Fonds 69 - TWU Athletics

In 1963, a large barn located on the property of Trinity Junior College was converted into a gymnasium; the resulting building was fondly referred to by staff and students as the "barnasium." The David E. Enarson gymnasium and Auditorium was completed in 1969, and dedicated in 1970. It was the largest such building in the Fraser Valley at the time of construction. (Architect: Mr. William K. Noppe.)
In 1981 the gymnasium floor suffered water damage, and had to be repaired; in the summer of 1986 the floor was completely replaced.
In 1990 Northwest Baptist College funded the construction of an Annex to the gymnasium.
The Grand Opening of the field complex was celebrated in March of 2001.*

From 1963 to 1969 TJC Athletics teams competed primarily against local high school teams.*
The 1966 Pillar Yearbook records that "this year the TJC Spartans did not participate in a regular league, but played exhibition games with local high schools instead." (p. 38)

In 1970 TJC joined the Totem Conference Athletics Association as a founding member.* In 1977/1978 Trinity Western College joined the National Christian Colleges Athletic Association (NCCAA). The school rejoined the Totem Conference in 1984/1985.
In 1986 the Totem Conference changed its name to the British Columbia Colleges' Athletic Association (BCCAA). The BCCAA is the governing body for college/institute athletics in B.C. (Source: http://bccaa.cotr.bc.ca/about.htm)
In 1998 TWU joined the Canada West Universities Athletic Association (CWUAA) and the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union (CIAU). The CIAU changed its name to Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) in 2001.

School colours were originally brown and gold, thanks to a suggestion from Dean Leland Asa: "One of my early satisfactions was helping to set up some of the traditions, or some of the events that would later become tradition. I helped the students to set up student government, helped them to build a constitution, helped them to select school colours. Actually, the way the school colours came — which are brown and gold, as you know ... I had been at the University of Wyoming the year before, and the colours there were brown and gold, and I had a bit of partiality, and I suggested brown and gold, and they seemed to accept that, and that first year they designated them as school colours, and for these twenty-one years they've survived. The students were looking for a name for their athletic teams, and they cast around and chose the name the 'Spartans' the first year. (Source: TWU Archives Oral History Interview with L. Asa January 29, 1983. Transcript is available online at: http://archives.twu.ca:8080/OHLelandAsa.htm)
A memo dated November 8, 1983, from Arvid Olson to Gary Naylor (Director of Physical Education) states that "The Administrative Committee has approved your recommendation that the athletic team uniform colours become blue/gold/white rather than brown/gold/white. Student Council has supported this colour change ..." (F 3; Box 15; File 11)

On October 7, 2004, it was announced that "2010 LegaciesNow and the Province of British Columbia have invested $33,272 to support high performance athletes at Trinity Western University. The funding comes from the 2004-2005 BC Athlete Assistance Program (AAP), one of four provincial athlete support programs in Canada." (News release from 2010 LegaciesNow)

*Source of asterisked items: "History of TWU and Spartan Athletics" (2002) (F 69 Box 1 File 10)