BC Sports Hall of Fame Mourns the Loss of 2014 Inductee Dr. Jack Taunton

Vancouver, BC – The BC Sports Hall of Fame is paying tribute to a sports legend, Dr. Jack Taunton who passed away this week at the age of 77. He was inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame in 2014 for his leadership in sport medicine and science and the sport community overall. 

“On behalf of the grieving BC Sports Hall of Fame community, we send our condolences and thoughts to his wife Cheryl, his daughters Kristen and Carla, and the extended Taunton family on the loss of one of the most influential, accomplished and kind Honoured Members in BC sport history,” says BC Sports Hall of Fame Chair Tom Mayenknecht. “Jack’s creative fingerprints, love for sport and nurturing leadership are all over so many essential organizations, events and programs in British Columbia.

Taunton is best known for his many collaborations with fellow Honoured Member Dr. Doug Clement, including the founding of the Vancouver Marathon in 1972 and the Vancouver Sun Run in 1985. The pair also co-founded the Allan McGavin Sports Medicine Centre at UBC in 1979 which was the first integrated sport medicine centre in Canada with primary care, orthopaedics, physiotherapy and research under one roof. He also co-founded SportMedBC based out of this facility.

As a doctor, he tended to teams at eight Olympic Games, including chief medical officer for the entire Canadian team at the Sydney 2000 Olympics and then the entire Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Earlier this year he was one of 83 new appointments to the Order of Canada by Governor General Mary Simon, which recognizes individuals who have made positive and lasting impacts on communities here in Canada, or who have brought honour to our country abroad.

“The name Dr. Jack Taunton is synonymous with sports in BC,” adds Mayenknecht. “His dedication to community, province and country has made us better as British Columbians and as Canadians. We are so proud of the leadership and the innovation that he brought to sport. He is an exemplary sport leader and role model to the next generation of athletes, coaches, and others who have shaped British Columbia as a true hotbed for sport development, performance and achievement in Canada.”

Among the long list of Dr. Jack’s amazing accomplishments, he served at hundreds of events locally and abroad and on over fifty different provincial, national, and international medical committees relating to sport. He coordinated the medical portion of Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion World Tour, running alongside Hansen for nearly 100km a day across Alberta and parts of Saskatchewan. For extended periods he served as team physician for the Vancouver Grizzlies and the Canadian men’s and women’s national field hockey team and he led the founding of the UBC Grand Prix of Cycling event in 2010.