A basketball player from British Columbia emerges as an NCAA
standout at a West-coast NCAA university, before taking his game
to the pros as a pioneer of Canadian Basketball. It’s a story
all Canadian basketball fans are familiar with, but with an
unexpected twist. This isn’t the story of Steve Nash – this
story takes place 40 years earlier, and his name is Bob
Houbregs.  Standing 6-7, 225 pounds, the Vancouver-native
Houbregs attended the University of Washington from 1949 to 1953
where he completed a stellar college career. In 1952, Houbregs
was a Second Team Consensus All-America selection. As a senior
in 1953, he was named NCAA Player of the Year, was a Consensus
All-America selection, helped lead the University of Washington
to the Final Four, and was named to the All-Tournament team
after averaging 34.8 points in the post-season.  The NBA was
still very young when Houbregs entered the professional ranks.
The Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National
Basketball League (NBL) had merged just