St. Boniface’s Savoie paragon of Bomber pride

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/09/2009 (5926 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They buried a Winnipeg Blue Bomber the other day.

His name was Roger Savoie, a local kid beloved in St. Boniface, who toiled 16 seasons as a lineman, mostly on defence. He was a team captain, an all-star, and eventually a member in good standing of the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.

“I liken Roger to be the Doug Brown of his day,” life-long friend and teammate, Nick Miller, recalled. “He one of the most underrated players we had. He went up against the top guys and we won (the Grey Cup) four times. So that says something.

“I had a lot of respect for Roger,” added Miller, a fixture on the legendary teams of the Bud Grant era. “There were no airs about him. He meant what he said. He was comfortable to be around. He was a big man in just about every way, if you know what I mean.”

Savoie succumbed to cancer shortly after his 78th birthday. Miller will blow out that same number of candles later this month. They both came up through junior football programs; Savoie in St. B and Miller in the north end.

The old teammates were proud to be Bombers. Miller still has the crest and tie players were given in 1954, along with grey slacks, to wear for road trips. “If I could still fit into that blazer,” he chuckled, “I’d wear it, too.”

After all, Grant had always preached to his players, “You are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. You represent this city. You represent this province. You have to look like something.”

We are reminded of Savoie’s passing in the midst of all the shenanigans on Maroons Road lately. There’s been a lot of lip service been given to the proud heritage of the Bombers franchise and “what it means to be a Bomber.” A lot of loose talk about returning to the glory years and re-establishing the pride associated with the 79-year-old club.

Well, Savoie and his like epitomized those qualities. To steal a phrase, they weren’t just old school, they built the old school.

“People sometimes ask me, ‘Didn’t you used to be a Bomber?’ ” Miller said. “I tell them, ‘I didn’t used to be a Bomber. I am a Bomber.’ “

Times have changed, to be sure. Respect is a dying art form. But don’t think for a second that the Bombers so often being cited as the gold standard don’t wince at the circus atmosphere surrounding their team these days.

How would the Millers, Savoies, and Ploens have reacted if someone with the character of Adam (Pacman) Jones walked into their locker-roomtrueMiller paused for a second and finally replied, “It would never happen.”

In fact, Miller used to wonder why some very talented players would be in camp one day and gone the next. He eventually realized why they vanished. “They didn’t fit the mold. You had to be a team player,” he said. “That’s what made our team successful. We enjoyed being together.”

Long-time Bombers trainer, Gordie Mackie, agreed.

“It was like a big, happy family, it really was,” said Mackie, now 87. “They stuck together and played together.”

This isn’t about a dreamy stroll down memory lane. It’s not a fond desire that it be 1960 again.

It’s about the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and what it means to wear the uniform to those who did so with distinction. Times have changed, yes, but if you’re going to talk about living up to those standards, don’t just talk the talk. Don’t cheapen their memories.

There’s a reason why almost 30,000 fans show up every other week to watch this team. A lot of those fans are sons and daughters of fans who sat in those seats watching a young Roger Savoie gut it out against the Angelo Moscas and Bronko Nagurski Juniors of the world. That’s tradition, not unlike such occasions as another Labour Day clash in Regina, and it’s the glue that pays the freight for the Bombers coaches and players who’ve come since.

A Winnipeg Blue Bomber died last month. Don’t let all the success, integrity and pride Roger Savoie and his teammates stood for so proudly die with him.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Randy Turner
Reporter

Randy Turner spent much of his journalistic career on the road. A lot of roads. Dirt roads, snow-packed roads, U.S. interstates and foreign highways. In other words, he got a lot of kilometres on the odometer, if you know what we mean.

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