John McKeachie, who became well-known to B.C. sports fans as a member of the BCTV news team, wasn't born into the business.

He was always interested in sports, playing baseball and basketball growing up in Victoria then working eight years in the sporting goods industry. But he was a late convert to broadcasting, taking on a summer job with the old CKDA radio station, after breaking his jaw playing basketball at the University of Victoria.

The summer job became a career. He quickly moved up the ladder, working with CKNW radio on Vancouver Canucks hockey and B.C. Lions football games, then latching on with BCTV, where he lasted more than 25 years. Outside BCTV, McKeachie's hosting and broadcast career covered everything from the B.C. Summer and Winter Games to the Olympic Games in 1992 and '94, and more recent stints on talk radio.

Big John continues to be a sought-after personality who volunteers his time hosting events for various charities around B.C.

SPONSORED BY HOWE & GRAMLICH WEALTH MANAGEMENT

Given the worldly appeal of soccer, it was only natural that a person with all-worldly experience covered the sport in Greater Victoria in the 1970s.

Sportswriter Max Low was a man whose writing talents took him from New Zealand to Iran to Nottingham, England, then in 1968 to Vancouver, where he worked for Canadian Press.

Upon moving to the Island in 1971, he began what would be a 26-year stint with Victoria's daily newspapers. Starting with the morning Colonist, moving to the afternoon Times, then settling in with the merged Times-Colonist through his retirement in 1997, Low became well-known as the voice in print of soccer and rugby, an "at the match" booster of sports whose work helped increase their popularity with fans and players alike.

SPONSORED BY THE TIMES COLONIST