In 1972 Mike Verney travelled to Vancouver from Hamilton, Ont. with a ticket for the Rolling Stones’ tour opener at the PNE. In 1973, Verney, who later decided to extend his stay indefinitely, was invited to shoot some hoops at outdoor basketball courts by a beach his friend had told him about. Forty-one year later, Verney stood on the sidelines of those same courts at Kitsilano beach all weekend long for the fifth annual KitsFest, a celebration of sport — in particular, tennis, beach volleyball and basketball.
“This is the nicest venue for an outdoor basketball court in the world. There’s just nothing like it.” he said, opening both arms in the direction of Friday’s sunset over the North Shore mountains. “If you’re not careful, you can throw the ball and it’ll land in the ocean.”
The view is so spectacular that when the courts were overhauled six years ago, there was talk of getting glass backboards before the idea was ruled out because of potential vandalism. KitsFest co-founder, two time Olympian and former national team player Howard Kelse,y along with Ron Putzi, who was named as one of the province’s greatest high school players in the 1980s, are responsible for the much-needed upgrade to what many consider to be the country’s most popular outdoor basketball courts. Both men, board members of the Canada One Foundation, formerly known as the Metro Vancouver Basketball Foundation, have history with the courts dating back to 1972 for Howard and 1980 for Putzi. They played with a slew of athletes ranging in skill from casual to professional. Some were local, others drove in from the States.
Verney, who helps run the Kits beach alumni team, met both Kelsey and Putzi on the courts 40 years ago and figured Kelsey’s success (being one of four Canadian high school players to be directly selected to the national squad) had a lot to do with the Kitsilano beach courts. “He was down here playing with professionals,” Verney said.
It’s a familiar list of names throughout the years, topping with Los Angeles Lakers point guard Steve Nash who is also the subject of a documentary that premiered Saturday night on an outdoor screen at Kits Beach.
Which is pretty exciting for guys such as Verney who remember the crowds of players who waited to play on the Kits beach challenge court.
“I came down on a Thursday when I was 45 years old. This was after I’d played here during my 20s, 30s, and early 40s… There were only a dozen people,” Verney remembered of that day in 1998. “We were on the challenge court, me and seven teenagers. I told this one guy, ‘I’m going to guard you’ and it was Steve Nash.”
Verney’s last game was three years ago. Why? “Because I’m 62, are you kidding?” he answered, somewhat indignantly. “Sometimes I’ll pull a muscle when I get out of bed some mornings!”
On that note, Verney slow-jogged past his grandson to give some nearby players the loose, friendly handshake of a well-liked teammate.
As the last of Friday night’s men’s basketball games went ahead, the beach walkway started filling with dozens of people with rolled-up yoga mats under their arms for the free, Lululemon-hosted sunset yoga class. The nearby volleyball courts were empty save for a couple warming up for the weekend’s non-stop games. A few stragglers stuck around for the last of the basketball games but those spots on the bleachers were a rare sight come Saturday.
twitter.com/rebeccablissett
