Bill Sainas, who passed away in 2018 at age 93, was a member of UBC’s first Physical Education/Kinesiology graduating class in 1949. This small, pioneer class represented the first graduates in Physical Education in Western Canada.
Sainas played varsity rugby and football at UBC from 1945 through 1948. During those years he played for a Hardy Cup-winning football team. While in rugby his teams won two McKechnie Cups, two Miller Cups and a World Cup. Later in the 1950s Bill with his friend, teammate and future UBC Chancellor, Alan McEachern, founded Vancouver’s Kitsilano Kats rugby club. Kats have been an integral piece of the BC rugby scene ever since.
In 1953 Bill attained a degree in physiotherapy from California-Berkeley where he also played rugby and later opened one of the first private physiotherapy practices in Vancouver, which he ran for 27 years.
Sainas in later life continued his athletic pursuits including golf where he consistently shot his age. He, like many Kinesiology graduates, promoted a healthy lifestyle knowing the value of the physical aspect of life and the need to stay active, all of which he encouraged continually.
Fred Hume, 2019
