A longtime hoops star from London finally has secured his rightful place in Canadian basketball history.
Published Feb 27, 2024 • Last updated Feb 28, 2024 • 3 minute read
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A longtime hoops star from London finally has secured his rightful place in Canadian basketball history.
Barry Howson, 84, has been formally recognized by Canada Basketball – after some confusion and a relatively long wait – as the first Black person to represent Canada in the sport at the Olympics. He played for the team that represented Canada at the Tokyo Games in 1964.
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“This is something I never dreamed of. It gave me the chills,” Howson said of the honour.
Officials with Canada Basketball presented Howson with a framed jersey from his Olympic team at game last Friday in St. Catharines between Canada and Nicaragua.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “I was so happy. I had tears in my eyes when they introduced me.”
Canada Basketball incorrectly identified another player as the first Black player to play at the Olympics. They were notified of the error and, after three years, finally moved to make the correction.
“We were doing a series on Black history month and another person thought they were the first Black player. We didn’t catch it,” said Matthew Walker, spokesperson for Canada Basketball.
Walker couldn’t speak to why it took three years to correct the error. “We were not aware of Barry, but we did realize the mistake.”
In addition to the framed jersey, the organization also gave Howson a trophy acknowledging the achievement. Howson is in the London Sports Hall of Fame and Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.
“Whatever basketball legacy we have in London began with Barry Howson and his achievements in the ’50s,” said Tom Dalby, a London sports hall of fame committee member who was among those who notified Canada Basketball of Howson being the first Black player.
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“This recognizes someone from the past and rightfully so. He has achieved greatness in the game of basketball,” Dalby said. “I played against him and he was damn good. He was the best player on the floor. He was very quick, he had a lot of speed and agility.”
As a young man, Howson was a great all-around athlete, good at baseball and track and field, but basketball was where he excelled. He recalls that, to get better at basketball, he made a basket out of a wine barrel and hung it up at his house so he could practice shooting. In Grade 8, his team from Ealing elementary school won the city championship.
He had a YMCA membership and on Saturday mornings would work with the basketball instructors and then scrimmage. “I love the game and the sport. I always tried my best,” he said.
Howson went to Sir Adam Beck secondary school and in Grade 11 led the 1957 Beck Spartans to the Ontario senior boys high school championship.
After high school, Howson played for Western University and the team won two Ontario-Quebec athletic association championships.
He received his bachelor of arts degree at Western and a master’s in education at Wayne State University in Detroit before becoming a high school teacher in Sarnia, where he coached basketball teams for 34 years.
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Howson also coached football, tennis and track and field at the high school level and coached the basketball team at Lambton College.
After he played for Western, Howson played for the Toronto Dow Kings, winners of the 1963-1964 Canadian senior men’s basketball championship. Canadian Olympic officials decided not to send a basketball team to the Olympics in 1964 but told the Dow Kings team they could enter an Olympic qualifying tournament in Japan at their own expense. The team qualified and went 1-8 at the Tokyo Games.
Howson comes from a legacy of activism. His mother, Londoner Christine Jenkins, co-founded and published, with her first husband James Jenkins, the Dawn of Tomorrow newspaper, serving Black communities across southern Ontario from its start in 1923 until 1971.
The newspaper reported on Black celebrities, wedding announcements, social notes, inspirational poetry, and civil rights activism. In 1924, Christine Jenkins also founded the Canadian League for the Advancement of Coloured People.
Born in 1939 in London, Howson is regarded as one of the best basketball players to come out of London. He was a star on the 1957 Beck Spartans team that won the Ontario boys’ high school championship – still the only OFSAA boys’ hoops crown won by a London team – and later starred at Western. He played on the 1964 Olympic basketball team in Tokyo and won several national club titles in the 1960s. He taught for 34 years at St. Pat’s high school in Sarnia.