Club legend Carl Valentine and part-owner Steve Nash were inducted into the BC Sports Hall of Fame during the 2016 Banquet of Champions on Thursday at the Vancouver Convention Centre.
This is the BC Sports Hall of Fame’s 50th induction class.
Valentine and Nash were inducted into the athlete category, while Geri Donnelly, an original member of the Whitecaps FC women and Canadian women's national teams and the late Harry Manson, a First Nations soccer hero, were inducted in the pioneer category.
One of the all-time fan favourites in Vancouver professional sports and a member of the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame, Valentine is the club’s all-time leader in appearances with 409 and fourth all-time in goals scored with 65.
The English-born talent arrived in Vancouver for the start of the historic 1979 season and became a key contributor to the club’s run to the NASL Soccer Bowl. Valentine would stay in Vancouver until the NASL folded following the 1984 season and would go on to join West Bromwich Albion back in England.
The winger represented Canada in the 1986 FIFA World Cup and in 1987 he returned to Vancouver to become a key member of the 86ers team that went on to win a remarkable four straight CSL championships from 1988 to 1991.
Valentine, who was inducted into the Whitecaps FC Ring of Honour in 2014, played 19 seasons in Vancouver and remains with Whitecaps FC today as club ambassador and Residency staff coach. Valentine joins Bob Lenarduzzi, Andrea Neil, and the late Domenic Mobilio as Whitecaps FC Ring of Honour inductees in the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
Nash, a part owner of Whitecaps FC, is one of the greatest Canadian athletes of all-time.
Although he made a name for himself in basketball, playing over 1,000 games in the NBA and earning accolades as an eight-time league all-star and two-time MVP, Nash is a lifelong soccer player/fan. Soccer runs in the family as well. His younger brother Martin played for Vancouver during the USL days.
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