Three North Shore football legends will be part of the class of 2019 inducted into the BC Football Hall of Fame.
BC Lions great Lawrence “Sonny” Homer, electric NFL speedster Jerome Pathon, and longtime official Allan Sinclair will all enter the Hall of Fame Oct. 5 in a class that includes 14 total inductees.
Homer starred for the hometown BC Lions, helping the team win their first-ever Grey Cup championship in 1964. That year was his greatest as a pro, with the receiver catching 50 passes for 776 yards. He ended his career as one of the most prolific receivers in team history, making 217 catches for 3,765 yards, earning a spot on the BC Lions Wall of Fame in 2003.
Homer was born in Trail but moved with his family to North Vancouver when he was five, starring at North Vancouver High School in Grade 10 and 11 before moving to Vancouver College for Grade 12. Homer’s legend grew in college when in his second year at Grey’s Harbour Junior College in Washington State he needed to have one of his kidneys removed. Few people in the football world knew that he played his entire pro career with only one kidney. Homer died in North Vancouver in 2006
Pathon is one of the great pro success stories out of the North Shore high school football system. A star at Carson Graham, Pathon went on to play at Acadia University and the University of Washington before getting picked in the second round of the 1998 NFL draft by the Indianapolis Colts. He played eight seasons in the NFL, 99 career games, and totaled 3,350 receiving yards on 260 career catches, including 15 touchdowns. Pathon was also a prolific kick returner, piling up 773 yards on 36 career kickoff returns.
Sinclair is going into the Hall of Fame as a builder following more than 50 years in the game. He played for North Vancouver High School from 1947 to 1949 and returned as a coach in 1950 to help the schools junior team win a provincial title. In 1960 he started a career as a football official that lasted for 59 years. Sinclair started with the North Shore Gordon Sturtride Football League and then expanded from there, officiating games at Swangard Stadium, UBC, SFU, BC Place, Empire Stadium and beyond, including CFL games as part of the stick crew.
Sinclair received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the BC High School Football Officials Association in 2018.
