Archie was born in 1927 and he clearly had a love of the sport from a tender age. Stan Shillington, in writing the history of BC Lacrosse, commented that during the late 1930s, a skinny little blond kid picked up a lacrosse stick in New Westminster and pronounced he had found his game. Older, wiser box lacrosse buffs chuckled, pointing out that, although the youngster was lightning-quick, he was too slight to endure the rough and tumble sport.

But Archie Browning built a net in his back yard and practiced until he could put that ball between the posts from any angle. After that, he attached a lard tin to each top corner and shot for the tins. At 17, he and lifetime buddy, Whitey Severson, tried out for the New Westminster Junior team, but were cut because both were considered too small. Not to be denied, they then tried out, and made, the Adanacs Senior club. As a matter of fact, Archie won the 1945 Rookie of the Year award by notching 61 points. After six years of stellar play elsewhere, Archie arrived in Victoria and commenced a run of eight seasons with the Shamrocks.

His hard work and shooting accuracy earned him accolades and he was named the Western League's playoff MVP in 1953. He captured the Western scoring title in 1951 and shared the same award with Severson in 1952. Archie took part in seven Mann Cup Championships in his career with three of those as a Shamrock. After two seasons coming up just short, the Shamrocks found the answer and they defeated their traditional rivals from Peterborough in the national final. The Daily Colonist headlines read "Victoria Goes Wild as Shamrocks Take Coveted Mann Cup."

Archie was one of the games truly great players and columnist, Denny Boyd, once wrote, "I think Archie Browning is the greatest lacrosse player I have ever seen. Jack Bionda has more flamboyance and more tricks, but I have never seen anyone who could do more offensively or defensively, who could shoot with such fantastic precision, or who played as hard as this little blond with the bleached eyebrows."

Archie wasn't just one of the brilliant lacrosse players of his generation. He gave back to the community in many ways including coaching junior box lacrosse between 1953 and 1958. He spent more than a decade as President, Director and Head Coach of the Esquimalt Minor Lacrosse Association, and he was a widely respected policeman on the Esquimalt Police Force.

Sadly, his life ended on November 18, 1989 at the age of 62, a victim of cancer. Two years later, the community he served, both as an athlete and a policeman, honoured him by officially renaming the Esquimalt Sports Centre the Archie Browning Sports Centre.

SPONSORED BY THE VICTORIA SHAMROCKS LACROSSE TEAM

Roy was born and raised in Victoria and started his career in 1961 as a crew member on his Dad's, the great Jim Haslam's, modified race car. A few years later, partway through the 1965 season, Roy started driving Jalopy Class race cars. Racing in Nanaimo the very next year, the young driver was named Vancouver Island Track Racing Association's Driver of the Year. His career was launched.

In 1967 Roy was Stock Car points champion, and he won the Roy White Memorial, the Billy Foster 100 and the Corby Cup. A year later in 1968, Roy moved up to the Super Stock class and continued to assert himself as a champion driver by winning the July Cup. He finished 3rd in the season point championships. In 1969 he was 5th in points and he and his team also ran in the US. Roy finished 6th in Late Model points in 1970 and that same year he won the Canadian 100 Go-Kart race at Westwood.

Following 1971, where he finished 3rd in Super Stock points, Roy dropped to 11th the next year, but the team won the Best Appearing Crew award for all classes. In 1973 Roy was 2nd in Super Stock points and 3rd in the Popular Driver vote.

Success continued, and in 1974 Roy was 6th in points and won the Carling Challenge Race for Super Stocks. The next year, he won the Carling Opener in the Super Stock class, the Canada 200 and also the Carling Open Series Championship. He repeated this win in 1976.

Roy would continue his amazing win record for the next 20 years. Highlights include:

 - Edmonton International Speedway road course 8000 winner in 1976
 - I.D.C. Championship Open Super Stocks in 1978 as well as being named driver of the year
 - Limited Open SS Track Record Holder in 1979
 - Speedweeks North West Champion (Open Super Stock) in 1980
 - Two-time Boomerang 250 off-road race winner in 1981-82

In 1981 Roy was also the Pepsi Challenge Champion and Canada 200 winner. In 1982 he won the Invitational Race of Champions in Stateline Washington. In 1983 he repeated as Canada 200 winner and was the Canadian Off-Road Magazine Series Champion. In 1985 he won the July Cup and the Canada 200 for the third time. That same year he was Super Stock Points Champion, MISS Points Champion, and he held track records in both open and local Super Stock classes. In 1986 he was the Local Super Stock Points Champion and won both the Corby Cup and the season Championship Race. In 1987 Roy was the Pro Stock Champion and repeated for another astonishing three years. In 1991 he was the winner of the Yakima Speedway Fall Classic.

1993 was a successful season as well, and Roy won three Can/Am Main Events, more than any other racer. He did it again in 1994 with three Main Event wins and two Old Time Racers Association Main Event wins.

SPONSORED BY LITTLE & DAVIES INSURANCE l FINANCIAL PLANNING