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.

Moncton junior football team hosts UNB Fredericton tonight

Published Saturday October 9th, 2010 By Sean Hatchard of the Times & Transcript

The Atlantic Football League regular season has only reached the halfway mark, but these are already desperate times for the Moncton Junior Mustangs.

The Mustangs have started the season at 0-2 and considering teams only play a six-game schedule, they will need to right the ship quickly.

An opportunity comes tonight when Moncton hosts the University of New Brunswick Fredericton Red Bombers at 6 p.m. at Rocky Stone Memorial Field.

The Red Bombers are also 0-2 on the season and will also be looking for their first win of the season.

“This is a huge game for us. With such a short schedule, almost every game has playoff implications. I would think the loser of (tonight’s) game has an almost impossible road to make the playoffs after starting 0-3,” Mustangs head coach Peter Comeau said last night.

“I expect Fredericton to be in the same frame of mind as we are. This is a time of desperation and we both want to get a win and keep our playoff hopes alive. It should be two teams putting it all out there and trying to get their first win under their belt.”

The UNB Saint John Seawolves top the five-team league at 2-0, followed by the Dalhousie Tigers (2-1), Holland College Hurricanes (2-1) and then both Moncton and UNB Fredericton at 0-2.

The Mustangs opened the season with a 44-33 loss to Holland College on the road, blowing a lead in the final minutes, and were hammered 53-13 by the Seawolves in their last game two weeks ago.

The Red Bombers lost 22-19 to Dalhousie and 30-0 to the Seawolves.

“Fredericton is a team in their second year in the league and has the same coaching staff,” said Comeau. “I expect them to have a strong running game and they have some talented receivers with speed they’ll try to get the ball to.”

Comeau is expecting a much better effort from his club than it showed in its last outing.

“I told our players on Tuesday that our game basically starts tonight in practice. We’ve got to be better at being mentally prepared and we definitely have to be prepared to sacrifice ourselves physically. We need to play more blue-collar football,” the coach said.

“We also have to be much better at special teams. We’ve given up valuable real estate on punt and kickoff returns and we’ve got to come prepared to play better in that part of the game. If we do that, I think we can be successful.”

UNB Saint John hosts Holland College on Monday. Dalhousie has a bye this week.

Cornford right at home at Red Bombers controls

Published Saturday October 2nd, 2010 by Bill Hunt of The Daily Gleaner

It’s Homecoming Weekend on the campus of the University of New Brunswick – and quarterback Brendan Cornford feels right at home at the controls of the University of New Brunswick Red Bombers.

It wasn’t always that way for the 20-year-old Fredericton native, who was actually cut by the St. Mary’s Leo Hayes Lions when he tried out for the team in Grade 11.

“They cut me for MacKenzie Washburn,” he said. “Then, in the first game against Hampton, he broke his arm. Tommy Broad was the backup, and in our second game against Saint John High, he messed up his shoulder. So halfway through the second game against Saint John, they asked me to go in. I was so nervous…all season long, really.”

But he learned and he improved – and, lo and behold, last year he and the Bombers captured the Atlantic Football League’s first championship.

Tonight’s Homecoming Game – a 7 p.m. kickoff under the lights at Chapman Field – is a rematch of that game and a duel between the UNB campuses: the hometown Bombers against the University of New Brunswick in Saint John Seawolves.

Some 1,200 fans watched the Bombers’ home opener, a 22-19 loss to the Dalhousie Tigers.

“I love the atmosphere,” said Cornford. “It’s one of the best feelings you could ever feel to get on the field and hear the crowd go nuts.”

As they did a couple of weeks ago, for instance, when Cornford and company concocted a reverse flea flicker play and connected with Andrew Hubbard on a 35-yard touchdown play that gave the Bombers a 19-15 fourth quarter lead and had the crowd buzzing. Alas, it didn’t last long: Dalhousie returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown and held on for the three-point victory.

There may be more where that came from, but Cornford, cagey quarterback that he’s become, isn’t tipping his hand.

“That might have to be for you to see,” he said, chuckling. “That’s for me to know and you to find out.”

Cornford has clearly come a long way from the kid who was summoned in an emergency. He attended instructional quarterback camps at St. Francis Xavier, in Maine, and at home in the summer between his Grade 11 and Grade 12 seasons at Leo Hayes. He also played summer football with the Capital Area Gladiators and has now been around the block with the Bombers a bit.

And while he recognizes there’s room for improvement in the areas of reading plays, to knowing the playbook to being in better shape to leading the team – “there’s always room to grow,” he said – he also recognizes how far he’s come.

“In my mind, I’ve developed a lot better techniques,” he said.

“At the camps, I worked mostly on footwork, and reading defences to find out where the coverage is going to be…how to read the field when you get to the line instead of snapping the ball and then you see where the players are going. It’s basically second nature to me now. Sometimes it’s a little confusing, but I can basically see what’s going on. You need to know what players are doing at all times. It’s mentally challenging. But there’s nothing that compares to being able to play quarterback.”

Cornford says the calibre of the Atlantic Football League – expanded to five teams this season from the three charter members a year ago – is “10 times better” than the ball he played in high school.

“It’s night and day,” he said. “You have guys who are way bigger, you have speed like nothing you saw in high school. Just the game play, and the plays that you run and that kind of stuff…it’s completely different.”

He expects tonight’s game to be much different from the last meeting between the squads – a 3-1 victory for the Bombers in the championship game in Moncton last November.

“We’re going to put some points on the board,” promised Cornford. “They’ll probably put some points up too. But we plan to come out on top.”

Cornford has plans of his own. The six-foot-two, 190-pound signal caller hopes to go to the newly opened New Brunswick Community College opening on the UNB campus next season to become an engineering technician. The new building is only a few long bombs away from the Bombers’ Chapman Field home.

“I don’t know if the CIS (Canadian Interuniversity Sport football) is calling my name, but I can keep playing UNB ball,” he said.

Bombers set to defend Atlantic football crown

Published Friday September 17th, 2010 by Bill Hunt

The University of New Brunswick Red Bombers are all revved up to defend their Atlantic Football League championship.

The Bombers, who won the fledgling circuit’s first championship last season with a 3-1 victory over the University of Saint John Seawolves, begin the quest to repeat when they host the Dalhousie Tigers, one of the two expansion entries in the now five-team loop, Saturday night at 6 p.m. at Chapman Field.

The Holland College Hurricanes of Prince Edward Island are the other new entry, joining the Moncton Junior Mustangs, the Seawolves, and the Bombers in a six-game regular season schedule.

Bombers coach Mike Dollimore has a Bomb Squad of 52 at his disposal – 45 may dress for a particular game – and while he still needs to see everything work, he figures this year’s edition of the Bombers is bigger and better than the squad that went 1-3 last year.

“We’re having a lot of trouble deciding who are going to be our starting 24.”

There are, of course, some obvious choices. Andrew Hubbard, the dynamic wide receiver, is a lock to be one of the targets for veteran quarterback Brendan Cornford, the former Leo Hayes High signal caller, and understudy Jeff Madsen.

“They can both throw the ball very well,” said Dollimore. Andrew Guest and slotback Pat Forbes – his dad Bob was a Bomber in the 1970s and will be in to watch his son play Saturday – are other potential targets.

“I think we’ll be using our slotbacks as an attack tool, with both the run and the pass,” said Dollimore.

The Bombers will platoon an array of running backs over the first couple of games at least. Candidates fighting for field time include returnee Eric Smith, Tommy Broad, Randy Madsen, Rame Zeid and Nick McEachern.

“I think we’re going to try to establish the run,” he said. “Hopefully, that will help establish our passing game.”

Dollimore likes the size and speed of an offensive line which includes Zack Cann, Dylan Sullivan, Andy Ouellette and newcomers Dave Giddings and Andrew Gillingham, among others.

Tackle Tyler Doak returns as “the heart and soul of our defensive line,” Dollimore said.

Jory Smith moves from linebacker to defensive end after playing “brilliantly” in the playoffs last year. Punter Alden Pezerovich – “he basically won the championship game for us last year,” said Dollimore – returns in that role and will play on the D-line as well.

Matt Flosse and James Wilde anchor the linebacking corps. Veteran Justin Demerchant returns to anchor the defensive backfield at free safety. Ryan Soles and Mike McSorley return as veterans in the defensive backfield as well. Brian Gilliland, Dustin Pond and Joey Ley will be part of the mix in the defensive backfield as well.

Dollimore is still putting it all together.

“We’re getting very strong competition, fierce competition among the defensive backs, the receivers, and linebackers,” said Dollimore. “I don’t know yet that we’re any better. We haven’t proven it yet. We have to prove that Saturday night, and hopefully by the end of November. We’re bigger, and it appears we’re every bit as quick.”

Competition and experience ought to bring out the best in the Bombers, too.

“What we’re seeing this year is a much higher level of experience than we did last year,” he said. “The core 40 we had last year were solid football players, but we had 30 or so who had never played the game before or played a long time ago. Those guys kind of cut themselves early this year. I think we’ll probably end up platooning people where we can over the first couple of games to see who fits best in the situation. We’ll probably narrow in on starters in several positions as the season goes along.”

Dollimore is excited about expansion within the league.

“It’s absolutely essential for the success of this league,” he said. “If we had more teams to give us a little more balanced schedule, that would be even better. But there’s not much need to expand beyond five or six teams because the season is so short.”

While the Bombers draw from a cross-section of the community, with “60-70 per cent” UNB students, but others from St. Thomas, New Brunswick Community College and the community at large, the Tigers will be made up entirely of students from the university. Dollimore is familiar with members of their coaching staff, “who are going to be able to put things together quickly, I’m sure,” he said.

Dollimore found the first year of the circuit “an incredibly close league. I’m not expecting anything different. Any game can go either way, I believe.”

Dollimore said it’s not the goal of the Bombers to become a Canadian Interuniversity Sport program.

“To do that, there needs to be a much broader commitment base by everyone, including the university and the alumni. But we have an opportunity now to have a program on the field with about 95 per cent local talent from Fredericton, New Brunswick, and the Maritimes. That includes the players, the coaches and the officials.

“It’s a great thing to see after having spent close to 40 years promoting and working in football. As soon as you go to a CIS model, it’s going to be very expensive, but it’s also going to bring our local talent down to about three to five per cent. This suits our needs at this point in time. If someone wants to refocus down the road, that’s up to them. It’s certainly not my intention at this point.”

Saturday nights are game night on campus for the Bombers. They’ll face the Seawolves in a rematch of the league final Oct. 2 at 7 p.m. at Chapman. They’ll also host the Hurricanes, the Holland College entry, Saturday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m.

The top four teams advance to the post-season with fourth place playing first and third meeting second at the home of the high finisher Nov. 12 or 13.

Winners pair off at the home of the high finisher in the Nov. 20 championship game.

Red Bombers go into Year 2 with more to kick about

Published Wednesday August 25th, 2010 by David Ritchie

More teams, more games and a more concerted promotional plan marks the beginning of Year 2 in the second coming of Red Bombers football at the University of New Brunswick.

New teams based out of Dalhousie University and Holland College in Charlottetown gives the Atlantic Football League five teams for the upcoming season.

That means a little more variety for the charter members including the defending champion Red Bombers, the UNB in Saint John Seawolves and a club team out of the Moncton area which will be known as the Junior Mustangs this time around. They were the Raiders in Year 1.

In case you missed it, the Bombers edged the Seawolves 3-1 in the inaugural AFL championship game played in the muck and grime of Saint John’s Millidgeville Field.

Yeah, it sounds more like a baseball score than a football result. The weather was lousy, and the late date, Nov. 22, isn’t exactly conducive to the Greatest Show on Turf with our climate.

So maybe the final won’t go down in the annals of amateur football as one of the classics of all time.

But you know, the most important thing about last year was that there was a game to be played on that day, regardless of the weather.

It showed that when determined people with a passion for the game of football want to make something happen, it can be done, even when the obstacles seem prohibitive. They found the time, the energy, the money, the facilities and enough of a support staff to put together a three-team league.

These guys, and we’ll make mention of the respective managers, Barry Ogden in Saint John, Dan Fougere in Moncton and Larry Wisniewski in Fredericton, saw a void for kids graduating out of the extensive high school football system in the province and who, for whatever reasons, weren’t about to pursue the game at the CIS level.

Some might not have been talented enough to get a recruiting sniff from a CIS school. Some might have lacked the prototypical football body and didn’t feel it was physically in their best interests to play at a higher level.

Some simply didn’t want the hassles of committing to a rigorous CIS program, or leaving their hometown to play at that level. Others might have already made a commitment, saw the reality wasn’t what it was cracked up to be, and desire to play the sport at a less intense level.

Still others weren’t ready to begin their post-secondary educational pursuits, or didn’t feel equipped to do so, but yearned to keep playing a game they had come to love in their minor and secondary school years.

Ogden, Wiz, Fougere and countless others in on the planning at some point deemed there were enough of these players around, guys capable of playing a good enough brand of football that people would be willing to pay to see.

Thus, the AFL, a league geared for footballers between the ages of 18-24 and involving mostly university-based players with others from the community at large, became a reality.

How successful was it?

Enough that there’s two more teams on board so Year 2 is going to be even better. Guaranteed.

Are you ready for some football?

It had been 30 years since the UNB Red Bombers last ran onto the field at College Field to play a football game.

Watching the Red Bombers play their rivals from around the Atlantic Conference was the thing to do on a fall Saturday afternoon. You’d bring the wine skin, find a cozy spot in the bleachers, and get to watch quality players such as Donny Davis, Mike Washburn, Stewart Fraser, Chris Skinner, Terry Cripotos, Steve Corscadden, Chuck Proudfoot, etc., do their thing wearing Red Bombers jerseys on the gridiron at College Field.

For incoming students, there was no better way to “orientate” yourself with your new school than to spend Saturday afternoons at College Field. Orientation was as convenient as a walk down the hill. Football was first up, and people who live here all know about how great the climate is in September and October in these parts.

For any number of reasons, the UNB administration of the day saw fit to end that annual rite of fall. And football died a quiet death at the university level in this city.

When Wiz and a former Red Bomber, Mike Dollimore, decided to take the lead with the Fredericton entry into this new AFL venture, they were looking to tap into those memories with the resurrection of the UNB Red Bombers.

They were up front about what this league was all about…that it was a club team operating in a junior league with players from not only UNB but St. Thomas University, New Brunswick Community College and the city at large. And that was the mix head coach Dollimore, who returns, and his coaching staff worked with from the outset of training camp.

The hope and wish was that when those players rushed onto the turf at Chapman Field further up the hill (than College Field), the only thing that would resonate was the Red Bombers were alive and kicking, and that football for university-age youngsters was once again a going concern in this town.

So just imagine the rush for Wiz and Dolly – and all those behind-the-scene football enthusiasts who with their support, financial or otherwise, wanted to see the black and red of Red Bombers football again – when over 2,000 folks gathered under the lights for opening night.

And how exciting it was when the PA announcer first screamed: First down, Red Bombers!!! Touchdown, Red Bombers!!!

Are you ready for some football?

Bombers give Seawolves the boot in AFL final

By JON MACNEILL
Canadaeast News Service

SAINT JOHN – After 30 years, the University of New Brunswick Fredericton Red Bombers still know what it takes to win a championship.

Struggling against slick field conditions and outstanding defensive efforts on either side of the ball, the Red Bombers captured the first-ever Atlantic Football League championship Saturday and the Moosehead Cup with a 3-1 win over the UNB Saint John Seawolves at Millidgeville Field.

“It’s a big piece of history that we get to be a part of,” the Bombers Andrew Hubbard said.

“We had a former Red Bomber with us today and to have the traditions blending together feels great.”

The star wide receiver tallied more than 130 yards from returns and carries but it was the Bombers’ defence who put points up on the board.

As in the two regular-season encounters between the teams, the game was decided in the final frame but this time Fredericton prevailed to hand Saint John its first loss of the inaugural campaign.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Seawolves’ Tim Jackson attempted to return a punt from his end zone but fumbled it back across the line to give the Bombers a two-point safety.

With less than two minutes left in the game, Jackson was caught in the house by a swarm of Bomber defenders trying to return another punt and the Bombers took a 3-0 lead from the rouge.

Both scoring opportunities came courtesy of Alden Pezerovic’s reliable boot.

“Pezerovic kicked a phenomenal game for us,” Bombers head coach Mike Dollimore said. “Every punt he had helped us out and took the field position away from Saint John. He strategically placed it where we wanted him to and it was a direct result of his kicking game that we got the points we did.”

Points were otherwise hard to come by in a game dominated by solid defensive performances. The first three quarters were relatively uneventful, with each team struggling to sustain their offensive drives and failing to get within striking distance.

“It was tough to get the ball going today,” Seawolves head coach Dave Grandy said.

“It’s harder to click on offence and the conditions were slick out there,” added quarterback Jeremy McAulay. “But, no excuses, we just came out kind of flat and couldn’t get any momentum going and they shut us down.”

The Seawolves notched a rouge with 34 seconds left on the clock after McAulay marched the squad within range using a screen pass to Joel Seale who gained 30 yards.

John Phillips’ field goal attempt narrowly missed the uprights on the right side to make it 3-1 for the Bombers. Phillips had kicked the game-winning field goal in a 16-14 victory in September at Chapman Field.

“We played bend don’t break defence at times, especially near the end of the game,” Dollimore said. “We were trying to protect against some of their deep passes and we gave up some stuff across the middle, but we were protecting from the goal-line up.”

The single point came after McAulay fired passes to Seale and Justin Cavan who were both unable to corral the pigskin from their perch in the end zone.

“We had our opportunities near the end of the game to get what we needed and that just didn’t happen,” Grandy said. “It was there for us and we didn’t capitalize.”

Immediately before the Bombers notched their safety, Saint John’s Chris Reid recovered a fumbled punt return and ran it back for a touchdown. But the major was called back because the Seawolves had too many players on the field, drawing a chorus of disapproval from the estimated 800 fans in attendance on the overcast fall afternoon.

Dollimore said winning the championship was even more rewarding in the company of some former Red Bombers. He played and coached for the squad from 1970 to its final Atlantic Universities Athletics Association season in 1980.

“Our guys played really inspired football,” Dollimore said.

University football lures 2,300 fans to first game

Published on September 28th by Jon MacNeill of the Telegraph Journal

FREDERICTON – For years, Pat Gillin longed for the return of the Red Bombers football team to the University of New Brunswick Fredericton campus.

The UNB alumnus started his schooling in 1948, the inaugural season of the Bombers, and though he never played for the team he quickly realized how valuable the program was to the university community.

Pat died this July at the age of 84, and while he didn’t live to bear witness to his dream of the Red Bombers’ return, his passing played no small part in its realization.

Pat had arranged to leave a donation to the university upon his passing that would go towards funding a football program, should one ever start up again.

“He wanted everyone to get involved, so he structured the donation in such a way that other people could donate as well, to match (his),” Pat’s 37-year-old son Jeff said during halftime of the Atlantic Football League’s opening game between the Red Bombers and University of New Brunswick Saint John Seawolves Saturday night in Fredericton.

“Of course, he wasn’t here for this night, but he would have been thrilled. Just thrilled,” added Pat’s widow, Lois Walker Gillin.

Lois and Pat were members of the committee responsible for the creation of the AFL, a project four years in the making.

The two are listed as touchdown level (more than $5,000) contributors to the Red Bombers, a donation that helped purchase the squad’s equipment.

Lois, Jeff and his sister, Janet Campbell Gillin came to Fredericton from their homes in Ottawa and were honoured before the start of Saturday night’s game, in which the Seawolves edged the Bombers 16-14.

The family was presented with honorary jerseys, bearing the initials “PG” on each sleeve, and shook hands with the captains, coaches and managers of both teams at centre field.

“He always felt that (football) was very important for the kids coming to UNB because it was a way of getting together in the fall and it created such a good atmosphere,” Lois said.

“It brought the whole school together.”

For the family, knowing their father played a role in making Saturday’s game possible added to the already charged atmosphere at Chapman Field, where an estimated 2,300 people were in attendance.

“It’s extremely special, I know he’s up there smiling,” said Janet. “This would have been such a big thing for him – he said everything good from his life came out of UNB and I’m sure he’s happy with the way things turned out.”

The same can be said for former Red Bomber Stephen Gale, who flew in from his home in Waterloo, Ont., to watch the game with his school-days friend Bob Forbes.

Both men played for the Bombers from 1972-76. They were teammates, roommates at Bridges House, and wore the numbers 12 and 34. “I was one-two and he was three-four,” Gale said with a laugh.

“This is fantastic,” he added as the two teams battled on the gridiron. “I think it’s a great step for the university to build up some morale amongst students. Just look at the people here tonight.”

“Football is huge for the campus, it’s a rallying point,” chipped in Forbes, a family doctor based in Riverview.

“It adds a great deal to the campus spirit and it’s a meeting point for people. (A football program) is a tremendous thing to have, it adds a lot of character to the campus and I think UNB was really missing out by not having a team before,” Forbes said, adding his son might suit up for the Bombers next season.

Friday night and Saturday afternoon the football community in the Capital City was humming with excitement for the opening game. Tailgate parties took place around the city and at the parking lot of Chapman Field in anticipation of the Red Bombers first action in 29 years.

“It’s pretty darn exciting,” Dean Culligan said as his family and Fredericton neighbours the Burns and McGuigans grilled up some burgers and sausages before the kick-off.

“When you look at this – see the turnout, feel the atmosphere – you think maybe there’s a chance to get a varsity program back at UNB,” he said.

In the meantime, Culligan is more than content with the action presented by the AFL.

“I really think this might be a recurring event for us, to come up here and have a family tailgate party and support the team.”

Red Bombers co-coach Mike DeMello said the large turnout and obvious support for the new league was a good sign for the program’s future.

“I just had some people that I coached in football come up to me and say that the university should pay attention because the atmosphere was electric and there was a lot of excitement around the field,” DeMello said moments after the game ended.

“I would hope that this is something the university community would look at and say, ‘this is definitely a viable and exciting product,’ and let it grow over the years.”

Dollimore says Red Bombers ‘just want to win’

Published Saturday September 26th, 2009 by Chris Fox of the Daily Gleaner

It’s a new team, playing in a new league and on a new field, but when the UNB Red Bombers take the Chapman Field turf tonight against the UNBSJ Seawolves, one thing will be the same.

Head coach Mike Dollimore, who coached UNB’s varsity football team for 11 years up until their disbandment in 1980, will once again be calling the plays from the Red Bombers sideline.

“I have been trying to bring this team back for almost 30 years, so it will be pretty exciting to be able to see them actually on the field,” Dollimore said on the eve of tonight’s 7 p.m. contest. “UNB has been starving, the community has been starving, and hopefully we get a good crowd out.”

The Red Bombers will play a six-game season in the newly minted Atlantic Football League, a three-team circuit that also includes an entry from the University of New Brunswick Saint John and a club team from Moncton.

Brendan Cornford, the former Leo Hayes Lions quarterback who played senior football for the Capital Area DQ Gladiators this summer, is expected to be the go-to guy behind centre, and Andrew Hubbard, a star wide receiver out of Fredericton High School, will undoubtedly get plenty of balls thrown his way.

Past that, Dollimore is taking a wait-and-see approach.

“We haven’t had an awful lot of chances to do too much scrimmaging, so it’s hard to predict what they are going to be like in game circumstances, but I like the team,” he said. “(Andrew) Hubbard is a big threat, Josh McArthur is a good solid running back and defensively we have a solid core of linebackers who are moving and flowing to the ball quite well and we have some good quick defensive ends.”

Though the Red Bombers are associated with the University of New Brunswick, the Atlantic Football League is not a university league and Dollimore said the Red Bombers’ final roster includes several players from St. Thomas University and a few not currently attending classes at either of the city’s two universities.

Several players with prior university football experience, including defensive back Elliot Hicks, who was the rookie of the year with the Mount Alison Mounties last year, will also suit up.

“We have several people who have played some CIS ball and because of the short amount of practice we have had that is a real asset,” Dollimore said.

In addition to Dollimore, former Oromocto High School coach Mike DeMello will coordinate the offence and three former Canadian university players, Jamie Edwards, Jeff Taylor and Dave Knott, will serve as assistants.

Larry Wisniewski, general manager of the Red Bombers, said that coaching staff will in fact be the biggest strength of the 2009 UNB Red Bombers.

“One of the real strengths is the coaching staff. It is first rate. Mike Dollimore, Mike DeMello, all of these guys have played CIS football, all these guys know CIS football, all of these guys have coached at all kinds of levels and they are a very very good coaching staff who the kids will gain a great deal from,” he said.

Dollimore said he just wants to win and is planning to have a football team that represents that attitude.

The top team in the Atlantic Football League at the end of the regular season will get a bye to a championship game. The other two teams will fight it out in a winner-take-all semifinal.

“Hopefully we will have everything we need to win a ball game in our kit bag,” Dollimore said.

“We’re just going to go out and take what they give us, spread the field both ways to open up our long game and if we can connect with that great and if they take that away from us we will have another threat to come back,” he said. “We don’t want to be one-dimensional.”

Seawolves primed for historic contact

September 26, 2009 by John MacNeill of the Telegraph Journal

The wait is over.

After four years of planning and weeks of preparation, the University of New Brunswick Saint John Seawolves are ready to serve some no-holds-barred, smash-mouth football in the opening game of the Atlantic Football League’s inaugural season.

The Seawolves club team is in Fredericton today to make history with the University of New Brunswick Red Bombers at 7 p.m. at Chapman Field. The Red Bombers haven’t grazed the gridiron in 30 years, and while the Seawolves have never housed a football team, they’re just as pumped to make their debut.

“The guys are pretty fired up. We’ve had to hold them back in practice because we can’t run full tilt on our own players, so some of the guys are waiting to unleash (against the Red Bombers),” head coach Dave Grandy said.

“It’s exciting for them; they want to show us what they’re fully capable of. And as coaches, we’re excited to see it.”

Grandy and his coaching staff haven’t revealed who will be starting for the Seawolves today in an effort to keep the players competing hard for spots during their 16 pre-season practices.

That includes quarterbacks Jeremy McAulay and Eoin McIntyre, whom Grandy said will both see reps in Fredericton.

“They both bring different assets to the team and right now we’re looking to use both of them in there,” he said.

The 5-foot-10, 213-pound McAulay has played under Grandy before and “has a good understanding of what we expect from him out there.”

McIntyre, at about 6 feet and 175 pounds, can scramble a bit better than his teammate and has a skill-set that makes him a more mobile quarterback, Grandy said. As for the opposition, Grandy’s deep roots in the provincial football scene gives him an edge as he’s already seen a good chunk of the Red Bombers’ roster in action.

Grandy expects Andrew Hubbard, who he considers one of the Maritime Football League’s most talented receivers, will be a big piece of Fredericton’s puzzle.

“(Hubbard) is one of the guys we’re looking to shut down. He’s talented, so it’s hard to shut someone like that down, but at least you know that’s one of their go-to guys so you can plan around that,” he said.

Another force will be veteran quarterback Brendan Cornford, who, along with Hubbard, played for the Capital Area Gladiators in the MFL.

“He’s a big game quarterback with good throwing ability. I’m sure they’re going to look to stretch the field on us and good deep to Hubbard.”

“We know a bit of their base offense, in terms of personnel, but we don’t know formations and we don’t know plays. So we’ll be looking to play some good, fundamental football,” Grandy said.

“It’s a special time right now being the first teams in the new group, so it’s exciting to showcase this new league.”

The start of the three-team loop isn’t the only thing the Seawolves have to look forward to, however.

Next month, the squad of 45 players will venture to McGill University in Montreal, Que., to play an exhibition game with the junior varsity side of the Redmen.

The Seawolves will play in the Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, home to the Redmen and Montreal Alouettes, on Oct. 10. “It’s a rather historic place,” Seawolves president and general manager Barry Ogden said.

“This will give (the Seawolves) a vision; when they walk into that stadium overlooking the whole city of Montreal, I think they’ll just be blown away.”

Ogden engineered the exhibition game, which he hopes will become an annual event, in conjunction with McGill’s head of football alumni, Sonny Wolfe.

He’d hoped to organize a similar trip to Maine to play against the Husson College Eagles, but the plans fell through this year. Ogden said he’s already got the gears churning for a possible match up next season.

“This is the first time a team from Saint John has ever gone (to McGill) to play football at this level. The players are really, really excited,” he said, adding the players and team raised all the funds needed for the trip.

Although the squad will only face the junior varsity side of the Redmen, Ogden admitted it will be a challenging match. But for the football enthusiast and community activist, he’s more interested in the experience the players will get out of it.

“I’ve told them what they have to do is carry themselves with pride and do their best,” Ogden said.

“I just want them to have good character and never give up.”

UNB Teams to Compete In Inaugural Season of Atlantic Football League

August 17, 2009
UNB News Release: 09-113

Two club football teams from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) will take the field in the first season of the Atlantic Football League (AFL).

The UNB Fredericton Red Bombers club football team and the UNB Saint John Seawolves club football team join the Moncton Raiders in the AFL, a league four years in the making.

UNB’s team tryouts will take place toward the end of August and first part of September. UNB students in Fredericton and Saint John; St. Thomas University students; and members of the Fredericton and Saint John communities between the ages of 18 (before the end of 2009) and 24 are welcome to try out.

“Although the football teams will not compete at the varsity level, UNB’s campus recreation departments are pleased to offer students an opportunity to play football while attending UNB,” says James Cress, coordinator of the UNB Fredericton sport clubs program.

Club teams are mainly student-run organizations with support from campus recreation departments. UNB students make up at least 65 per cent of the club roster, allowing for some broader community participation as well.

“The sport club program at UNB is an important part of student life on campus,” said Natasha Kelly, campus recreation and special events coordinator for UNB Saint John. “Our club teams contribute to the health and happiness of our students and allow everyone to get involved in friendly competition, which increases school spirit.”

UNB alumnus Mike Dollimore will coach the UNB Fredericton Red Bombers club football team. The team will play home games at UNB Fredericton’s Chapman Field. Tryouts will take place the first week of classes, Sept. 7 to 12.

“I’m really looking forward to the buzz this will bring to campus,” says Dollimore, who played varsity football for UNB in the 1970s. “We had great community support when I was a student athlete and I hope current students will be able to share in that excitement.”

Dave Grandy, head coach of the Saint John High School football team and the Saint John Wanderers senior football team, will also coach the UNB Saint John Seawolves club football team. The team will play home games at the Millidgeville #1 field in Saint John. Training camp is scheduled to begin August 30.

The league’s first game is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 26 at UNB Fredericton’s Chapman Field, where the Red Bombers will play the Seawolves.

The UNB Fredericton Red Bombers club football team will be a member of UNB Fredericton’s Campus Recreation Sport Clubs Program, which has over 20 clubs. The UNB Saint John Seawolves club football team will join 10 existing club teams on the Saint John campus. Preferring to offer football at the club level, UNB has no immediate plans to offer football at the varsity level.

UNB would like to thank the many volunteers and supporters who have helped to make the introduction of club football a reality, including Pat O’Brien, AFL Commissioner; UNB alumnus Barry Ogden, General Manager and President of the Saint John Seawolves club football team; and Larry Wisniewski, General Manager of the Fredericton Red Bombers club football team.

The philosophy of the sport clubs programs is to promote health and wellness, and physical skill development. Sport clubs are designed to serve individual interests in different competitive sports and recreational activities. These interests can be competitive, recreational or instructional in nature. Clubs may represent the university in competition or may conduct intra-club activities.

Students and members of the community who are interested in trying out for either UNB club football team should contact:

Fredericton Red Bombers — James Cress, 458-7041, jcress@unb.ca; or Larry Wisniewski, 458-7436, wisn@unb.ca

Saint John Seawolves — Natasha Kelly, 653-2728, nkelly@unb.ca; or Barry Ogden, 849-4650, bogden@sympatico.nb.ca

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For more information, contact:

Fredericton Red Bombers: James Cress Coordinator of Sport Clubs (506) 458-7041 jcress@unb.ca

Larry Wisniewski General Manager Fredericton Red Bombers club football team (506) 451-1182 (h), (506) 458-7436 (w), (506) 471-7422 (cell) wisn@unb.ca

Saint John Seawolves: Natasha Kelly Coordinator of Sport Clubs (506) 653-2728 nkelly@unb.ca

Barry Ogden General Manager & President Saint John Seawolves club football team (506) 849-4650 bogden@sympatico.nb.ca

Atlantic Football League: Barry Ogden (506) 849-4650 bogden@sympatico.nb.ca