Wardlaw Porteous Trophy

Born in 1907, Wardlaw Porteous was Acting Head of the Faculty 1944-47 and a Professor in the Faculty of Engineering. He became a full Professor in 1955. Very involved with the development of local radio, Porteous co-founded CKUA radio. Earlier, in 1939-40, he designed and installed stations’ transmission expansion facilities. He passed away in 1968, at which time the Bears Basketball MVP award was named in his honour.
 

Ruby Anderson Trophy

Col. Eric W. Cormack Trophy

Colonel Cormack was born in Lockerbie, Oumfriesshire, Scotland; January 7, 1899. He was educated at Edinburgh University and the University of Alberta. He achieved numerous Athletic awards in Cricket and shooting. In running along with Eric Ciddel (Olympic Runner), their team established the medley one mile relay race record for over ten years. He was a leader for Canada in both World Wars and returned home to Alix, AB in 1946 before accepting a position in the military’s Expensions Department in Edmonton in 1949. Honourary Colonel of the Artillery in Northern Alberta which included the 78th Field Battery, Red Deer. He retired in 1977 under the rank of Full Colonel. He was named to the Order of Canada in 1981. The Cormacks assisted in founding the Robin Hood School in Sherwood Park and the Eric Cormack Center, in Edmonton, was also named after him. He died November 19, 1987.
 

James Haddow Trophy

Dr. James Haddow was University of Alberta Cross Country Head Coach during the late 1960s and early 1970s, during which time he was also a Professor in the Faculty of Engineering.
 

Golden Bears Curling MVP

Pandas Curling MVP

Bill Woywitka Memorial Award

“In memory of an athlete, a scholar and a gentleman who was a member of the Football team." Bill Woywitka was a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine and his specialty was Ophthalmology. Tragically, he was killed in a car accident just as he was into his first few years of practice.
 

Golden Bears Golf MVP

Pandas Golf MVP

Andy Purcell Trophy

The Andy Purcell Hockey Trophy is awarded to the most valuable Golden Bears hockey player as selected by the players, coaches and managers of the team. The recipient is selected not only by his athletic ability, but also his team spirit, co-operation and sportsmanship. The trophy was donated in 1948 by Andy “Shorts” Purcell, the coach of the Golden Bears from 1945-46 to 1947-48.
 

Pandas Hockey MVP

Pandas Rugby MVP

Kevin Robbins Memorial Trophy

Kevin Robbins, the son of a former University of Alberta Professor who started the Golden Bears Soccer program, drowned soon after the family had moved to Ontario, where Stuart Robbins had taken a new job with York University. The award annual Team MVP award was subsequently created in memory of Kevin.
 

Nonie St. Peters Trophy

The Nonie St. Peters Trophy was created to honour a beloved member of the Athletics Department secretarial staff upon her retirement in the early 1980s. After a quarter century of loyal, hard work and a friendly smile that brought life to those around her, the award was first handed out to the legendary Tracy David in 1983.
 

Beaumont Trophy

One of the schools older sports trophies; it was started in 1954-55 as an award for the U of A Male Swimmer with the “Best General Record” for Sportsmanship, Leadership, Progress and ability. Like the Golden Bears wrestling trophy and separate boxing trophy, it was donated to the University Athletics Board by Wally J. Beaumont, a Law graduate who represented the U of A in both wrestling and boxing during his undergraduate years. He was also a skilled pilot who instructed at Edmonton Flying Club into his golden years until he passed away in the mid-1970s.
 

Nick Carter Trophy

Originally from Port Colborne, Ont., Nick Carter was a volunteer swimming coach in Edmonton from the late 1920s to the early 1950s, based out of the West Edmonton outdoor pool (now Oliver Pool). He is described as a compassionate, gentle person with a mission to develop talented young women and men into the best athletes they could be, while making sure all children stayed fit and healthy. He was in the real estate business, though his connection to the U of A was simply that many of his friends or students were at one time involved with the Bears and Pandas. Born in the late 1800s, he lived in Edmonton most of his life until he passed away in 1965.
 

Rob Bell Memorial Trophy

Rob Bell, for whom the Golden Bears Tennis MVP award was named, was the Tennis Manager at the University of Alberta Tennis Centre from 1986 to 1995 and contributed greatly to the development of the sport of tennis at the U of A, in the city of Edmonton and at the provincial level in Alberta.

Bell established a strong junior development program, hosted a variety of tennis events including Davis Cup and was a provincial course conductor. He formed the U of A Men’s Tennis Club Team in 1987 and coached the team from 1987 to 1995. Rob Bell also served as President of the Greater Edmonton Tennis Association and was a Director of the Board of Tennis Alberta, but succumbed to cancer at an early age and his memory is honoured with this annual award. 
 

Krista Frohlich Trophy

In 1999 the Pandas Tennis MVP award was named for Krista Frohlich, who formed the University of Alberta Women’s Tennis Club Team in 1990. She played on the team from 1990 to 1995 and served as captain for this period before helping to form the Golden Bear and Panda Tennis Alumni Society in 1999 and has been its Director since its inception.
 

Golden Bears Track and Field Trophy for Outstanding Contribution in memory of Brian McCalder

Donated by the 1974 U of A Track & Field team in appreciation of the efforts of Brian McCalder, who coached the team between 1970 and 1974.
 

Lies Vanderstam Trophy

Lies Vanderstam was an active Alberta track and field athlete who previously competed for the Dutch at the 1936 Olympics. Vanderstam subsequently came to Canada, where she lived in Calgary. She continued to be very involved in track and field, and was even scheduled to be an Olympic official, but passed away before the event. Vanderstam’s daughter, Liz McBlain, was a prominent University of Alberta athlete who was inducted to the Wall of Fame on April 9, 1999, and donated the trophy the Pandas MVP trophy that honours her Mother’s memory.
 

Gabor Simonyi Trophy

Born and raised in Hungary, Simonyi excelled in athletics, especially as a jumper, from a young age. He emigrated to the UK and eventually Iceland, heading up the National Team at each stop before moving to Canada, where he became a high school teacher and athletic coach in North Battleford, SK. He was named Golden Bears and Pandas Head Coach in the summer of 1975 and held the position for nine years, retiring after the 1983-84 season. Soon after retirement he donated the Field Events trophy while remaining involved in the local athletic community. He retired to B.C., where he passed away early in the new millennium.
 

Costa Chrysanthou Memorial Trophy

Awarded annually to the Golden Bears Volleyball player who contributes most to the team and more recently considered the team’s MVP trophy. Chrysanthou was a Golden Bears football player (#56) in 1948 when he teamed with future Premier Peter Lougheed and star player Harry Hobbs to compile a 5-1-0 record. He was an off-campus coach for Golden Bears Volleyball at the time of his untimely passing in the late 1960s. Egyptian born, he graduated from the U of A’s Faculty of Engineering in the mid-1950s. 
 

President’s Cup

Formerly the Ms. Audrey Carson Ackroyd Outstanding Athlete Award, it was first awarded in 1974-75. The current trophy was created after the 1994-95 season to honour the first University of Alberta CIAU National Championship team.
 

Beaumont Cup

Next to the Wilson Challenge Trophy, the Beaumont Cup is the oldest active Athletics trophy still awarded annually. It was originally awarded to the wrestler with the “Best General Record”, but has grown to represent the Bears Wrestling MVP.

The Cup was donated to the University Athletics Board in 1946-47 by Wally J. Beaumont, a Law graduate who represented the U of A in both wrestling and boxing during his undergraduate years. The original Beaumont Cup was for Boxing only, starting in 1936-37. Beaumont also donated the Golden Bears Swimming award, the Beaumont Trophy.
 

Pandas Wrestling MVP