TORONTO, Ont. (November 5, 2019) – Canada Basketball mourns the loss of Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Eli Pasquale, who passed away of cancer Monday, at age 59.

Often considered one of Canada’s best basketball players, Pasquale was a member of the Canadian national team at various levels for over 15 years and led the red and white to a fourth place finish at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and a sixth place finish at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Pasquale also represented Canada at two Pan American Games and four FIBA World Championships.

After a five-year absence from the national team, Pascquale returned to the program at age 37, to play in the 1997 Tournament of the Americas and helped Canada qualify for the 1998 FIBA World Championship.

Born August 24, 1960 in Sudbury, Ont., Pasquale led the University of Victoria to five consecutive CIAU national championships from 1980 to 1984 and finished as the Vikes all-time leading scorer and was honoured by having his jersey number (13) retired.  Pasquale is one of just five U SPORTS athletes to have five national titles.

Pasquale was also instrumental in one of Canada’s biggest wins in program history as they upset the United States led by Charles Barkley and Karl Malone in the semifinals before capturing the gold medal over Yugoslavia at the 1983 Summer Universiade.

Upon graduating from the University of Victoria, Pasquale was drafted 106th overall in the fifth round of the 1984 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics.  Pasquale also played professionally in Argentina, West Germany and Switzerland.

Pasquale has been inducted into the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame (2003), the B.C. Basketball Hall of Fame (2004), the University of Victoria Sports Hall of Fame (2005), Sudbury Ontario Sports Hall of Fame (2008) and the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame (2014)

Pasquale is survived by wife Karen, sons Isiah and Manny, brother Vito, sister Luciana and mother Adriana.