Gillian Thomas joins just six other Athlete All Rounders in the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame and is the first female athlete to be so honoured. Over a long and illustrious career, Gill excelled in field hockey, softball, squash, badminton, tennis and basketball.

In 1957 Gill started her outstanding athletic accomplishments when just 12 years old as she won the junior girls singles tennis championship in Victoria . She paired with Ray Aldeguer in 1961 to win the Club Mixed Doubles Championships and in 1962 with her partner, Margaret Foreman, scored second in the Provincial Doubles Championship. At the same time she was on the Victoria High school basketball team that won the 1962 Vancouver Island High school championship, and a year later she played on the senior B championship basketball team.

In badminton, two years, later Gill teamed with Alison Daysmith to win the Canadian Junior badminton Doubles in Montreal. She won the B.C. Junior badminton singles title In 1965, and the next year, playing out of the Victoria Lawn Tennis and Badminton Club, she was the club women's singles champion.

Gill started her senior softball career in Victoria in 1961, playing for the Vicettes under the coaching of Hall of Famer Walter Yeamans. The team won the Senior "B" Provincial championships in 1961 and 1962, and in 1963 they won the Western Regional Canadian Championships. Following as a Senior "A" team in 1965, they won the Provincial Championships and were finalists in the Canadian Championships in Winnipeg. Gill moved to Vancouver in 1966, to play for the Senior "A" team called the Vancouver Texacos. They won the Provincial Championships in 1966 and 1967. In 1969 the Texacos, now called the Eldorados, went to Halifax for the first Canada Summer Games where they won bronze.

In 1970, Gill won the South Hill top batter league award with a .492 batting average. In 1972, the team had a new sponsor, Green and Louie Realtors, and they became the first BC team to win a Canadian Championship. Gill was named the all-star shortstop at the tournament and later was inducted into the Vancouver South Hill Sports Softball Hall of Fame.

From 1963 to 1965 she played for the Victoria Greyhounds Field Hockey Team and was then named to the BC team that won the National tournament held in Vancouver. In 1966, she was recruited for the Canadian team and played as a speedy right wing. Gill is remembered for entering the scoring circle and blasting one of her legendary rocket shots on goal. The team toured Jamaica in 1966 in preparation for the Women's International Tournament, held in West Germany the following year. After the World Championship was over, they played games in Holland, Ireland, and Scotland.

Gill qualified for the BC Women's Squash Team in 1977, 78, and 79, and she won the BC Women's Senior "A" Singles Squash Championship held in Victoria to become the number one ranked player in the Province.

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Derek Porter enters the Hall of Fame in the Athlete category for his illustrious rowing career. There may have been a genetic reason for his chosen sport as his father, Hugh, earned a rowing bronze on behalf of the United Kingdom at the 1958 Commonwealth Games. Derek picked up an oar in his second year at the University of Victoria looking for a new sporting challenge and one that might propel him to fulfill his dream of competing at the Olympics. In short order Derek was part of the Canadian Men's Eight Team and soon after that he was standing atop the Olympic podium.

Prior to the 1992 Olympics, Derek rowed in the Canadian Men's Eight at the 1990 and 1991 World Championships, finishing second to Germany each time. But at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, the Canadian Men's Eight won gold in a photo finish with the Canadian boat beating Romania by 0.14 seconds.

Derek brings a unique perspective to being an elite athlete as he accomplished world renown for competing both as a member of a team and as an individual. After the Olympics, with most of the team retiring, Derek decided to continue rowing but he turned to single sculls - a change of disciplines that means going from one oar to two. That suited him just fine and in a single year, he became the best on the planet. In 1993, he won the single scull event at the World Rowing Championships, the first Canadian male to win the title in more than 70 years. By 1996 he was one of the favorites at the Summer Olympics where he won silver for Canada.

Following the 1996 Olympics, Porter devoted himself to chiropractic school, and finished twelfth and thirteenth at the 1997 and 1998 World Championships, respectively. In 1999, Porter spent more practice time in rowing and he went on to place third at the 1999 World Championship in the single scull. One of the most anticipated rowing events at the 2000 Olympics was men's single scull. In addition to Porter, it featured two-time World Champion Rob Waddell, defending Olympic Champion and three-time World Championship silver medalist Zeeno Müller, and rising star Marcel Hacker. The race lived up to the hype. Derek finished fourth in the closest Olympic race ever with just over two seconds separating first place from fourth and he retired soon after.

Derek is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions including the International Fairplay Award; Order of British Columbia; twice Victoria Male Athlete of the Year; Rowing Canada Outstanding Service Award, and induction into both the BC Sports Hall of Fame as an individual and team member, the UVIC Sports Hall of Fame and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.

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