Former Saskatchewan Huskies’ head coach Val Schneider is the first announced inductee into the newly-created Canada West Conference hall-of-fame.
A total of 100 conference legends will be honoured this year. In almost 50 years, Schneider went from being a football student-athlete at the University of Alberta in the 60s, to head coach of the Huskies, to Athletic Director at the U of S to being the Canada West’s Executive Director before retiring in 2012. Following is the news release from the Canada West Conference…
Val Schneider named first Canada West Hall of Fame inductee
Former Vanier Cup MVP, athletic director, and Canada West Executive Director first of 100 inductees this season
Schneider, who enters the Hall of Fame as a builder, spent nearly 50 years in university sport, starting his time as a football student-athlete at the University of Alberta in the 1960s before moving on to a long career as a coach and administrator.
He becomes the Hall of Fame’s first inductee, kicking off a full season of inductions which will see a total of 100 conference legends honoured.
The CW Hall of Fame was created earlier this year to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first Western Canadian university sport championship, which was awarded in men’s hockey in February of 1920.
Schneider was the MVP of the 1967 Vanier Cup when Alberta captured their first gridiron national title. The Edmonton product would later go on to spend more than two decades at the University of Saskatchewan where he served as head coach for Huskies football, before moving into the role of athletic director (1980-91).
He would complete his career in university sport as Canada West Executive Director, retiring in 2012.
To read Schneider’s complete Hall of Fame biography, click here.
ABOUT THE CANADA WEST HALL OF FAME
For the last century, organized university sport has been a central part of the student experience at institutions across Western Canada. Beginning with the University of Manitoba capturing the first Western Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union (WCIAU) men’s hockey banner in 1919-20, student-athletes have been competing to reach their full potential in sport and the classroom, while enriching campus life.
To commemorate 100 years of university sport across Western Canada, the Canada West Hall of Fame was created in the spring of 2019, with the first induction class set to be unveiled throughout the 2019-20 season.
