View of Griffiths Stadium with bleachers at left, football field and scoreboard at centre, and bleachers at right. University buildings in background are Hangar Building, Engineering Building, and feed (grain) elevator.

Bio/Historical Note: Prior to 1936, the University of Saskatchewan football team played its home games at Cairns Field on the corner of Avenue A (now Idylwyld Drive North) and 25th Street West. Athletic Director E.W. (Joe) Griffiths longed for a ‘‘home field’’ and had lobbied for its construction since his arrival on campus in 1919. Merits of the project were debated back and forth but little progress was made. In 1935 a student-organized bowling tournament raised $275 and kick-started the process. C.J. Mackenzie, first Dean of Engineering, next seized the initiative by organizing and chairing the U of S Stadium Fund Association. The plan was to fund construction in stages with donations from “students, graduates, faculty and well-wishing business men of the community.” Architectural plans, supplied “gratis” by faculty of the College of Engineering, envisioned a structure costing $25,000 whose final stages would include a grand entrance, bus mall, dressing rooms, showers, etc. The corner of College Street and Cumberland Avenue, site of the ill-fated 1912 City Hospital project, was chosen as the stadium location. Although tenders were initially called for, the University decided to build the project itself using primarily student labour. With the Depression showing no signs of lifting, the University saw the stadium as an opportunity to give financial aid to several students who were in danger of having to discontinue their studies. Sod was turned 17 May 1936, under the supervision of Professor A.R. Greig, Superintendent of Buildings; construction was carried out through the summer. The first stage of the original Griffiths Stadium was officially opened 3 October 1936 amid speeches, bands and a parade. In front of 2,000 fans, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies beat the Alberta Golden Bears 5-3. Decades later, the widening of College Drive and the desire for a new stadium combined to fuel construction of today’s Griffiths Stadium, a few hundred metres east of the original site. It was officially opened 23 June 1967. Improvements were made in 1988 to accommodate the Jeux Canada Games.

Stephen Lewis, honourary Doctor of Laws degree recipient, speaks from podium and Convocation.

Bio/Historical Note: Stephen Henry Lewis was born in 1937 in Ottawa. When his family moved to Toronto in 1950, he attended secondary school first at Toronto's Oakwood Collegiate Institute, and then his final three years of high school at Harbord Collegiate Institute. In 1956, Lewis entered the University of Toronto (U of T) where he became a member of the Hart House debating committee, and on 14 November 1957, debated the senator and future American president, John F. Kennedy, on the question, "Has the United States failed in its responsibilities as a world leader?” After teaching English in Africa, Lewis worked as director of organization for the federal New Democratic Party (1961-62). He was a member of the Ontario legislature for Scarborough West from 1963-1978 and became leader of the Ontario NDP in 1970. Lewis was active in demanding the 1972 disbandment of the Waffle, a left-wing NDP faction. As leader, his greatest electoral success occurred in 1975 when the NDP became the Official Opposition. A year after the NDP's electoral setback in 1977, Lewis resigned as leader and became a media commentator, lecturer, and labour arbitrator. In 1984 he was appointed by Brian Mulroney’s government as Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, a post he held until 1988. Lewis was also appointed special advisor to the UN's Secretary-General regarding African affairs until 1991. In the wake of street disturbances in Toronto in 1992, Bob Rae’s Ontario NDP government hired him to prepare a report on race relations in the city. Lewis returned to the UN as the deputy executive director of UNICEF from 1995-1999. In 1997 Lewis was appointed by the Organization of African Unity to a panel to investigate and issue a report (2000) on the Rwandan genocide. Lewis served as a special envoy to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan regarding HIV/AIDs in Africa. In addition to being a passionate and articulate spokesperson for the plight of Africans suffering from the AIDS pandemic, Lewis established the Stephen Lewis Foundation to assist the victims of this disease. In 2005, Lewis presented the CBC Massey lectures and these, in turn, were transcribed into the best-selling book Race Against Time. Lewis was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada (2002) and was awarded the Pearson Peace medal (2004) by the UN Association in Canada. Among his current roles, he is a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on the Social Determinants of Health and a senior advisor to Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health.

Image a: Elevated view of Griffiths Stadium nearing completion, minus stands; an intervarsity rugby game seems to be underway. University buildings in background looking north (l to r): Saskatchewan Hall, Qu'Appelle Hall, Dean of Agriculture's residence, Chemistry, Physics, Administration, Crop Science, Rutherford Rink, and Livestock Pavilion.
Image b: Elevated view looking northwest at Griffiths Stadium and campus buildings in background. Taken from the roof of the School for the Deaf. Immature landscaping in foreground.

Bio/Historical Note: Details about the rugby game from "The University of Saskatchewan / 1909-1959", pg. 19.

Bio/Historical Note: Prior to 1936, the University of Saskatchewan football team played its home games at Cairns Field on the corner of Avenue A (now Idylwyld Drive North) and 25th Street West. Athletic Director E.W. (Joe) Griffiths longed for a ‘‘home field’’ and had lobbied for its construction since his arrival on campus in 1919. Merits of the project were debated back and forth but little progress was made. In 1935 a student-organized bowling tournament raised $275 and kick-started the process. C.J. Mackenzie, first Dean of Engineering, next seized the initiative by organizing and chairing the U of S Stadium Fund Association. The plan was to fund construction in stages with donations from “students, graduates, faculty and well-wishing business men of the community.” Architectural plans, supplied “gratis” by faculty of the College of Engineering, envisioned a structure costing $25,000 whose final stages would include a grand entrance, bus mall, dressing rooms, showers, etc. The corner of College Street and Cumberland Avenue, site of the ill-fated 1912 City Hospital project, was chosen as the stadium location. Although tenders were initially called for, the University decided to build the project itself using primarily student labour. With the Depression showing no signs of lifting, the University saw the stadium as an opportunity to give financial aid to several students who were in danger of having to discontinue their studies. Sod was turned 17 May 1936, under the supervision of Professor A.R. Greig, Superintendent of Buildings; construction was carried out through the summer. The first stage of the original Griffiths Stadium was officially opened 3 October 1936 amid speeches, bands and a parade. In front of 2,000 fans, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies beat the Alberta Golden Bears 5-3. Decades later, the widening of College Drive and the desire for a new stadium combined to fuel construction of today’s Griffiths Stadium, a few hundred metres east of the original site. It was officially opened 23 June 1967. Improvements were made in 1988 to accommodate the 1989 Jeux Canada Games.

View of Griffiths Stadium with bleachers at left, football field, track and scoreboard at centre, and bleachers at right. University buildings in background are Hangar Building, Engineering Building, and feed (grain) elevator.

Bio/Historical Note: Prior to 1936, the University of Saskatchewan football team played its home games at Cairns Field on the corner of Avenue A (now Idylwyld Drive North) and 25th Street West. Athletic Director E.W. (Joe) Griffiths longed for a ‘‘home field’’ and had lobbied for its construction since his arrival on campus in 1919. Merits of the project were debated back and forth but little progress was made. In 1935 a student-organized bowling tournament raised $275 and kick-started the process. C.J. Mackenzie, first Dean of Engineering, next seized the initiative by organizing and chairing the U of S Stadium Fund Association. The plan was to fund construction in stages with donations from “students, graduates, faculty and well-wishing business men of the community.” Architectural plans, supplied “gratis” by faculty of the College of Engineering, envisioned a structure costing $25,000 whose final stages would include a grand entrance, bus mall, dressing rooms, showers, etc. The corner of College Street and Cumberland Avenue, site of the ill-fated 1912 City Hospital project, was chosen as the stadium location. Although tenders were initially called for, the University decided to build the project itself using primarily student labour. With the Depression showing no signs of lifting, the University saw the stadium as an opportunity to give financial aid to several students who were in danger of having to discontinue their studies. Sod was turned 17 May 1936, under the supervision of Professor A.R. Greig, Superintendent of Buildings; construction was carried out through the summer. The first stage of the original Griffiths Stadium was officially opened 3 October 1936 amid speeches, bands and a parade. In front of 2,000 fans, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies beat the Alberta Golden Bears 5-3. Decades later, the widening of College Drive and the desire for a new stadium combined to fuel construction of today’s Griffiths Stadium, a few hundred metres east of the original site. It was officially opened 23 June 1967. Improvements were made in 1988 to accommodate the 1989 Jeux Canada Games.

Neil Richards, Library Assistant, stands in the Murray (Main) Library; likely taken at the time of the inaugural presentation of the President's Service Medal.

Bio/Historical Note: Born 11 May 1947 in Bowmanville, Ontario, Neil Richards, BA, SOM, arrived in Saskatoon in 1971 and almost immediately acquired a special place in his heart for the University of Saskatchewan Library. Richards began his 29-year career at the University Library in the reference department and later transferred to the special collections department. In 1995 he was awarded the first ever President’s Service Award for his outstanding contributions to the learning and working environment at the University of Saskatchewan. Even after retirement, he continued to devote at least three hours a day to Special Collections, helping to discover and acquire research materials of interest. Throughout his time as an employee, Richards entrusted his enormous collection of LGBTQ archives to the University of Saskatchewan library. It was one of the earliest and largest collections of LGBTQ interest to be acquired by a Canadian public archive. It was rightfully named the Neil Richards Collection of Sexual and Gender Diversity. “Among the collection's particular strengths are holdings of LGBTQ2+ periodicals, books by Canadian authors and publishers, queer mystery and detective fiction, and titles of both nonfiction and fiction (including pulp novels) which predate the Stonewall Riots of 1969 and the beginning of the Gay Liberation Movement,” reads the collection description. To Richards, the collection was the culmination of his life’s work. Outside of his work at the U of S, Richards played an extremely important role in the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Canadian gay communities. In the 1970s he instigated marches and organized conferences around the country. Richards was a member of the ‘Committee to Defend Doug Wilson’, a group to lobby for Doug Wilson, a teacher at the University of Saskatchewan, whose teaching duties were restricted after his sexual orientation become public. The other committee members were Pat Atkinson, Jean Burgess, Gens Hellquist, Deb Hopkins, Diane Nicolson, Skip Kutz, Mel and Kate McCorriston, Peter Millard, Richard Nordahl, Neil Richards, Bill Slights, Judith Varga, the Honourable Justice Catherine Wedge, and Norman Zepp. Ultimately the case led to a resolution being passed by the Saskatchewan Federation of Labour asking the government to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. In the 1980s, Richards took part in Saskatchewan’s earliest AIDS awareness initiatives and aimed to provide an inclusive place for those in his community; not always an easy undertaking at a time when gay rights and the AIDS crisis were at the forefront of many political debates and often times stigmatized. Richards died suddenly 12 January 2018 in Saskatoon. In May 2018, his legacy was remembered with the posthumous awarding of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, making him what appears to be the first openly LGBTQ2+ person to receive the award.