Last month, one of the pioneers of volleyball in BC, Eric Lessman, passed away. In the early 60’s Eric was a leftside hitter on the perennial BC Open Championship Downtown Vancouver YMCA Volleyball Team.  In the mid to late 60’s he was the Head Coach of the UBC Men’s Varsity Volleyball Team.

In 1966/67 the T-Birds had an amazing year.  Team and player successes began that year in February at the first ever Canada Games which were held in Quebec City.  Six members of the T-Birds played on Team BC and went undefeated, winning the Gold Medal.  In March of 1967, in one “long memorable weekend” for the T-Birds, Eric coached UBC to the Western Intercollegiate Championship Gold Medal, the Canadian National Junior Championship Gold Medal and the Senior Open Championship Bronze Medal.  During that same period of time, UBC defeated the University of Sherbrooke, the Eastern Intercollegiate Champion, in a single match, to become the first ever CIAU Gold Medalist.  This qualified UBC to represent Canada at the 1967 Universiade in Tokyo, Japan.  At the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, following smiling coach Lessman, UBC marched in the Opening Ceremonies in front of 60,000 spectators.  UBC finished a respectable 6^th in these University Olympics.

More importantly for this group of players, the team was exposed to a style of volleyball that had never been seen before in North America.  At that time the Asian “fast attack” offence was only just being introduced to the world by Japan.  At the 1967 Universiade, Japan’s players formed the nucleus of the team that won an historic Gold at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.  Following the 1966/67 season and under Eric’s leadership and direction, the T-Birds went on to develop this “fast attack” style of play, subsequently introducing it to Canadian volleyball.

Eric’s passion for volleyball continued for many more years as he also developed into one of BC’s top National Officials.

A quote from one of Eric’s former UBC players, Ken Witzke, UBC and Volleyball Canada Hall of Fame member:

“Eric was a man who had a great positive influence on us the years he coached our team. He inflated us with that beaming grinning spirit of his, empowering us to be victorious on so many occasions. Thinking about him is always uplifting, and he will continue to be there in my mind’s eye ad infinitude. Let’s be honest, there is no way to shake that incredible smile!”

A British Columbia volleyball pioneer, Eric Lessman will be missed!