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Winnipeg Blue Bombers' dependable slotback Terrence Edwards. (CP)

NO doubt it is a fact lost, or entirely unknown, to the folks who live in Fulton County, Ga.

But two Winnipeg Blue Bomber icons live just a few blocks apart from each other in Atlanta. One is the legendary Milt Stegall, the club's all-time everything in terms of receiving statistics and touchdowns. And the other, Terrence Edwards -- a man dubbed 'Baby Milt' when he arrived in Winnipeg in 2007 -- just signed a contract extension on Friday and is rocketing up the team's all-time receiving list.

"Me and Milt are five minutes away from each other. Our kids will go to the same high school one day," began Edwards in a telephone interview. "It'd be pretty cool to one day say he's No. 1 and I'm No. 2 on that list and to also live this close. He's a guy I can really call a friend."

It would take some doing, but Edwards, who turns 34 in April, still has a couple of names he could pass on the Bomber all-time receiving yardage list if he -- and the club's quarterback(s) -- can stay healthy. Entering his ninth year in the Canadian Football League and seventh with the Bombers, Edwards sits in fourth place in career receiving yardage at 6,651 -- behind only Milt Stegall (15,153), James Murphy (9,036) and Joe Poplawski (8,341).

"Being on a list of guys like that, that makes me feel good," said Edwards. "Actually, I met Rick House last year for the first time. After I moved past him (into fourth) he came up to me and congratulated me. It's an honour to be on a list with those guys

"Now, your parents always tell you that you should shoot for the best, for No. 1. But in this case you can only shoot for No. 2 because No. 1 on that list will never be passed. Those guys are legends. Hopefully when I get passed people will say, 'Terrence was a great guy' and when I'm done they'll say I belong on list with those players."

Scooped up by the Bombers just before training camp in 2007 following his release by the Montreal Alouettes, Edwards immediately settled into a receiving corps that included Stegall and Derrick Armstrong -- all of them 1,000-yard receivers that season -- and finished second to Geroy Simon in yardage that year while pulling in nine touchdowns.

Last season, Edwards posted his third straight 1,000-yard season -- and fifth of his career -- hauling in 70 passes for 1,049 yards and four touchdowns. Only six names are ahead of him on the Bomber career receiving TD list, too: Stegall (144), Murphy (61), Ernie Pitts (54), Poplawski (48), House and Jeff Boyd (46). Edwards now has 45 receiving TDs.

"It seems like 2007 is a long time ago," Edwards said. "I was talking to Derrick Armstrong just the other day... I'm the only one left from that crew that went to the 2007 Grey Cup. I was a young pup then, now I'm the old wily veteran. It's definitely different. I liked 'Baby Milt.' I took on that role. I learned a lot from him, the No. 1 thing being how to approach the game on and off the field. Now I'm that I'm the old veteran guy I'm trying to instil the same thing to the younger receivers.

"I want to retire as a Blue Bomber." Edwards added. "It's nice to know I'm wanted by the team by the fact they want to keep me around for another year."

Ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait

'PEG CUP BID COMING?

THE CFL's Friday announcement the 2014 Grey Cup had been awarded to Vancouver might have surprised some, given Investors Group Field is opening this June and the expectation -- at one time, at least -- that the '14 championship would be held here in the new facility.

The Bombers are said to be readying a bid for the 2015 or 2016 Grey Cup, contingent on the renovation to the Winnipeg Convention Centre being completed at that time. The Grey Cup bid needs a facility in which to play host to a number of events and the convention centre will soon be undergoing a $180-million-plus expansion and renovation that should be completed in early 2016.

-- Tait

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 9, 2013 C4