Gryphon Gallery: Scott Braley – Former Glenlyon Teacher Follows a Career in B.C. Sports Administration

You may have noticed that the B.C. Curling Finals were held at Esquimalt’s Archie Browning Arena this past weekend. You may have even heard Al Ferraby of CFAX and parent of a former GNS student, interviewing Scott Braley on the Early Morning Show. What you may not know is that Scott is a former staff member at GNS (Glenlyon School).

Scott Braley joined the Glenlyon staff in 1980 after completing his BA in Mathematics and English and a Teaching Diploma at UVic. He was hired to teach mathematics and coach a fledgling competitive tennis programme. While at UVic, Scott had captained the university’s tennis and badminton teams and was a provincially ranked player. Although his stay at Glenlyon was for only two years, Scott took his tennis team to the highest level. That team of Gr. 8’s Matt Hern, Peter Cheung, Robin Wait and Vince Lebow; Gr. 9’s Chris Wall, Derek Porter and Tim Boyle; and Gr. 10’s Alexander Roethel and Mark Steele-Mortimer; joined with Norfolk House (H.Ladd, A.Grolle, J.Hanley, F.Murray, J.Horwood, L.Hambleton, and C.MacDonald – no photo available) to win all their matches in the newly entered senior (Gr.11/12) division by large margins. They advanced to the Island Championships for the first time, finishing third, and again for the first time qualified for the B.C. High School Championship.

While continuing to love and play tennis – he has been ranked nationally in Masters doubles play – he found his niche in sports administration. From 1991 to 2005 he became Executive Director & CEO for Gymnastics BC. In the lead up to the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, he became the Executive Director of Sport & Recreation BC, overseeing a $12M/year investment of government funds into 10 multi sport organizations and 55 BC Sport Organizations. In one of those organizations, Curl BC, he became and remains Executive Director & CEO. For the past 16 years he has managed operations, revenue generation, partnerships and sponsorship. He oversees a team of more that 90 full/part-time and contract employees in support of several thousand volunteers across the province.

In 2020, Scott received an Eric Whitehead Inspired Service Award from the BC Sports Hall of Fame. 

Scott Braley is a great example of someone who had a very positive impact at GNS (Glenlyon) and has been one of many who brought an expertise that helped to add an important success to the continuing and remarkable story of GNS.