Decades of amazing sports stories foster campus identity
An idea proposed 60 years ago has not only stood the test of time but flourished. In 1964, a year after NAIT’s official opening, Ooks athletics entered a league created specifically as a place for them to compete with other post-secondary insitutions. Today, that league is known as the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference and has 17 members, including NAIT, one of its founders.
It's been an amazing run. Since ’64, NAIT has claimed 60 provincial titles across various sports, and another 40 banners nationally. Individually, student-athletes, coaches and staff have been recognized with myriad best-in-class awards.
And the success keeps coming. Even before the end of 2024 – not even half way through the academic year – three teams have headed to national finals: men’s soccer, golf and cross-country running. “We've never had that in our history,” says Jordan Richey, NAIT Athletics and Recreation director.
Despite the development that comes with the passage of time, the program has stayed true to its roots. Ooks athletics was created as a rallying point for the campus community; everyone was invited to participate. That hasn't changed.
“It's not just the athletes, it's the people coming to the games,” says Richey. “It's the students who are working at the games. It's the identity they have of being an Ook.”
Drawn from six decades, here’s a highlight reel of the evolution of that identity.
1964 – A new school mascot
“The Ookpik is the proposed mascot of N.A.I.T.,” reported The Nugget, NAIT’s student newspaper, on April 13, 1964.
“We all need an Ookpik, it will help you pass, it will make you happy, it will make you great.”
The snowy owl would also come to represent all student-athletes at the polytechnic – just as soon as they had a league in which to compete.
Learn more about NAIT’s adoption of the Ookpik as its official mascot
1964 – A league is born
Following discussions in the previous academic year about the possibility of forming a league – talks that happened between Camrose Lutheran College (now Augustana), Mount Royal Junior College (now Mount Royal University), SAIT and NAIT – the "Western Inter-College Conference" officially began competition.
Basketball was the first sanctioned sport for both men and women’s teams, with exhibition play in volleyball, hockey, cross-country running, curling, badminton and bowling. (The league would change its name to the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference, or ACAC, in 1968.)
Check out the Ooks – free admission for NAIT students and staff! Here’s the schedule of upcoming games in a variety of sports
1984-85 – Winning percentage: 1.000
The 1984-85 men’s hockey team is the stuff of post-secondary legend, going unbeaten from game one of that season through the national championships, including a European tour along the way that saw them win the Altjahres Cup in Switzerland. Final tally: 33 straight games. To this day, the record stands. (If you count from the point the streak began during the 1983-84 season, it’s 52 games.)
1992-93 – Powerhouse on the pitch
The women’s soccer team entered the ACAC in 1992-93 with authority, winning the league’s inaugural championship. They’d maintain that stature, taking the top spot 10 times – more than any other ACAC team – with seven of those in just nine years (2011 to 2019). That’s a record amassed over 32 seasons, versus the men’s 12 championships in 41 seasons, starting in 1984.
2008-20 – Badminton to the bone
While NAIT would win the inaugural ACAC badminton season of 1965-66, its record for championships would be spotty – until 2008. Starting that year, the polytechnic won the team event nine times over the decade to come (interrupted by Concordia University of Edmonton, 2018-19). During that time, the team also earned 30 gold medals in singles and doubles events.
2015-16 – Perfect again
Once again, the men’s Ooks hockey team pulled off a statistically improbable – but obviously not impossible at NAIT – perfect season. The team won 32 games straight to secure the ACAC championship and a spot in the record books just behind the 1983-84 squad.
Check out the history of NAIT men’s hockey by the numbers
2017 – Forever famous
The men’s 1984-85 hockey team was immortalized for its storybook season with induction into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in Red Deer. They are the first Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) team to enter a provincial institution of that kind. The squad was previously recognized by the Alberta Hockey Hall of Fame and by NAIT, pictured on its Wall of Fame.
2020-21 – A season to forget
Just as COVID-19 emptied the stands, so it did the rinks and courts of post-secondary competition. Sadly, the 2020-21 season was cancelled.
2022 – A season to remember
They really didn’t have a chance. The women’s basketball team made it to the national finals by way of a wildcard after finishing the regular season with an eight-and-eight record. They even lost the ACAC final by 25 points. But all that means nothing when you have heart. The team turned out a Cinderella performance, winning gold for the first time in its now 60-year history.
Check out our oral history of the 2022 women’s basketball playoffs
2023 – A gathering for Gary Meadus
As head of student services in 1963, Gary Meadus worked to make NAIT a welcoming place for students. He saw athletics as one way to do that, playing a leading role in the formation of what would become the ACAC.
Meadus retired from NAIT in 1991. Following his passing in March 2023, a memorial was held on campus – in the gym, appropriately.
Learn more about the contributions of Gary Meadus to NAIT
2023 – Par for the race course
After a seven-year hiatus, NAIT returned to ACAC cross-country running and golf, which the polytechnic had previously helped launch in the 1960s. This put the athletics program within reach of a long-sought goal: participation in every league sport. Currently, an application is in for joining the remaining sport, indoor track.
2024 – Kings of the court
After joining the ACAC almost 50 years ago, the men’s volleyball team made history this past spring by winning the national championship. Early in the tournament, the squad came back from the brink of elimination against Providence University College Pilots, then beat les Titans du Cégep Limoilou to take gold in the final.
2024 – Directorial double win
After joining NAIT in 2000 as badminton coach and holding a wide variety of athletics jobs, Jordan Richey took over as director in 2019.
Chief among his accomplishments are the reunification of departments of athletics, recreation and facilities – an effort aimed at more tightly weaving the Ooks and recreation into the cultural fabric of the institute. He’s also played a key role in strengthening the ACAC, to the point where NAIT now sees increasingly tough competition across the board.
For his efforts, Richey was named director of the year by not just the ACAC but nationally as well, by the CCAA. “It validates the work we're doing,” said Richey after the win. “It makes me proud that we are going in the right direction and [that] NAIT is providing the best student experience it can, and that others are noticing.”