Eskimos turn the page on Reilly, who left real legacy among fans

Beloved quarterback was never too big to reach out to those who supported him

The way it worked out, there was no going-away party for Mike Reilly.

You couldn’t possibly turn a page on a guy much quicker than most Edmonton fans appeared to do the way it went down.

In a way, that’s sort of sad. With all the moves Eskimos general manager Brock Sunderland made in the most madcap, crazed and chaotic free-agent frenzy in the history of the CFL, about 2½ hours after Reilly signed with the B.C. Lions, the fan base of the league’s flagship franchise surprisingly found itself looking forward to the future.

There are those who may possibly see Reilly’s departure after six seasons as some sort of act of treason. But I don’t get that sense.

In his time here, Mike Reilly didn’t cheat Edmonton or the Eskimos. And he touched a lot of lives. Like Helen Biltek’s.

Consider this a Valentine’s Day card to Mike Reilly.

Helen emailed me to tell me a story.

“On Dec. 19th, 2016, at 6 p.m., I was sitting in my living room with supper on a tray, watching the news when my doorbell rang,” she began.

“I went to the door and there was a man who filled the doorway wearing a parka and a tuque and I and I thought, ‘I know this man,’ but I couldn’t immediately place him.

“He asked ‘Helen?’

“I said ‘Yes.’

“He replied, ‘I’m Mike Reilly.’ “I almost collapsed!

“I opened the door and said, ‘What are you doing here?’

“He said, ‘I get many letters from people and they usually want something, but you were the only person to send me a letter thanking me.’

“I just thanked him for his work at quarterback leading the team to a win that fall, is all.

“He brought me an autographed No. 13 jersey and stayed and talked to me for a few minutes.

“It turned out he was going to the airport to pick up his girlfriend.

“I wanted to give him something for her, but all I had was a dish towel I had embroidered and a box of chocolates and I asked him if he would accept them for his girlfriend and he said, ‘Yes.’

“I was very pleased. It showed me how down-to-earth he is. He wasn’t too proud to accept a humble gift.

“I should mention that I didn’t have his email address so I corresponded through snail mail. I used to attend many football games but had to stop a couple of years ago because I can’t manage the steps.

“If you know of a charity that could profit from raffling off this jersey I would be prepared to donate it while he is still fresh in our memories.

“I am 90 now and will be 91 in June,” Helen added of when Reilly and the B.C. Lions will be here for the first of two regular season games on June 14 following a May 26 pre-season visit. He’ll be back Oct. 12.

I’m thinking a reader out there might have a creative idea for the charity I could pass on to Helen who told me, when I got back to her, she was busy Wednesday morning picking up bread for her church group to pass out to homeless people.

In the meantime, Trevor Harris arrived in Edmonton on Wednesday to begin a deep dive with Jason Maas into the offence he’ll run here. He’ll meet with the media Thursday.

This will be his team now and who knows if the losing quarterback in last year’s Grey Cup game in Commonwealth Stadium can get back to the championship game this year in Calgary. I do know that this is not the first time an Edmonton quarterback has moved on.

Warren Moon, after six seasons and five Grey Cups with the Eskimos, departed for the NFL and ended up with a 23-year pro career and in the football halls of fame on both sides of the border.

Damon Allen came and went and came back and went again, winning Grey Cups during each stint.

There was Matt Dunigan and Tracy Ham, who like Allen, began their careers here as well.

More recently, of course, there was Eric Tillman’s insane trade of Ricky Ray after he began his career in Edmonton and won two Grey Cups in green and gold. But Ray was soon to be followed by Reilly, who won a Grey Cup in 2015 and Most Outstanding Player honours in 2017.

On the other hand, people of Helen’s age remember that the Eskimos traded arguably the greatest CFL player of all-time, Jackie Parker, to Toronto after his run here from 1954 to 1962 and what followed was the most unsuccessful decade in franchise history with the sorriest collection of quarterbacks ever to wear green and gold. The fans that were around back then can still rattle off most of their names.

Don Trull. Rusty Clarke. Larry Lawrence, Corey Colehour. Charlie Fulton. Harry Theofiledes. Terry Baker. Randy Kerbow. Bill Redell. Lynn Amedee. Jim Walden. James Earl Wright.

Trevor Harris has already accomplished more in his career than all of those 1960s quarterbacks combined.