Sport Successes

xulsi’malt Harry Manson was born and raised on Vancouver Island as part of the Snuneymuxw First Nation of the Coast Salish People. Today, he is recognized and remembered for his amazing athletic abilities on the soccer pitch, and for his work towards breaking racial barriers at the beginning of the twentieth century.

^{Photo of the Nanaimo Association Football Club in 1903. Harry Manson, seated in the first row, second from right, was recognized by the Nanaimo Press in 1907 as the best soccer player Nanaimo ever produced. Courtesy of the BC Sports Hall of Fame}

Some highlights of Harry’s legacy include being recruited by the Nanaimo Thistles as one of the first Indigenous players to appear in a BC Championship match in 1898. He also formally organized the Nanaimo Indian Wanderers Association Football Club (AFC) who won the Nanaimo city championship in 1904. He was one of the first Indigenous players to win a BC Provincial Championship as part of the Nanaimo All-Star team in 1907. He was also recognized that same year by the press as the best soccer player Nanaimo ever produced.

_{^{Harry Manson formally organized the Nanaimo Indian Wanderers Association Football Club (AFC) who won the Nanaimo City Championship in 1904.
Courtesy of the BC Sports Hall of Fame}}

Harry still holds the rare distinction of being the only Indigenous athlete to play on the three Nanaimo Premier soccer teams between 1897-1905.

^{Three generations of Harry Manson’s family attended his induction into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2015. This is Elder Gary Manson, Harry Manson’s grandson, who inherited his grandfather’s Indigenous name. Courtesy of Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame}

In 2014, Harry Manson became the first Indigenous player to be inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame, and, in 2015, he was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.

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