Congratulations to Vic Pruden who was recently selected as the Ukrainian Sportsman of the Year at the St. Nicholas Men's Club 48th Annual dinner on May 10. Pruden, whose parents were both of Ukrainian heritage and who grew up in Winnipeg's North End, is a well-known veteran of basketball in Manitoba. He began coaching in 1957 when he coached the Isaac Newton High School Juvenile boy's team to a Provincial Championship. Vic had a successful coaching career at the high school, university, provincial and national levels. In eight years of coaching high school varsity boys at the Sisler and Vincent Massey, his teams won five provincial championships. In 1966, Vic started the intercollegiate men's program at United College, becoming the University of Winnipeg in 1967 and in 1972, he started the women's intercollegiate Wesmen program. In the late 1970's, Vic also coached the National Junior Women's Team.In addition to coaching, Vic devoted a great deal of time and effort to basketball development. He was a founder of The Fort Garry Invitational Tournament (F.G.I.T.) and the University of Winnipeg Wesmen Classic. He started the Wesmen Summer Basketball School and the Royal Canadian Legion Basketball Camp at the Peace Gardens.
Vic also authored "A CONCEPTUAL APPROACH TO BASKETBALL", published in 1987. Soon after, he developed a 4-on-4 developmental basketball game for boys and
girls under 13 called BeeBall.
Vic was inducted into the Manitoba Basketball Hall of Fame as a builder in 1994. He joins other Basketball Hall of Fame inductees, Fred Ingaldson, Mike Ruta and Ken
Galanchuk, who have also been honoured as the Ukrainian Sportsman of the Year.