Al Birtles

Walter Allan Birtles grew up in Summerland, British Columbia before earning a degree at the University of Hawaii. Whilst at university Birtles became a good all-round athlete, running in the Hawaii marathon and playing basketball. In the latter he represented Team Canada at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics where he played in all nine of their matches, scoring 50 points. For more than 30 years Birtles worked as a docker in addition to enjoying dragon boat racing in his spare time.