CFL GREATS FROM FIVE DECADES JOIN HALL
Class of 2021 includes former commissioner, five all-star players and well-known coach
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame's class of 2021 — five allstar players, one legendary coach and an influential commissioner — have combined to serve the game with distinction through five decades.
Marv Levy coached the Montreal Alouettes to a pair of Grey Cup wins in the 1970s; Doug Mitchell served five years as commissioner of the Canadian Football League in the '80s; Will Johnson, Don Wilson and Mike Walker played stellar defence into the '90s; Orlondo Steinauer was a CFL all-star for a fifth and final time in 2007; and Nik Lewis retired in 2018 as the CFL'S alltime receptions leader with 1,051.
“The Canadian Football Hall of Fame is proud to honour these individuals who have contributed so much to our game, on the field, on the sidelines and in the boardroom,” said Greg Dick, the hall's interim executive director.
Assuming there is a 2021 CFL season, the new inductees — including media wing members Bernie Pascall and the late Bob Hooper — will be enshrined Nov. 18 as part of Grey Cup week in Hamilton. The postponed 2020 induction ceremony for Clyde Brock, Fred Childress, Henry Burris, Greg Vavra, John Hufnagel and the late Larry Uteck is scheduled for Aug. 6, a day before the Ticats are set to host Calgary in the hall of fame game.
Mitchell, 82, is still working as a lawyer in Calgary and was commissioner during some challenging times for the CFL, none more so than in 1987, when the Alouettes folded on the eve of their season opener.
“When Montreal gave us 24 hours' notice that they were folding the franchise, a lot of people helped me have the strength to get through that moment,” Mitchell said last week. “Because a lot of people were surrounding us and saying `that's it, the CFL is over, there's no future, who's going to be the next one to fold?' I think that was a great team effort. We changed schedules, rescheduled airplanes and (game) times. It was amazing, in 24 hours what we had to put together.”
Wilson was caught up in the crisis, too. He'd made the Als' active roster in camp, went to Winnipeg as the 20th of 23 players chosen in the dispersal draft, was cut by the Bombers and ended up winning the first of his four Grey Cup rings with Edmonton at the end of that crazy season.
“I always kind of understand that life don't always go the way you planned it to go,” said Wilson. “To me it wasn't like a setback, it was just a setup for another door to open.”
Wilson, now 59 and working as an actor, added to his Grey Cup ring collection in 1991 with Toronto, 1993 with Edmonton and 1996 with the Argos again. Along the way he was named a CFL all-star four times.
Some hall of famers, like Wilson, have to wait years. Others, like Levy, wait decades. He coached for 47 years, just five of them in Montreal, but his teams went to three Grey Cups and won two of them. Current Alouettes management took an active role in getting Levy on the ballot and his impressive resume carried him the rest of the way.
“I never dreamed that it might happen. My career there wasn't a long one of course, but we did have a lot of success during that period of time,” said Levy, now 95 and living in Chicago.
He joins quarterback Warren Moon and coach Bud Grant as the only members of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in Hamilton.
Walker was a Ticats defensive lineman for eight years and won a Grey Cup with them in 1986, while Steinauer played defensive back in the Steel City for four of his 13 seasons, and has been the Tabbies' head coach since 2019. Johnson was a five-time CFL allstar and twice led the league in quarterback sacks.