Longtime KIBT organizer Wayne Harper will be one of the 14 members of KIBT's volunteer team inducted into the Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame in 2023 (Image credit: CFJC Today/File photo).

By Aaron Schulze

Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame 2023

KIBT team of volunteers inducted into Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame

Mar 9, 2023 | 6:10 AM

KAMLOOPS — For the first time in its 33-year history, the Kamloops Sports Hall of Fame (KSHF) will not see a sports team enshrined.

Instead, a group of volunteers will be in the spotlight.

In a news release, the KSHF Selection Committee announced the Kamloops International Baseball Tournament (KIBT) team of volunteers will be inducted in the class of 2023.

The committee says 14 people make up the team who have kept Kamloops’ mid-summer tournament operating for 49 years, including KIBT’s co-founders Lyn Bylund and Gary Cameron.

Other men and women to be inducted include current members of KIBT’s executive: Wayne and Jan Harper, Tom Blair, Linda Coutts and Ron Masson. Late members to be inducted include John Braun, Donna Hagen, Dean Padar, Fran Pope, and Pat Swaine. The 14-member team is rounded by Verna Desjardins and Diane Wells.

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“The tournament has struggled because of the pandemic over the last three years leaving a 50^th year of operation up in the air,” the committee states. “But KIBT’s fixture on the Kamloops sports map is well entrenched. Baseball fans from Kamloops, all of B.C., Alberta and the Pacific Northwest have made it a focal part of their summer holidays.”

The KIBT volunteer team joins Gary Reed, Jessica Vliegenthart and Doug Collins in the KSHF class of 2023. The class will officially be inducted at a ceremony on April 29.