Jenny Rauh and Bob Beveridge were named UBC's top athletes for 1996/97 at the annual Big Block Athletic Awards Banquet March 26. At the banquet, 130 students were made Big Block members for having met the requirement of competing for two years on a UBC Thunderbird team.
Rauh, a 25-year-old North Vancouver native and fifth-year Education student, had an outstanding season with the women's volleyball team, leading to a silver-medal finish at the 1997 CIAU Championships last month. The three-year national team veteran was named a first team All Canadian and was one of the most dominant attackers in the country.
UBC was edged 15-12 in the fifth and deciding set of the CIAU final by the three-time CIAU Champion Alberta Pandas.
Beveridge, a six-foot-six, 310-pound offensive tackle with UBC's football T-Birds, received the Bobby Gaul Award as UBC's Most Outstanding Graduating Male Athlete. Beveridge, a 23-year-old native of London, Ont., was a first team All Canadian and was the B.C. Lion's first pick in the Canadian College Draft.
He has also attracted the interest of a number of NFL teams and has been tested by scouts from the Washington Redskins and Houston Oilers.
The T-Birds won their last three league games to finish 5-3 and qualify for the CWUAA final but lost 37-16 to the eventual Vanier Cup Champion Saskatchewan Huskies.
Beveridge is also the president of the Thunderbird Athletes' Council and gives much volunteer time to school groups through the Thunderbird Outreach Program as well as other fund-raising and promotional activities. He graduates this month in Human Kinetics.
The UBC Big Block Club, founded in 1920 and named for the block letters emblazoned on the club sweater, has a total membership of just over 8,000.