Dean MacKinnon, UBC Physical Education graduate of 1966, took his degree to the classroom teaching in the Vancouver school system until his recent retirement. But he is perhaps better known for his outstanding 40 year career as a local basketball referee.
While a student, Dean played basketball under coach Hugh Marshall at John Oliver high school then attending UBC played on the Thunderbird rugby team. He was a pretty fair athlete which is required when refereeing high school basketball games, a career he began around age 30. Dean was an official at high school provincial championships, university contests plus refereed at Canada Summer games.
Later he became more involved as a referee for wheelchair basketball competitions and was named the sports’ Official Of The Year in 2000, 2005 and 2010. In 2003 he was recognized nationally with the “Wink” Willcox Award for his stellar work as an official in basketball, including the Wheelchair variety.
In 2013 Dean joined another UBC alumnus Tim Frick as inductees into the Basketball BC Hall of Fame.
Written by Fred Hume, UBC Historian
