David Griffith, who led the Langara Falcons to back-to-back Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association crowns in Men’s Soccer, was inducted into the CCAA Hall of Fame in the Athlete Category.
Griffith and the Falcons captured National titles in 1999 and 2000. He was named tournament most valuable player at each National Championship.
He earned CCAA All-Canadian status as well as a CCAA Academic All-Canadian honours three times (1997, 1998, 1999).
“David enjoyed an amazing career that saw him win every conceivable CCAA award possible over the four year span he spent at Langara,” said Jake McCallum, Director, Athletics & Intramurals at Langara College.
“He truly embraced being a student-athlete and he dedicated as much time to studies as he did to honing his craft on the pitch.”
Griffith also earned a bronze medal in 1997 at his first CCAA Men’s Soccer National Championship, where he led the tournament in scoring as a rookie. One of his fondest memories to this day is his first trip to Nationals, hosted by John Abbott College in Montreal.
“We were treated like stars,” said Griffith. “Our hosts made us feel so comfortable barring the extremely cold weather which was out of their control.”
While Langara had to settle for bronze, the experience they gathered in Montreal prepared them for future trips to CCAA Nationals.
“Even though we didn’t win gold that year, we had an amazing group of guys where a different player would step up in each game to make a game changing play,” he said.
In 2000, Griffith was recognized as the first CCAA Male Athlete of the Year Across All Sports. He couldn’t believe it.
“Being recognized for excellence in your sport is amazing but when you are recognized as a contender for such a prestigious award out of all the athletes in all the CCAA sports, it is a feeling I can’t describe,” said Griffith. “When they called my name as the winner I thought they had made a mistake.”
Amazingly, Griffith was a walk-on at Langara. He went on to score 25 goals in 27 British Columbia Colleges Athletic Association (BCCAA, now PACWEST) contests.
“David’s laid back and laissez-fair personality were quickly forgotten when he stepped on the pitch and his incredible skill level and innate ability to play the game of soccer took over,” said McCallum.
