Howard Kelsey

Howard Kelsey (born 8 August 1957) is a former Canadian basketball player and two-time Olympian. He is one of only four athletes to be named to the Canada men's national basketball team immediately out of high school. Over the course of 11 years (1977–88), Kelsey represented Canada in many tournaments in over 400 total games, including two Olympics (1980, 1984); three FIBA World Championships; Kelsey still holds the all-time career scoring record in B.C. high school basketball history with a 37.5 ppg average. This 1980 Canadian Olympic team was positioned to be a medal-contender given that Canada competed for the bronze medal in the Olympic games preceding and following these 1980 Olympics (1976, 1984), with this time of Canadian basketball being described as "arguably the Canadian national team's greatest era" and "Canada's golden age of basketball".

Canada finished 4th overall in the 1984 Olympics, narrowly missing a medal. This 1984 bronze-medal game constituted the only time in the past 80+ years where Canada has had a legitimate chance of winning an Olympic medal in basketball. This 1983 gold medal win constituted one of the finest moments in Canadian basketball history, being the only time in which Canada has won the gold medal in an international basketball tournament. Additionally, in the 1981 World Student Games, Kelsey started for the Canadian team that achieved its first-ever victory over the United States in an international men's basketball tournament.

At Principia, he earned Conference MVP honors;

Kelsey is a co-founder of the Canadian National Alumni Association, an organization aimed at assisting male and female alumni of Canadian national basketball teams; Kelsey continues to help the association to the present day.

Kelsey is the founder of the Puerto Vallarta International Sports Classic, which enjoys around 2,000 annual participants in multiple sports.

Post-career Awards Kelsey was inducted into the Canada Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and builder (2019); into the BC Sports Hall of Fame (2012); into the Basketball BC Hall of Fame (2007); into the Principia College Sports Hall of Fame; and was the inaugural inductee into the Point Grey High School Sports Hall of Fame.

Additionally, Kelsey was named a member of The Province newspaper's 50-year "Dream Team", as well as one of the newspaper's top 25 players of all time.

Kelsey was also awarded an NCAA postgraduate scholarship for athletic and academic excellence.

Personal life Kelsey was born on 8 August 1957. He did not start playing basketball until seventh grade, where he played in a church league. Kelsey earned a Master of Science in Athletic Administration from the University of Oregon. Kelsey now divides his time between Vancouver and Mexico.