Former Penticton basketball star donates $250,000 to UVic Vikes
Geoff McKay said his five seasons starring for the University of Victoria Vikes basketball team changed his life and outlook. Subsequently successful off the court in his career in private equity, the former Canadian junior national team player has made a personal donation of $250,000 to the Vikes team.
“The UVic basketball program made a huge difference in my life. It’s where I learned the lessons in discipline, hard work and competition that carried over in my life and enabled me to do something like this,” said McKay.
McKay is the immediate former senior principal and managing director of the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and a former director of the Paul Allen-founded Vulcan Capital.
The donation will be used in areas such as scholarships, recruiting and travel.
“It’s tough to get financial help these days for university athletes in Canada,” said McKay, 55.
“The schools do what they can. UVic is nearing the top again (ranked No. 2 nationally in U Sports) but if you want to keep up, it takes players coming to your school.
“It might mean being able to go to a
Christmas tournament the team could otherwise not afford to attend, which could be key added experience during a season for a team that is now on the verge.”
McKay, a six-foot-four guard, came out of Penticton and won the national championship as a freshman at UVic in 1985-86 in the last season of the team’s dynastic run of seven consecutive national titles under coach Ken Shields.
McKay played in another national championship game and made the national Final Four on two other occasions and was allCanadian honourable mention in 1988-89 and named Canada West second-team allstar three times in averaging 14.2 pointsper-game in his UVic career (92-28).
He helped to lead Canada to sixth place in the 1987 world junior championships in Italy on a national team that included UVic teammates Spencer McKay and Tom Johnson.
After receiving his BA in economics at UVic, McKay earned his MBA at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.
“It’s a very generous donation and will be important for our program in terms of scholarships, travel and the like,” said Vikes head coach Craig Beaucamp.
McKay has stayed associated with the UVic basketball program as an alumni mentor, an initiative in which each current Vikes player is matched with a former player who acts as a mentor.
McKay has mentored fifth-year player Dominick Oliveri, who came into Saturday night’s final regular-season game against the UBC Thunderbirds at CARSA Gym leading Canada West in rebounding with a U Sports third-best average of 12.7 boards per game.