The air inside the old gym carried a heavy weight in the fall of 1979. The kind of cold that settles into your bones. But we were shifting. Something new was taking root on the hardwood.

Gary McPherson took the helm as the Alberta Northern Lights wheelchair general manager that year from his Aberhart Hospital room. He was a quiet man. A patient builder. He spent freezing mornings watching the court, his eyes tracking the movement of chairs and the arc of the ball.

TAIT: Gary McPherson helped plant the seeds of Northern Lights basketball greatness Back to video

He was slowly, methodically building one of the greatest wheelchair basketball programs in North America.

He saw what we could be. He saw it before the rest of the world did.

By Christmas, he gave Edmonton the Klondike Classic. Six heavy-hitting teams travelled from south of the border to face the Lights, including teams from Detroit, Nashville and Los Angeles.

McPherson knew what it took to become the best. He knew the Lights needed reinforcing. So, he looked west. He brought in six players from the Vancouver Cable Cars.

Among them were Rick Hansen and Terry Fox.

TAIT: Northern Lights........

© Edmonton Sun