Terry McKaig has received the ultimate honour for his outstanding work on and off the field with the UBC Thunderbirds baseball team.
The Tsawwassen resident is part of the UBC Sports Hall of Fame induction class that was honoured on Wednesday night at the UBC Athletics Big Block Awards. He is joined by Doug and Lois Mitchell in the builder’s category, while field hockey player Reg Plummer, along with the 1971-72 women’s basketball team and 1964-5 men’s swim team are also being recognized.
McKaig is synonymous with UBC baseball.
He is the chief architect behind the triumphant rise of Thunderbird varsity baseball at UBC, having built the program from the ground-up after taking over as head coach in 1997.
A native of Vernon, McKaig began his own post-secondary career as a right fielder at North Idaho College (‘90-93), before making stops with Albertson College (‘94) and the National Baseball Institute (‘95-96). McKaig would also go on to play with the Canadian senior men’s national team.
Prior to coming to UBC, McKaig spent time coaching with the Vancouver Mounties of the Premier Baseball League (PBL). After taking the helm at UBC, he faced a lack of facilities and funding. Despite these challenges, he propelled the Thunderbird program to life. Under his leadership, UBC became a perennial top 25 team in the NAIA, earning seven league playoff championships and one NAIA Super Regional title.
A four-time coach-of-the-year, McKaig oversaw 23 of his players drafted by the Major Leagues, most notably UBC Hall of Famer and North Delta native Jeff Francis, who was selected ninth overall in the 2002 draft and had a stellar major league career.
In 2015, McKaig stepped aside from coaching duties to fully concentrate on the role of Director of Baseball at UBC, where he raised significant funds for the construction of new state-of-the-art baseball facilities, including the Rose Indoor Training Centre and Tourmaline West Baseball Stadium.
Over the years, many local baseball plays that have come through the Delta Blue Jays PBL program have had the opportunity to continue their careers at UBC thanks to McKaig’s vision.
He also spearheaded community projects such as the creation of the PBL Junior program.
In 2021, McKaig took on a new challenge as Director of Development in the Fraser Region for the BC Cancer Foundation.
