The 28,000+ three-dimensional artifacts in the BC Sports Hall of Fame collection range greatly in size from a small pin or golf tee to a full-size car.
As part of the renovations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Hall of Fame’s collection is moving into a long-awaited newly built storage area inside BC Place later this year (the Hall of Fame’s public galleries remain in their traditional home open to visitors to view at Gate A of BC Place).
As we’ve learned while packing thousands of items for this move, most of the artifacts in our collection can fit comfortably within a standard banker’s box.
On the other hand, there are also some behemoth pieces of B.C. sport history that are too large for any moving box.
Here are five of the largest artifacts in the BC Sports Hall of Fame collection and the stories behind them:
The Warren Fours Rowing Shell
Coming in at 41 feet in length, the four-man rowing shell known as the Warren in honour of 1950s UBC-Vancouver Rowing Club coach John Warren is the longest non-fabric artifact in the BC Sports Hall of Fame collection.
It literally stretches the entire length of the Hall of Champions where it is displayed at ceiling level, angled slightly to give some clearance between the gallery’s two concrete beams.
The Warren is also one of the most significant rowing shells in Canadian rowing history. Four unheralded UBC students used this shell at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia while winning Canada’s first ever Olympic gold medal in rowing.
Don Arnold, Walter d’Hondt, Lorne Loomer, and Archie MacKinnon trained as the spares for the UBC-VRC eight-man crew until it became clear they had become a magic crew themselves and won the right to represent Canada in the fours event.
While the UBC-VRC eight won silver at the Olympics, ‘The Cinderella Four’ as they became known went one step on the podium better claiming gold.
The shell was handmade of western red cedar by legendary Seattle boat builder George Pocock, who guided the University of Washington Huskies rowing crews for decades.
Model F Zamboni
Donated in 2019 by Kendrick Equipment, this Zamboni is the heaviest artifact in the BC Sports Hall of Fame collection, weighing in at over 5,500 lbs.
As the first ice resurfacer used in British Columbia beginning in 1956 and just the 53rd ever made by the Frank J. Zamboni Company in Paramount, California, it is also one of the most significant in B.C. history. Only a handful of the first 60 Zambonis are known to exist today.
Originally purchased by the PNE for $10,000, this one first cleaned the ice at the Vancouver Forum from 1958 to 1968 and then the White Rock Centennial Arena for several decades.
Later, it was sold to a Surrey automotive repair shop, who stripped it down to a bare frame and used it to move transmission parts in their muddy back lot.
Earl Vorrath of Crocker Equipment traded a lathe for this Zamboni and restored it to its present condition.
1982 Canucks towel
The longest item in the BC Sports Hall of Fame collection is so long we don’t actually know it’s precise length!
In the spring of 1982, the Vancouver Canucks were playing in their first-ever Stanley Cup Final. Towel Power had electrified the city after Canucks coach Roger Neilson placed a white towel over a stick on the bench in a gesture of mock ‘surrender’ following a string of undeserved penalties called against his team in the Campbell Conference Final series versus Chicago.
The white towel suddenly became a fan-powered Canucks rallying cry.
After the New York Islanders won the first two games of the Stanley Cup Final on Long Island, Canucks fans pulled out all the stops for Game 3 back at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum.
This included creating perhaps the longest white towel ever.
Remember those revolving cloth towel dispensers in 1980s public washrooms? Dozens of towel rolls were gathered and sewn together end-to-end, then stretched all around the inside of the Coliseum several times, meaning this towel was several hundred meters in length at minimum.
Thousands of fans and even some Canucks players including Harold Snepsts and Stan Smyl signed the towel or offered messages of support to the team.
Given its size, we have never been able to display the full towel in one place, just smaller sections.
Scottish Caber
Certainly the tallest item in the BC Sports Hall of Fame collection, measuring 19 feet from top to bottom when stood up on end, this Scottish caber is so tall it’s not able to stand straight up without hitting the 18-foot ceiling when on display in the Hall of Champions.
Scotland’s Braemar Royal Highland Society donated this caber to the New Westminster Highland Games for Scottish heavy events competition beginning in 1978.
Weighing approximately 115 pounds—on the larger side both in height and weight compared to an average caber—only one competitor was ever able to successfully “turn” or toss this caber end-over-end before it was retired from competition after several decades.
Greg Moore’s Players Forsythe Indy Car
Likely the single most valuable artifact in the BC Sports Hall of Fame collection, the Greg Moore Gallery was literally built around Greg’s 1997 Player’s Forsythe Racing Indy car after it was wheeled into the bare space while under construction in 2006.
Team owner Gerry Forsythe gifted Greg this car after he raced it to his first CART/Indy Car victory in the 1997 Miller Genuine Draft 200 at the Milwaukee Mile.
At that time, Moore was the youngest driver to win a CART/Indy Car race at 22 years, one month, and 10 days old.
Just over 16 feet long and 6.5 feet wide, the car’s most striking measurement is its height, at just 3.5 feet at the rear wing and less than three feet almost everywhere else.
Other startling figures? This car had a top speed of 394 km/hr and could accelerate from zero to 100 in just 2.2 seconds.
The BC Sports Hall of Fame celebrates over 150 years of sporting achievement in British Columbia, inspiring future generations through its collection of 28,000+ artifacts. With exhibits honouring legendary athletes, teams, and sports organizations, we highlight the history of sports in B.C. and the individuals who’ve shaped its rich sports culture.
Explore B.C.’s sports legacy — visit us online today!
