Ken Olynyk: Much more than Kelly’s dad

The profile of Ken Olynyk in the 1983-1984 University of Lethbridge sports magazine.

Source: https://digitallibrary.uleth.ca/digital/collection/publications/id/27117/

(May be subject to copyright)

The name is way too unique for them not to be related. Instead, I was more interested in doing the math. I wanted to know if Kelly Olynyk who, at the time was starring as an All-American forward with the Gonzaga Bulldogs, was born in nearby Lethbridge.

After all being a basketball player, and having that name, surely meant he was the son of Ken Olynyk, who in my mind is a Southern Alberta basketball legend.

As it turns out, yes Ken is Kelly’s dad, but no he was not born in Lethbridge. Instead he was born in Toronto, which makes sense to me for another reason.

I was thinking about Ken Olynyk when I was talking to a friend I play basketball with. He likes the Raptors, who had just acquired Kelly Olynyk. I told him his dad Ken used to coach the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns, and I thought for a minute Kelly may have been born in Lethbridge.

My friend had no idea.

Southern Alberta is a basketball hotbed. However, Ken Olynyk is another person, like Olympian Perry Mirkovich, who made a huge contribution to the sport in this area, but few people remember.

That has to change.

In the beginning
Ken Olynyk has been coaching basketball since 1975, with more than 40 teams. He grew up in Revelstoke where he was part of the Revelstoke Secondary School class of 1970, then played four years at Simon Fraser University, and a fifth at Laurentian University.

It was at Laurentian where he met Ken Shields. He would become Olynyk’s mentor, and go off to start a dynasty at the University of Victoria.

Olynyk then went to the University of Lethbridge where he coached the Pronghorns from 1979 to 1988.

This is when I first heard of Ken Olynyk

Horn highlights
Ken Olynyk’s first season in Lethbridge was 1979-1980, where the Pronghorns had an 8-12 record in the Canada West, and were 10-14 overall. They didn’t qualify for the playoffs.

They were again 8-12 in the Canada West in the 1980-1981 season, going 13-14 overall, but still failing to qualify for the playoffs.

In his third season in Lethbridge, the Pronghorns finished third in the Canada West in 1981-1982, with a 10-10 record and 13-13 overall, but still didn’t make the playoffs.

The 1982-1983 season saw the Pronghorns go 1-9 in the Canada West and 1-11 overall, but a renaissance was coming.

In the 1983-1984 season, Lethbridge went 5-5, finishing second in the Canada West, and 15-8 overall. They went 4-2 in the playoffs and won the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union bronze medal.

They followed that up in the 1984-1985 season going 8-2 in the Canada West and 12-7 overall. They went 1-3 in the playoffs, but reached the Canada West semi-finals and the CIAU regionals.

In the 1985-1986 season, the Pronghorns were 5-5 in the Canada West and 9-6 overall. However, they ended up the Canada West champions and CIAU Regional semi-finalists.

Lethbridge came down to Earth in Ken Olynyk’s last two seasons with the Pronghorns. In the 1986-1987 season, they were 2-8 in the Canada West and 2-11 overall, while in the 1987-1988 season they were 4-16 in the Canada West and 5-16 overall.

To put these results in perspective, the Canada West was ruled by the University of Victoria Vikings who were the dominant team in the country. Not only did they win seven straight national championships from 1979 to 1986, but sent a good chunk of their roster to the Canadian Olympic Men’s Basketball team.

It’s too bad, because I really rooted for the Pronghorns, although I never saw one of their games until 1987 when they came to Edmonton to play the University of Alberta. Still, I followed the Pronghorns through the news and heard all about the exploits of players such as Perry Mirkovich, Jerome Ell, Ken McMurray, Murray Hanna, and Dave Adams, who I actually came to know well.

Heartbreak
One day I heard the impossible. Ken Olynyk was leaving the Pronghorns. Worse, he was going to pursue his master’s degree and work and study under – Ken Shields at the University of Victoria.

I was heartbroken. I thought the U of L would never be that good again, but these things go in waves. After all, they did during the ‘80s.

Seeing the Blues
The University of Alberta hosts a basketball tournament called the Golden Bear Invitational or GBI. During the 1989-1990 season, my best friend Chris Vining and I, were coming back from class and always cut through the phys ed building to go back to res. We noticed the GBI was on, so we decided to check it out.

The University of Toronto Varsity Blues were playing the Regina Cougars. I was just casually flipping through the program, when I came to the U of T page. There, listed as their coach, was Ken Olynyk. I still had a grudge from him deserting the U of L for Victoria, so I cheered for the Cougars.

I am over it now, but that is why I found it interesting Ken’s son Kelly was born in Toronto. It was when Ken Olynyk was coaching the Varsity Blues.

It turns out Olynyk must have only taken that 1988-1989 year away from head coaching, because he coached at the University of Toronto from 1989 to 2003.

The years after
Along with his time with the Varsity Blues, Olynyk also coached the Canadian junior national team, and spent the 2002-2003 season as an observiong coach with the Toronto Raptors under coach Lenny Wilkens.

He has lived in Kamloops since 2003 and is athletic director for Thompson Rivers University.

Parting thoughts
It pains me the first thing that comes up when I googled Ken Olynyk is “Kelly Olynyk’s father”. A deeper dive reveals almost 50 years of coaching from high school to the professional level.

More than that, he had a major effect on basketball in Southern Alberta in the ‘80s. Those University of Lethbridge teams he coached had to compete against the best basketball team in the country year after year, and they gave the Victoria Vikings all they could handle.

Perhaps the most telling thing is, when I was doing some research on Perry Mirkovich, was the way Mirkovich talked about the influence Olynyk had on him as a player and a person. In fact, he said he still keeps in touch with Olynyk. That says a lot to me.

In fact, in my reading on Olynyk, a common theme is that he builds relationships everywhere he goes. There was one comment that he can’t walk into a gym in the country without knowing someone.

It is unfortunate that Olynyk’s years in Lethbridge have been lost in the sands of time, because he was a household name in basketball circles around here back then.

He was, and is, much more than Kelly’s dad.