‘It’s a great honour’

Basketball Manitoba has launched a new bursary in honour of one of the province’s most historic builders in the sport.

The Vic Pruden Basketball Bursary Fund, intended for graduating high school student-athletes who are in financial need, will recognize one male and one female player who are committed to continuing their basketball careers at Brandon University, the University of Manitoba or the University of Winnipeg.

The monetary value of the bursary has yet to be confirmed, but it is estimated to be between $1,000-$2,000. The winner will be announced, along with 14 other bursaries and scholarships, every April during the Basketball Manitoba awards ceremony.

Pruden is regarded as one of Manitoba’s most influential basketball figures, making a mark at the high school and university level, and with provincial and national programs.

A renowned high school coach throughout the 1950s and early ’60s, the North Winnipeg product perhaps made his greatest impact upon jumping to the university level in 1966 and starting the first intercollegiate men’s program at United College, which became The University of Winnipeg the next year. In 1967, he continued to build at the downtown campus, being one of the founding organizers of the Golden Boy Invitational — now known as the Wesmen Classic.

Five years later, Pruden started the Wesmen women’s program at the U of W.

“He’s been so involved with basketball forever, almost. All of the people who were in the little group that we formed have either been directly or indirectly formed by Vic’s work in basketball,” said Ross Wedlake, chair of the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame and Museum.

“I can honestly say that if anyone has been involved in basketball for more than 10 years, they have been involved in something that Vic Pruden has his fingerprints all over.”

Pruden later helped found the Manitoba Basketball Coaches Association and was named the first president of the organization.

As a builder, he forged a path to the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994 and into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. Pruden was also named the Ukrainian Sportsman of the Year in 2013.

“Satisfaction,” the 90-year-old Pruden said of a bursary being made in his honour. “There were about a half-dozen people involved with putting this thing together, and, what can I say, it’s a great honour.”

Pruden said he made two stipulations when he was informed of Basketball Manitoba’s plans to create a bursary in his name: it must be presented annually to one male and one female, and it must be available to anyone attending any of Manitoba’s three universities that play in U Sports.

“It should go to somebody who wants to play basketball, and is competitive, and is committing to being the best player they can possibly be,” Pruden said.

Basketball Manitoba is accepting donations to grow the bursary.

For more information on how to make a contribution, visit basketballmanitoba.ca

winnipegfreepress.com/joshuafreysam