The Oak Bay Bays will honour a legendary basketball coach this week at the tournament named after him 鈥� the Gary Taylor Classic.
Taylor will be on hand Friday night when the program 鈥� which is long on history 鈥� officially attaches his name to the new school鈥檚 main gym during a 7 p.m. ceremony, prior to a 7:30 p.m. tournament semifinal.
鈥淭his is a bit of a special one with the court naming on Friday of coach Taylor which makes it a bit different and truly special, so the boys want to be in that semifinal,鈥� said Bays head coach Chris Franklin. 鈥淗e鈥檚 meant so much, not just in basketball terms, but in the community 鈥� in every sense, he has been a true gentleman.鈥�
This will be the eighth annual Taylor Classic tournament that honours the coach who led the Bays to four sa国际传媒 boys high school championship games in the 1960s, winning twice and losing twice in the final to the Vic High Totems before going on to coach at the University of Victoria.
鈥淚t鈥檚 interesting, he came up and introduced himself and had a good talk the first year and every year he sends me a letter after, talking about the tournament. It鈥檚 been a pleasure getting to know him,鈥� said Franklin, who takes great pride in naming the gym after Taylor.
鈥淲e got the painting [on the hardwood floor] done last week. It looks good and I like what principal [Dave] Thompson and athletic director [Richard] Fast decided to go with. It looks good and I鈥檓 pleased with it.鈥�
The eight-team tournament starts today with a 1:15 p.m. tip-off between Oak Bay and Belmont. Lambrick Park and Cowichan follow at 3 p.m. with St. Michaels University School tackling Vancouver College at 4:45 p.m. Alberta visitors, Sir Winston Churchill of Calgary, tip-off against Nanaimo at 6:30 p.m.
Semifinals go at 5:45 and 7:30 p.m. on Friday, sandwiching the Taylor ceremony, which will also include Oak Bay mayor Nils Jensen. The championship final is slated for Saturday at 6 p.m.
The junior tournament also begins today at 2:15 p.m. in the smaller gym.
The senior Bays are coming off an 82-77 championship win over Walnut Grove at the Vancouver College Emerald tournament last weekend in which Oak Bay鈥檚 Madhu McConnell was named the most valuable player.
It was his first stint with the team after claiming a provincial volleyball crown with the Oak Bay Barbers the weekend previous.
鈥淚鈥檓 excited for the Gary Taylor tournament, we鈥檙e playing well so far. I worked hard in the off-season and I want to perform well in my senior year,鈥� said the 17-year-old, who would love to advance to CIS play after graduation.
鈥淚t has been a good two weeks. We were fortunate to end the volleyball like that and the basketball has been a great start to the year and hopefully we can keep it up,鈥� added McConnell, who joined the hoops team, along with teammates Nick Mickelberry and Matthew Griffin, after the volleyball quest.
鈥淚t鈥檚 important to win this tournament for team confidence. I鈥檓 pretty sure we made it to the final the last two years and lost, so we don鈥檛 want to finish second three years in a row,鈥� said McConnell.
The Bays lost to Vancouver College in last year鈥檚 championship game and to M.E.I. the year before.
鈥淎t the end of the day, it鈥檚 the third week, so we鈥檙e going to try and keep getting better and improving,鈥� Franklin said of the young season in which his team is ranked No. 1 on the Island among quadruple-A teams and No. 8 provincially. The latter should change after wins last week over Walnut Grove and Terry Fox at the Emerald tourney.
鈥淭he kids look forward to this tournament every year. We have some great teams coming in and it should be very competitive.鈥�
