Cornish in line for ‘Tony Gabriel Double’
The Calgary Stampeders tailback is a favourite to be named both the Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian awards, writes GEorGE JohNSoN.
The doors to Saskatchewan are not, as rumoured, closed to him. No suspicious border guards checking identification. No APBs. No police sketches of a man 37 years after the fact. A statute of limitations goes, it seems, for even for the most heinous footballing crimes perpetrated against the province. Even for a wrathful Rider Nation.
“No, no,” laughs Tony Gabriel. “I was actually back for a charity event in May, in Moose Jaw. “I got in and out, no problem. “Everybody treated me first-class. Couldn’t have been nicer.
“I even had a couple of people come and over and say, ‘We forgive you.’ ”
Those 20 seconds remain seared indelibly into the memory banks of flatlanders everywhere: A crowd of 53,467 wedged into Toronto’s Exhibition Stadium. The Ottawa Rough Riders perched at the Saskatchewan 24-yard line, down 20-16 to their Western namesake. Quarterback Tom Clements waiving off a play-call from the bench, accepting the snap and dropping back in the pocket. Gabriel faking a post pattern and then turning to the corner, Saskatchewan DB Ted Provost biting on the fake. And ...
“Well, you know the rest,” says Gabriel, now 64. “When I was at that banquet in May, I told them ‘Sorry, I was just doing my job. I wouldn’t be here if I’d dropped that pass.’ ”
In 1978, Gabriel became the last man to walk off the stage carting both the Most Outstanding Player and Most Outstanding Canadian awards. Until now.
At the Conexus Arts Centre ($150 a pop top-ticket), Calgary Stampeders’ ace tailback Jon Cornish is a prohibitive favourite to accomplish what has come to be known as the Tony Gabriel Double.
“He’d be very, very deserving,” says the man himself. “Obviously.
“Jon carried the team through a lot of injuries this season. Statistically, every time he ran for 100 yards, they’d win, which shows how important he was to Calgary’s offence. Consistent in lugging the load. Durable, right? Missed one game, I believe. Mr. Dependable. It’s tough to repeat anything ... Grey Cup, individual awards, what have you. So to be the nominee for both MOP and top Canadian two years running is quite an accomplishment.
“He ran for more yards this year than last.
“I was impressed watching his serious disposition to get the job done. Very professional. No antics. More mature. All business.”
Cornish’s competition for the evening’s big bauble, of course, is the ageless Happy Camp, Calif., Toronto Argonaut gunslinger Ricky Ray, marking the first MOP finalist bid of his Hall of Fame-calibre career. Ray’s stats were indisputably sensational in 2013, but injuries limited him to 10 starts.
Impossible to see anybody, however accomplished, beating Jon Cornish on the strength of a little more than half a season’s work.
“Ricky Ray,” says Gabriel, “had a superlative year for the games he played. A 77 per cent (77.2) completion percentage? That’s crazy. The best in the league, ever. Pretty impressive. (Zach) Collaros did an admirable job filling in when Ray was hurt, but without Ricky, the Argos wouldn’t have finished first in the East. One game I watched, I think he hit 22 passes in a row. Who does that? From what I saw in the East, I don’t think there’s anybody I could consider.”
Unlike a year ago when he finished runner-up to the versatile Chad Owens of Toronto, Cornish is the favourite to win this time, 35 years after Gabriel did the double.
“I remember the night I won,” he reminisces, “I had my losing speech all prepared, in my pocket. Truthfully, I didn’t think I’d beat Wilkie (Tom Wilkinson). In the tribute I got from the audience on my big night, my moment in time, I don’t think people cared what my nationality was. Same with Jon. He’s just a great football player. Period.”