Nathan Hirayama rose from rugby stardom on Wallace Field at the University of Victoria to carrying the Canadian flag in the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Next year he will carry his career accomplishments into the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Sports Hall of Fame with the Class of 2025 announced Wednesday.
“Receiving both of those phone calls were different in their own way but both left me shocked and hugely honoured,” said Hirayama.
“It is moments like this when I think back to how much enjoyment the game gave me and how proud I was to represent ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½.”
Also to be enshrined in the Class of 2025 are all-time world scoring leader, former ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ women’s soccer captain and three-time Olympic-medallist Christine Sinclair of Burnaby and former NHL player Ray Ferraro from Trail. The other athletes to be inducted are 14-time Paralympics-medallist swimmer Walter Wu of Richmond and former world-champion mountain biker Cindy Devine of North Vancouver.
“It’s amazing to be going in with Class full of people I’ve watched and looked up to,” said Hirayama.
He wasn’t too bad himself. Hirayama was a swiftly-elegant and elusive player on the pitch, who retired in 2021, as the third-leading scorer in World Rugby sevens history with 1,859 points. Nineteen of those were scored in helping lead ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ to the quarter-finals of the surreal, one-year delayed Tokyo Olympics, in an empty National Stadium in his paternal ancestral homeland. Days earlier, Hirayama and women’s basketball player Miranda Ayim were chosen to co-carry the Canadian flag into the hauntingly empty stadium during the opening ceremony.
“It was a strange time, with talk the Games would be cancelled a second time, and it was a roller-coaster of emotions and feelings,” recalled Hirayama.
Hirayama also played in three Commonwealth Games and won two gold medals and a silver in the Pan Am Games. He earned 23 caps for ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ in XVs and played in three World Cups.
“A bunch of us did it together for a long time on the national team and I loved my teammates. This is really their celebration, as well,” said Hirayama, now a firefighter in Richmond.
The five seasons of success with the Vikes were a key juncture in his development, out of McRoberts Secondary in Richmond, with Hirayama named UVic athlete of the year across all sports in 2008: “It was a massive decision and one of the best I made to go to UVic and play for the Vikes under Doug Tate.”
It helped pave the path into the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Sports Hall of Fame.
To be inducted into the builders/coaches category in the Class of 2025 are sports psychologist Dr. Saul Miller, who has worked with Olympians and NHL, MLB, NBA and NFL players down to WHL teams; Wes Woo, Canadian weightlifting team head coach at three Olympics; and the late Chandra Madhosingh, labeled the ‘Father of Table Tennis in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½’
The 2000 Grey Cup-champion ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Lions will be enshrined in the team category, the Vancouver Meralomas’ club founders in the pioneer category and former Hockey Night in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ broadcaster Jim Hughson from Fort St. John in the media category.
The Class of 2025 will join the 452 individuals and 69 teams enshrined since 1966. The provincial Sports Hall of Fame is located in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Place Stadium.
