Though Vancouver may be known for our Canucks team, the BC Lions are Vancouver’s oldest professional sports team. Lui Passaglia was a part of the BC Lions team for a record breaking 25 years as the team’s placekicker. During his time playing with the BC Lions Passaglia scored more points in that time than any other North American football player in history, earning him places in Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame and the BC Lions Hall of Fame. Born right here in Vancouver, Passaglia played quarterback at his high school Notre Dame Regional Secondary School in East Vancouver. Upon graduating he was accepted to Simon Fraser University in Burnaby where he played wide receiver as well as kicker. During his time playing for Simon Fraser’s team The Clan he scored a recorded 175 points, won the District 1 honours twice and was named an All-Northwest All-Star. Passaglia was the fifth selection for the BC Lions after finishing his time at Simon Fraser in the 1976 CFL Canadian College Draft as kicker and wide receiver. While playing for the CFL Passaglia played the most regular seasons at 25 years, played the most games at 408 and scored the most points in a regular season at 3,991 points all with the BC Lions. Passaglia holds many CFL records such as being named a CFL Western Division All-Star nine times and CFL All-Star nine times. Passaglia retired from the CFL following the BC Lions 88th Grey Cup in 2000 where he scored the winning points. After his retirement from the BC Lions he worked for seven years as the team’s director of community relations, he left the position in 2007 to spend time on his family property development business. He has lived in Coquitlam for the last 20 years and in 2014 publicly announced he was battling stage 3 colon cancer and by going public intended to fundraise for research and treatment against the illness.  

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