Olynyk to enter Horns Hall of Fame

By Lethbridge Herald on January 15, 2025.

Dale Woodard 

PRONGHORN ATHLETICS

Ken Olynyk brought the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns men’s basketball team to the National stage.

For that, he will be inducted into the Pronghorns Hall of Fame at the team’s Hall of Fame Night February 14 when the Pronghorns host the Winnipeg Wesmen at the University of Lethbridge.

As the head coach of the Pronghorns from 1979-88, Olynyk led the team to the CIAU semifinal in the 1983-84 season. In 1985-86, Olynyk coached the Pronghorns to an 86-76 victory over Saskatchewan in the Canada West Final.

The accolades kept coming in the past year as Olynyk was named to the Canada West Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024-25, inducted into the Builder category along with Ron and Jane Graham of the University of Saskatchewan.

“I think that recognition makes me feel great,” said Olynyk, who headed east after his stint in southern Alberta to coach at the University of Toronto from 1989 to 2003 before heading to Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. “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.”

It’s been nearly 37 years since he left southern Alberta and while the Horns will recognize his accolades, Olynyk said he never banked that on when he joined the program at the end of the 70s.

“It’s an honour,” he said. “I really feel that my time in Lethbridge was outstanding. The people of Lethbridge were good. I live in Kamloops now and it’s probably as close as being in Lethbridge as there is, the type of weather, everything.”

Prior to arriving in Lethbridge at the end of the 1970s, Olynyk was teaching in Vancouver before deciding 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 said. “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 positive first impressions to both the city and the university when he first arrived.

“The city was one that I liked,” he said. “The university was great. 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.”

Olynyk inherited a relatively young team, with the exception of 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.”
Nearly 50 years after starting with the Pronghorns, Olynyk still remains close to members of that 1979 team, meeting up with the likes of Mirkovich, Kelly Goheen, Rob Wilson and Don Richards.

“We try to get together every year around Waterton for four or five days,” he said. “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. They’re all great people and we’ve stayed in touch.”

When he wasn’t leading the Pronghorns to the CIAU semifinal or the Canada West Final, Olynyk recalled other career highlights at the ULethbridge, namely one memory against a player with the rival University of Calgary Dinos who went on to become a two-time Olympian for Canada.

It was a memory that perhaps wouldn’t be considered politically correct by today’s standards.

“Karl Tilleman played at Calgary,” said Olynyk. “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.”

That, however, didn’t stop the Pronghorn faithful from some artistic mid-game taunting of Tilleman.

“It was a caricature of Karl with a Pronghorn butting him in the butt. So that stands out in my mind,” said Olynyk with a laugh, adding 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.”

As he gets ready to head to the Horns Hall, Olynyk shared the spotlight.

“There are so many people who are part of this, it’s not just me,” he said. “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 recalled his close bond with Dr. Gary Bowie and the rest of the physical education department.

“I think my time there was so enjoyable,” he said. “It was a great place to have a family and 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. It was a very enjoyable time and 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.’ 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.”

Following his stint with the Pronghorns, Olynyk headed east to the University of Toronto, where he coached from 1989 to 2003 before arriving in Kamloops at what was called the University College of Cariboo before becoming Thompson Rivers University in April of 2005.
There, Olynyk worked at getting Thompson Rivers University into U SPORTS (formerly known as CIS).

“That was a long process, it took almost five years. Over time, we have had some good success with the program,” he said.

Olynyk retired on December 31 of 2017, but still coached twice afterwards, the first in 2018-19 at UNBC Okanagan on an interim basis and again in 2021-22 when he coached the women’s team at Thompson Rivers University.

Now, Olynyk heads back down memory lane to southern Alberta and his Hall of Fame induction.

“I think it might be overwhelming, to be honest,” he said with a chuckle. “I don’t coach for accolades, but it’s going to be awesome. 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.”

“Pronghorn Athletics is thrilled to honour Ken Olynyk with his induction into the Pronghorns Hall of Fame, celebrating his incredible impact on the University of Lethbridge. Ken’s leadership and dedication laid the foundation for the success in Pronghorn Athletics. His coaching not only elevated our men’s basketball team but also shaped the culture of excellence at the University of Lethbridge, leaving a legacy that continues to inspire athletes and coaches alike,” says Neil Langevin, Executive Director of Pronghorn Athletics and Recreation.

Ken Olynyk will be formally inducted into the Pronghorns Hall of Fame on Friday, February 14 during a special Hall of Fame Night at the University of Lethbridge. The Pronghorns host the University of Winnipeg Wesmen, with the women’s game tipping off at 5 p.m. followed by the men’s game at 7 p.m. The evening will celebrate Olynyk’s incredible impact on Pronghorns basketball.