When Marilyn Peterson attended UBC she executed one of the most impressive and versatile athletic careers in the School’s history. Between 1957 and 1961 she was a star on the Thunderbird basketball team, a high-scoring Varsity field hockey player and an outstanding Varsity volleyball player.
At UBC she was considered one of the top basketball players as she was selected to the team representing BC at the 1959 national championships. In 1960 she was a key member of UBC’s first Western Canadian women’s basketball champions, a title she and her teammates would win again in 1961. At this same time, she led the UBC volleyball team to its first Western Canadian university title — this all before the existence of national university championships for women.
1960 was a good year for Marilyn; not only did she play for two champion teams in two different sports but she served as vice-president of the UBC Women’s Athletic Directorate and president of her sorority. That year she was the very first recipient of the Barbara ‘Bim’
Schrodt Trophy (now the Marilyn Pomfret Award), naming her the top UBC female athlete of the year and recognizing Marilyn for her skill, athletic service and participation.
Marilyn graduated with a BPE in 1961 and was among the select few to be initiated into UBC’s honorary sorority, Delta Sigma Pi. These inductees were selected on the basis of the quality of their scholarship, leadership and service.
Marilyn later married fellow Physical Education graduate Bruce Kinghorn (BPE’63). Marilyn would go on to serve in both Kinesiology and Education as a faculty advisor for three decades. A friend of UBC, in 2000 she was inducted into UBC’s Sports Hall of Fame.
Written by Fred Hume, UBC Historian
