Seawolves spoil Bombers’ homecoming

Published Monday October 3rd, 2011 By CHRISTOPHER CAMERON For The Daily Gleaner

After being routed 33-7 by the UNB Red Bombers the previous weekend, the UNBSJ Seawolves spoiled the Bombers’ homecoming game Saturday with a 14-7 victory at BMO Centre.

Prior to the Atlantic Football League game, the Red Bombers retired Tony Proudfoot’s No. 24 jersey, hanging it below the scoreboard at BMO Centre. They also awarded the scholarship in Proudfoot’s name to UNB slotback Pat Forbes.

Once the game got underway, both teams struggled to have any offensive success through a scoreless first quarter.

The Bombers’ offence started to click late in the second quarter. Starting on their own 35-yard line, UNB quarterback Brendan Cornford completed an 18-yard pass to Forbes and another to wide receiver Andrew Guest to push the ball into Seawolves territory at the 45-yard line.

Nick Lane-McEachern ran the ball to the 34 on the next play and, with a five-yard penalty to the Seawolves, the Red Bombers were in a position to score.

However, Cornford’s next pass attempt was intercepted by Justin Mousek of UNBSJ.

“Offensively, surprisingly, we moved the football,” said Red Bombers head coach Mike Dollimore. “We moved it on the ground to the outside better and we moved it in the air, but we have to give them credit. They really prepared for our inside running game that we had last week. We ended up not being able to finish up any offensive drives, shooting ourselves in the foot with either an interception or a fumble.”

Beginning on their 27-yard line, the Seawolves put together a scoring drive when Isaiha Nice ran for 23 yards and, after a two-yard loss, UNBSJ quarterback Trevor Harrison threw to Joel Searle, who took the ball from his own 48-yard line to UNB’s five.

After two failed attempts to get into the end zone, Harrison pushed the ball in himself and the point after gave the Seawolves a 7-0 lead.

After the Bombers fumbled the ball away in Seawolves territory, the Saint John squad put up some insurance points after starting near midfield. Alex Peabody’s 56-yard touchdown run gave the Seawolves a 14-0 halftime lead.

The Red Bombers recovered a fumble on the UNBSJ 21-yard line early in the fourth quarter, but fumbled the ball away two plays later to waste the opportunity.

UNB finally got on the board with 4:11 remaining. Cornford hooked up with Cody Stewart for a 25-yard pass and, following a UNBSJ offside penalty, Derek Broad caught consecutive passes from Cornford to get the Bombers on the board, but the Seawolves held on for the 14-7 win.

“The film of last week’s game wasn’t so pretty,” UNBSJ head coach Dave Grandy said. “We just got the guys to work harder in practice this week and work on our fundamentals. Last week we were caught a little off guard by their offence and they’ve got some great receivers out there. Today, we ended up with four interceptions and two fumble recoveries and really hurt their offence.”

Although Dollimore would have preferred a victory, he was pleased with his defence and knows his offense was unlucky on certain drives.

“The defence was just swarming,” he said. “They (defence) were energized, they blitzed well, they tackled well, they were in the backfield on a lot of the plays. There are a lot of positive things in this game. We just didn’t get the win.”

The Red Bombers are idle until hosting the Dalhousie Tigers on Oct. 15.

Red Bombers to honour Proudfoot

Published Friday September 30th, 2011 By CHRISTOPHER CAMERON For The Daily Gleaner

As the UNB Red Bombers prepare to host the UNBSJ Seawolves in week three of their Atlantic Football League season, they’re also planning a ceremony to honour Tony Proudfoot.

With kickoff at 1 p.m. on Saturday, the Red Bombers will retire Proudfoot’s No. 24 jersey, the number he wore at UNB, which will hang under the scoreboard at BMO Centre.

“Tony’s brother and his daughter will be here to receive his jersey,” said Red Bombers head coach Mike Dollimore. “We will also be raising a banner under the scoreboard. The university has also promised they will find a place in the Aitken Centre to hang the banner in the off-season, when the field isn’t in use.”

Proudfoot played for the Bombers from 1967 to 1971 as a linebacker before being drafted by the Montreal Alouettes. Dollimore, a former Red Bomber, played with Proudfoot and has been working with the UNB Associated Alumni to name a scholarship in honour of Proudfoot.

“I played with Tony my first year, which was his last year,” said Dollimore. “Tony was an inspiration to all the players on our football team. He was the leader on the field without question. He made his mark in professional football and that doesn’t happen very often from the Atlantic schools.

“We’ve been working with the university to have a scholarship put in his name to someone in the kinesiology department. There’s going to be a presentation of that at halftime.”

The Bombers will also be raising money for ALS research, as Proudfoot lost his battle with ALS in December.

“We’re planning on taking a dollar from every paying customer as a contribution to ALS and to support their society in trying to ultimately find a cure for that horrible disease.”

Although honouring Proudfoot is important to this weekend, Dollimore doesn’t want it to take away from the task at hand. The Seawolves will be looking for payback after losing 33-7 to the Red Bombers last week.

“I think the boys are always going to be up for this football game because there are four or five guys on our team from Saint John,” Dollimore said.

“Some of them even played for UNBSJ last year. There may be some guys that get caught up in the moment, but I don’t think it will be a major problem, motivating those guys.”

After their week one loss to Holland College due to their special teams lacking, the Bombers continued to struggle in week two, but their offensive and defensive teams stepped up.

“We still struggled on special teams,” said Dollimore. “(UNBSJ) did the same thing to us that Holland College did. On the very first play of the game they ran back a 90-yarder on us. Once we got the ball we took control.”

Dollimore said the main focus between games was not reworking offence and defence, but rather the technical aspects.

“Our systems are pretty much in place right now, so what we worked on in our second week was mostly technical stuff,” said Dollimore. “I think if we’re able to do that in practices, continuing to work on technical expertise instead of systems, then a simple, basic system can pay dividends if you can execute it.”

With the afternoon game time, the Bombers hope to have more fans in attendance to add to the atmosphere.

“In our view, this is when we want all of our games. It’s a prime time for the university students to be coming out on campus after lunch on a Saturday afternoon,” said Dollimore. “That was a tradition we always had for 30 years before at UNB and that was the whole idea this weekend.”

Bombers to salute Proudfoot in ceremony Saturday

Published Wednesday September 28th, 2011

The UNB Red Bombers will honour the memory of former Red Bomber and CFL Star Tony Proudfoot on Saturday at 1 p.m. at BMO Centre, prior to their Homecoming Game against the UNBSJ SeaWolves. Donations of $1 to the ALS Society of New Brunswick will be made for each fan in attendance in addition to voluntary donations being accepted.

At the start of the game the Red Bombers will retire Tony’s Red Bombers jersey number 24 by presenting the jersey to family members and unveiling a number 24 banner that will be displayed at BMO Centre during each Red Bombers home game and at the Aitken Centre between games.

The game also marks UNB Homecoming and the ceremonial kick-off will be made by UNB’s President Eddy Campbell. At half time the first Tony Proudfoot Memorial Scholarship will be presented to a UNB student.

Great turnout in tryouts may lead to better results on field

K. Bryannah James – Sports Editor – September 7, 2011 in The Brunswickan

The UNB Red Bombers are ready to kick off the new year on the right foot as over forty players took to the field before school started to train for the upcoming season.

During tryouts, which started the last week of summer and will continue until after the Bomber’s first game, the team focused on individual talents and skill set of each athlete and then slowly began putting offensive systems into effect.

“After the first couple of practices, I’m pleased to see some good athletes and people who’ve played a lot of football,” said head coach Mike Dollimore.

The Bombers, while still only fledglings compared to their established Atlantic Football League (AFL) rivals, are ready to show they’re not just the new kids on the field; they’re here to play and compete at this level.

There’s something that needs to be said in respect to this team too: they’re competing at an AFL level with a wide array of talent sprinkling their lines.

Many of their players are former CIS athletes from other respective universities, football players who’ve heard about the program, or local New Brunswick crop, picked up by the club.

In the case of the Bombers, it’s word of mouth that has recruited most of the team.

“We don’t do a lot of recruiting, scouting. What you’re seeing here is a result of fellow teammates recruiting students or knowing and seeing the program, wanting to come out,” said Dollimore.

Just to give a quick history of the Bombers, they were a force to be reckoned with in the late 1970s and into the 80s – with such legendary CFL stars like Tony Proudfoot on the roster – before the team was disbanded in 1981 due to financial reasons.

“I spent quite a few, number of years trying to bring the program back. We had bout four or five different movements to bring the program back. This was the final option for us and it just seemed to be [the] time,” said Dollimore.

However this year, due to financial reasons and lack of player presence during tryouts, Moncton’s football club will be pulling the plug this year, leaving UNB to play against three instead of four teams this upcoming season.

“With a four-team league, you’ve got a home and away with three teams for six games. It sort of knocks the league out of balance a bit,” said Dollimore.

Without Moncton in the mix both, Dalhousie and Holland College stand to be the Red Bomber’s biggest competition this year.

“I think Dal’s going to be a very strong team. I think they’re all going to have their strengths. Holland College very surprisingly last year put together a very strong and talented team,” said Dollimore.

“And I see no reason why that should be any different. They have some tremendous coaches and offensive coordinators, and Dal has some tremendously seasoned coaches with a large contingency and great history of football in Halifax.”

The Bombers will kick off their season in a few weeks, when they take to the field Saturday, Sept. 17.

A Note From Coach Dolly on Tony Proudfoot

Ex-CFLer Proudfoot loses battle with ALS

Published Saturday January 1st, 2011 in the Daily Gleaner

MONTREAL – The start of Tony Proudfoot’s Canadian Football League career with the Montreal Alouettes was hardly auspicious, giving no indication of the greatness that was to come.

Drafted in the fourth round – 36th overall – of the 1971 Canadian college draft out of the University of New Brunswick, Proudfoot couldn’t crack the Als roster as a linebacker, the position he played collegiately, and was released – only to re-sign with Montreal in 1973 and eventually be converted to defensive back.

But it was through that will and dogged determination that Proudfoot constantly overcame the odds, until the end, when he ultimately couldn’t defeat the biggest fight of his life. Proudfoot died Thursday at the Montreal Neurological Institute, following a courageous – and public – battle with ALS.

The former UNB Red Bomber was 61.

Born in Winnipeg, John A. “Tony” Proudfoot eventually moved with his family to the Montreal suburb of Pointe Claire, where he attended John Rennie High School before heading to the Maritimes and the University of New Brunswick.

In 1970, he was nominated for the Hec Crighton Trophy, awarded annually to the top player in Canadian university ranks. He graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in physical education.

Proudfoot made a smooth transition into the Alouettes secondary, playing 107 regular-season games between 1971-79.

He won two Grey Cups with Montreal, in 1977 and ’79, and was named a CFL all-star both seasons.

In July 1977, Marv Levy, the Als’ head coach at the time, described Proudfoot as a “very smart football player.” Proudfoot always said he didn’t have an abundance of natural ability, crediting his success with being able to work, learn, ask good questions and quickly process that information on the field.

He is best remembered for spontaneously creating the advantage that carried Montreal to a lopsided 41-6 victory over Edmonton in the 1977 championship game, played on an icy Olympic Stadium field. Proudfoot used a staple gun, borrowed from a Bell Canada electrician, to affix staples onto the bottom of his and his teammates’ shoes. It provided better footing and a decisive edge the Eskimos failed to overcome.

Proudfoot concluded his 12-year CFL career by playing three seasons with the British Columbia Lions, beginning in 1980.

In retirement, he had a successful career as a teacher, coach, broadcaster, journalist and author.

Proudfoot taught physical education at Montreal’s Dawson College for 30 years. He lectured in exercise science, both at Concordia and McGill.

He was an assistant coach for the Concordia Stingers for four years, including the 1998 team that reached the Vanier Cup, and continued his education, receiving a master’s degree in sports science from McGill.

When the Alouettes franchise returned to the CFL in 1996 after a nine-year hiatus, Proudfoot became a full-time analyst with Montreal radio station CJAD, the team’s rights holder, two years later.

But that didn’t prevent Proudfoot from becoming an assistant coach in 2001, under head coach Rod Rust; Proudfoot continued his career as an unbiased and opinionated broadcaster.

In 2006, during the shooting rampage at Dawson College that killed one student, Proudfoot, who was trained in CPR, risked his life to tend to a student he saw injured from his office window. While the shooting continued – and until an ambulance arrived – Proudfoot administered first-aid to a male student who survived despite being shot in the head.

It was while lecturing at Concordia, in the winter of 2007, Proudfoot noticed his slurred speech. He underwent tests before learning of the ALS diagnosis that May. One month later, before an Alouettes home game, he publicly revealed his condition during an Olympic Stadium news conference.

The disease – officially Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis – is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative condition.

Rather than sink into oblivion, Proudfoot used his condition as a platform, regularly informing the public of his trials and tribulations through a series of articles written for the Montreal Gazette. In the final piece, published in mid-December, Proudfoot poignantly spoke of his “imminent” death, sending out a goodbye message while admitting he hoped to make it to Christmas.

“I’ve been blessed with so much love and support, it’s truly overwhelming,” Proudfoot said. “The concern and compassion everyone has afforded me is amazing, unfathomable.”

He was strapped to a ventilator, receiving oxygen for up to 22 hours daily.

“Focusing on my next breath requires all of my energy,” he wrote. “I am starved of air and oxygen and need to rely on a ventilator just to feel stable, just to live.”

Proudfoot admitted the reality of his situation had been “awful and downright frightening,” but implored readers “not to worry about me.”

He raised more than $500,000 after establishing the Tony Proudfoot Fund for ALS research and remained active in the game he loved until the end.

A guest coach at the Alouettes training camp in 2008, Proudfoot served as a special consultant to head coach Marc Trestman for the last two seasons.

His last public appearance came in November, before the East Division final, when Proudfoot accepted the Hugh Campbell Award for Distinguished Leadership from CFL commissioner Mark Cohon.

In typical modest fashion, Proudfoot sent an email to Ronnie James, the Als’ equipment manager, notifying him the end had come while asking James to notify players, coaches and members of the team’s staff.

“I have finally lost the battle with ALS and I am going into a palliative-care unit Dec. 28th,” Proudfoot wrote. “It should take a few days for me to die. I want to thank all the players, coaches and Alouettes staff for the support they have given me over the last three and (a) half years. Bye everybody, Tony.”

Proudfoot is survived by his wife, Vicki, and three children – Michael, Lindsay and Lauren.

Glimpses into the past with thanks to Paul Arsenault and Jim Simons for the following photos.

1962 Athletics Awards with four Red Bombers honoured, from left to right:  Richard Clark (Red Bomber and MVP hockey), Paul Arsenault (Defensive MVP), Doug Cottrell (Offensive MVP), Norm Bolitho (Athlete of the Year, hockey and football).

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Tony Proudfoot (24), Dick Flynn (60), Lavers (65), Baptist (76)