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‘My whole life has almost been unreal ... It’s by God’s good grace’: Buono
B.C. Lions vice-president
and GM Wally Buono completes journey from immigrant to CFL legend with spot in Hall of Fame.
He has been a fixture on the CFL’s virtual Mount Rushmore for so long now, the news Friday that Wally Buono was to be inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame was greeted in this precinct by the question: “You mean he wasn’t already in?”
The 63-year-old B.C. Lions vice-president and general manager — two years after stepping down as holder of the record for most head coaching wins (254) in league history — will, if pressed, admit he has known this distinction was coming, he just wasn’t impatient for it to happen.
“Don’t say ‘enshrined,’” he joked Friday afternoon, in a leisurely sit-down in his Regina hotel, a couple of hours before the formal announcement.
“Honestly, logic says when you’ve accomplished this much you should be recognized, so I’m not going to sit here and say I’m overwhelmed, or I never expected it. All this does is it validates the journey I’ve been on and am still on, and it validates all the people who have been a big part of our success.
“To me, the nomination is gratifying, but the journey is much more unbelievable.”
The story of that journey has been told many times, but it is still a fascinating rags-to-riches yarn; one Buono tells without pretence, or without expecting an iota of sympathy.
“I speak about it because I don’t look at it as a negative, a sad part of our life. I don’t look at is as a victim — I just believe that I needed to go through all that because God makes you experience a lot of things to be who you are,” he said.
Pasquale Buono, born in Potenza, Italy, in 1950, landed in Montreal as a small child, was eight years old when his father died, and he and his brother grew up the hard way, in a provincial home.
“Three-and-a-half years, we lived in Shawbridge, which was run by the (Quebec) government for juvenile delinquents, basically,” Buono said. “That’s the only place we could go. My mother was uneducated, she was an immigrant, could barely speak English. When my father died, nobody could feed us.
“So I have tremendous respect for my mother. She had nobody. All her family was back in the old country. She worked in a chocolate factory, Expert Candy, from 7 to 7, on her feet, and sometimes six to seven days a week, making 50 cents an hour.”
That harsh reality left its mark. He has no doubt it shaped the complicated man he became.
“I don’t know, maybe I was disconnected. I don’t remember much of my childhood. I don’t remember being loved or not being loved,” he said. “So at times people see me as very distant and very cold and I say there’s two sides to all of us, and that (cold side) serves me well at times.”
Buono traces his football journey to an evening in the park in Montreal North when an 18-year-old future Montreal Alouette named Al Phaneuf asked a bunch of leatherjacketed teens if they’d like to play football. Phaneuf became their mentor, took care of them, and in Buono’s case, his encouragement led to everything else.
It led to football and a scholarship to Idaho State. To the Alouettes and 10 seasons as a linebacker and punter, and two Grey Cup wins. To his first assistant coach’s job with Joe Galat on the Montreal Concordes, then 16 years (the last 13 as head coach) and three Grey Cup wins with the Calgary Stampeders.
It led, after being discarded by the Stamps following the 2002 season, to the B.C. Lions — “(Then-owner) Mike Feterik’s garbage was David Braley’s treasure, I guess. The thing is, Dave didn’t see me as trash,” Buono said Friday, where he won the last two of his five Grey Cups as a head coach in 2006 and 2011.
“My whole life has almost been unreal, you know? My background, my education. I mean, I wasn’t a real bright student. You would never think, ‘Okay, this guy really has a chance to do something special’ ... and I say this really really humbly: It’s by God’s good grace.
“I don’t say it to be preachy or pious. I just think He had a plan for me.”
As hard as his early years were, he said, “the way I look at it, I’ve always had the silver spoon. Got a football scholarship, never had to pay for school. Never had to work a real day in my life. Became a pro, never made great money but had success there, got into coaching, had a great wife, great family ...
“So I look at it as, ‘Why me? Why would God give me the silver spoon, and not somebody else?’”
He believes that, he said, because of all the amazing talent he has been surrounded by through his career.
Yes, said the reporter, but those guys didn’t just fall out of trees.
“No,” he agreed, “but I got (player personnel ace) Roy Shivers. He was a gift. When Lary Kuharich and Joe Kapp left B.C., they fired Roy. I wasn’t the (head) coach, but I went to (Calgary CEO) Normie Kwong and said if it was me, I’d try to get Roy Shivers in the organization, so he brought Roy in. And then I got the job, and then Roy left to be the GM in Saskatchewan and God gives me Bob O’Billovich. Maybe (with Shivers) the two greatest personnel guys of my time.
“At the end of it, it’s always about having tremendous people around you. Not only good people, but good at what they do.”
He ticks off on his fingers the talent he has touched, or been touched by, and it’s quite a list: “Allen Pitts, Alondra Johnson ... I’m not sure there’s ever been better players. John Hufnagel, Danny Barrett, Jeff Garcia, Dave Sapunjis. Look at B.C.: Geroy Simon, Dave Dickenson, Brent Johnson ...”
“Flutie wasn’t bad,” says the reporter.
“No, no, I don’t take credit for that,” he said. “Doug just made me that much better.”
But he’s stuck with the credit, and in truth, he probably doesn’t mind so much.
He knows he’s done well. The Hall of Fame thing? Not so bad. Mount Rushmore, though ... “Let me answer this carefully,” he said. “I truly respect the responsibility that I have because of the persona I’ve built. I’m comfortable in that persona, when I’m out in the public, when it means helping promote the CFL and helping build a franchise,” he said.
“Do I see myself in that light? No. When I think of Normie Kwong, the living legend, and Hugh Campbell, who won five Grey Cups in a row, and Ralph Sazio ... no, these are guys who I strived to be. When I see Don Matthews, I respect him as the guy you always wanted to make sure you were as good as, because you knew how good he and his teams were going to be.
“But people know the persona and often don’t really know the person. When I’m at home, I’ve got a dirty old pair of sweatpants and an old sweatshirt on most of the time. I’m comfortable being the guy who’s out on the street playing ball hockey with my grandson.
“Not that I can’t go to a (formal) function and fit in. But given my choice, I’ll take the sweatpants.”