From 1976 to 1984, the Victoria West Soccer Club compiled a Canadian soccer record unequaled by any other club in the nation. At the start of their eighth decade, Vic West assembled a team of good young players that came up through the local minor soccer system, and during that glorious run, they won six BC and four Canadian championships!

By the 1974 season, the Vancouver Island Soccer League had expanded to 40 teams and the league had gained some credibility. Columnist Max Low confirmed that two years after the new alignment, the game was booming and drawing crowds equal to the old Pacific Coast Soccer League. Vic West's coach, George Paul, recruited an entire gang of young Victoria talent including Steve Forslund, Butch Foster, Gary McLaren, Jim De Goode, John McGuire, Rob Williams, and Steve Moss who played together throughout the West's greatest decade. In 1976, Vic Wests won their 16th historic Jackson Cup, and as Vancouver Island Soccer League champions, they went on to defeat the Italia Canadian side to become only the second Victoria club to engrave their name on the Province Cup. The team, coached by Doug Hill, made plans for Winnipeg and the Canadian finals where they beat Fort Rouge in a come -from-behind victory to win the Dominion Challenge Cup.

Vic Wests would do it all again in the 1978-79 season. With Bob English as coach, they beat UVic for the Jackson Cup, trounced Vancouver Croatia for the Province Cup, and then went on to score their second Dominion Challenge Cup by defeating the La Salle Olympiques.

The 1980-81 season saw the Wests defeat the Surrey Firefighters in the Provincial finals for yet another BC crown but they lost to Calgary in a penalty shoot-out after overtime. Their plans for the threepete were dashed.

The next season would be different as Lady Luck smiled on the Wests in their nail-biting defeat of Vancouver Croatia for a fourth BC title. The team went on to beat Winnipeg and Calgary in the Western finals, and then enjoyed a character-building match where they scored four times on Saskatoon United in a howling wind and atrocious field conditions for a third Canadian title.

Butch Foster was the 1983-84 playing coach when they defeated Kamloops for a sixth Province Cup. Victoria hosted the Canadian finals when the Wests won their fourth Canadian title in eight unbelievable seasons -- 1976, 1979, 1983 and 1984. Included in the Vic West's astonishing run were four straight BC titles -- the only team to hold that distinction in the history of the Province Cup, and as the dominant amateur soccer team in Canada, the Wests did it with an unparalleled commitment to teamwork.

SPONSORED BY VICTORIA WEST ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION

Archie was born in 1927 and he clearly had a love of the sport from a tender age. Stan Shillington, in writing the history of BC Lacrosse, commented that during the late 1930s, a skinny little blond kid picked up a lacrosse stick in New Westminster and pronounced he had found his game. Older, wiser box lacrosse buffs chuckled, pointing out that, although the youngster was lightning-quick, he was too slight to endure the rough and tumble sport.

But Archie Browning built a net in his back yard and practiced until he could put that ball between the posts from any angle. After that, he attached a lard tin to each top corner and shot for the tins. At 17, he and lifetime buddy, Whitey Severson, tried out for the New Westminster Junior team, but were cut because both were considered too small. Not to be denied, they then tried out, and made, the Adanacs Senior club. As a matter of fact, Archie won the 1945 Rookie of the Year award by notching 61 points. After six years of stellar play elsewhere, Archie arrived in Victoria and commenced a run of eight seasons with the Shamrocks.

His hard work and shooting accuracy earned him accolades and he was named the Western League's playoff MVP in 1953. He captured the Western scoring title in 1951 and shared the same award with Severson in 1952. Archie took part in seven Mann Cup Championships in his career with three of those as a Shamrock. After two seasons coming up just short, the Shamrocks found the answer and they defeated their traditional rivals from Peterborough in the national final. The Daily Colonist headlines read "Victoria Goes Wild as Shamrocks Take Coveted Mann Cup."

Archie was one of the games truly great players and columnist, Denny Boyd, once wrote, "I think Archie Browning is the greatest lacrosse player I have ever seen. Jack Bionda has more flamboyance and more tricks, but I have never seen anyone who could do more offensively or defensively, who could shoot with such fantastic precision, or who played as hard as this little blond with the bleached eyebrows."

Archie wasn't just one of the brilliant lacrosse players of his generation. He gave back to the community in many ways including coaching junior box lacrosse between 1953 and 1958. He spent more than a decade as President, Director and Head Coach of the Esquimalt Minor Lacrosse Association, and he was a widely respected policeman on the Esquimalt Police Force.

Sadly, his life ended on November 18, 1989 at the age of 62, a victim of cancer. Two years later, the community he served, both as an athlete and a policeman, honoured him by officially renaming the Esquimalt Sports Centre the Archie Browning Sports Centre.

SPONSORED BY THE VICTORIA SHAMROCKS LACROSSE TEAM