Huclack’s dad fine after robbery

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This article was published 24/11/2010 (5610 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON – Cory Huclack arrived in Edmonton on Tuesday, but part of him was in Winnipeg.

The 26-year-old Huclack — a linebacker with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders — was thinking about his dad Dan, a former member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers who still lives in the Manitoba capital.

The elder Huclack was mugged Monday and had cash and his 1984 Grey Cup ring stolen during a street robbery.

Cory Huclack heard the news from his brother Jason on Monday afternoon and spoke to Dan soon after.

“I can’t lie; I was angry and didn’t really know what to do,” Cory said after the Roughriders arrived at Edmonton International Airport.

“For someone to pick on somebody like that is just … At first, I was enraged, but you take a step away from it and you realize it could have been a lot worse. He could have been stabbed or he could have been shot.

“He’s healthy, he’s fine. It’s a possession, it’s a ring and if he doesn’t get it back, it was insured so he’ll get another one. As long as he’s all right, that was my main concern.”

According to Huclack, his dad wasn’t mentally affected by the incident, either.

“Even if he was, he would never let me know. That’s just the way my dad is. He seemed in high spirits when we talked. His mind was, ‘I can’t wait to come out to Edmonton and watch you play in the Grey Cup again,'” said Huclack, whose Saskatchewan Roughriders are to play the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday at Commonwealth Stadium in the 98th Grey Cup game.

“That’s where his thoughts are, so that helps me.” 

Dan Huclack, 53, was walking to a doctor’s appointment Monday afternoon when he was accosted from behind by two men.

“I felt something in my back and somebody say, ‘Give me your money,’ ” Huclack told the Canadian Press. “I gave them $40 and they wanted more.

“One of them kicked me you-know-where and I dropped to the sidewalk. They wanted more and kicked me again. As I was lying there, they grabbed the ring and ran down the street. They were a couple of spineless guys attacking from behind.”

Roughriders centre Jeremy O’Day agreed with that assessment.

“That’s pretty cowardly,” said O’Day, who hadn’t heard the news before arriving in Edmonton. “To take something that means so much to someone, that’s about as bad as it gets.”

“Not that they can do anything with (the ring),” added Cory. “It doesn’t make too much sense to me. To each his own, I guess. What are you going to do with it? You’re not going to take it anywhere. Nobody’s going to buy it.”

Dan Huclack, a former Bombers fullback, won the ring when Winnipeg beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 47-17 in the ’84 title game. Ironically, the contest was played at Commonwealth Stadium.

“He celebrated on this field, so it’d be something else to do the same,” Cory said. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”

The younger Huclack said he has always played for Dan — “He’s my No. 1 fan,” Cory said — so he admitted winning a ring just days after his dad was mugged would be special. Would Cory give Dan the bauble as a replacement for the lost ring?

“Ummm — I’m not sure,” said a chuckling Cory, who won the CFL championship and the accompanying jewelry last season as a member of the Alouettes. “He has always bugged me that he had two rings and I’ve only got the one.

“We’ll see (about giving it up). I’ve got to get it first.”