees, Bobby Ross, Mike Pyke, Dave Spicer, Ed Fairhurst, John Graf, Quinn Ngawati and Mike Fuailefau.
“You create so many fantastic relationships with the players, many of whom now are middle-age men,” said Hyde-Lay.
Most famously, it is that grainy Grade 12 basketball video of Nash that Hyde-Lay sent to NCAA teams that has become the stuff of lore. Only one NCAA school, Santa Clara, cared enough to even look at it. The rest is basketball history. Nash mentioned both Hyde-Lay and Shields as important mentors in his Basketball Hall of Fame induction speech in 2018. “I was humbled,” said Hyde-Lay.
It was a recognition fully earned, with a legacy that will live on through the bursary.
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