Under head coach Lawrence Nagy, the 1988 Okanagan Sun had one of its most memorable seasons since playing in its first season in the British Columbia Football Conference in 1981.
That year, the team went undefeated in the regular season before capturing the BCJFA Championship against the Richmond Raiders and winning the Western Canadian Championship against the Saskatoon Hilltops.
1988 also marked the Sun’s first ever Canadian championship game appearance, where they were matched up against the Burlington Jr Tigercats. The club started slowly and led the first quarter by a small margin of 3-0. The Sun juggernaut offense woke up in the second quarter, as the Tiger Cats seemed ill prepared for the passing game like the Sun had to offer. The Sun had a 27-0 half-time lead, with no let up in the second half. By the end of the game, the Okanagan Sun outplayed the Burlington Jr Tigercats to a score of 50-0 to win the Canadian Championship for the first time in team history. Quarterback Shane Brezden finished the day with 394 yards and 4 touchdowns on 24 of 42 completions while the Sun defense allowed Burlington just 89 yards of net offense.
That year, Shane Brezden received the team’s MVP honours for the season, while other awards went to Darcy Kilba for being the top rookie, and Rick Holmes for being the team’s scoring leader.
For their memorable championship season, the 1988 Okanagan Sun team was also inducted into the Central Okanagan Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
