Longest-serving Eskimos staffer laid off

On the same day the award arrived honouring the longest serving member of the Edmonton Eskimos organization as Football Alberta’s ‘Volunteer of the Year,’ Dwayne Mandrusiak was laid off.

With Mandrusiak about to enter his 50th season as the most honoured and treasured equipment man in the CFL, on the face of things, for a couple of hours there, it was not a good look for the community-owned Eskimos.

Mandrusiak, it was confirmed, had been asked to clean out his office and turn in his cellphone.

Contacted by your correspondent, new president and CEO Chris Presson revealed that, yes, Mandrusiak had been laid off along with 25 other members of the organization. But whoa. All 26 people who have been laid off will return when the Eskimos return and the CFL returns, said Presson. Including Mandrusiak.

“We laid off more than half of business operations staff and if you look at our operations downstairs, in both medical and equipment, we laid everybody off in those departments,” said Presson. “The most important point here is that all 26 of these are all temporary layoffs.” So stand down.

But hold it here. What equipment manager gets an award as volunteer of the year?

“Dwayne was nominated originally for our Life Membership/ Hall of Fame Award but you have to be retired from football to get that award,” said Football Alberta executive director Tim Enger.

“He will certainly be a strong candidate when he does retire. We felt he should be in another category. We felt he was more deserving of the Gary Hobson Volunteer of the Year Award.

“It’s true — he’s not a volunteer with the Eskimos. But he’s always been there for us in the amateur side of things helping a team out here and there if they have some problems with their equipment.

“For years he volunteered through us to go to equipment rooms of high schools and minor teams during the off-season to help them get organized and was always there when a team had an emergency with an equipment need. There are hundreds of examples of him giving his time to minor and high school teams to help out.”

COVID -19 not only cost Mandrusiak his cellphone and required him to clean out his office, it cost him the moment to receive the honour.

“All of our awards are handed out at our annual Senior Bowl All-star Game annual banquet held the night before the game over the May long weekend for graduating Grade 12 high school players. It’s a gathering of 300400 people,” said Enger.

“This year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve had to cancel the entire event. There isn’t another gathering that we host which would do justice to how we wished to thank and recognize the winners.”

Think about all of this when you contemplate the current situation of the CFL asking for $30 million of government aid to help them get through the season.

Mandrusiak may be the poster person of the CFL when it comes to what this league is all about. But there are endless examples of the quiet work players do in the community.

The volume is staggering when it comes to a team like the Eskimos and the appearances and year-round hospital visits, etc. that the players make and the organization seldom flaunts it.

It’s time for the Government of Canada to give back to the CFL.