Former Bomber battles back with pure grit

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/12/2014 (4189 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Congratulations to the Calgary Stampeders!

The media have dealt amply with their Grey Cup win on Nov. 30, so  I’ll deal with our Blue Bombers — from a historical perspective.

On Nov. 1, I watched those same Stampeders, the top team in the CFL with 15 regular-season wins, suffer just their second loss of the year at the hands of our own Blue Bombers. It was only our seventh win in 2014. Delicious.

Was that a salve for our bruised egos or what! I have not forgotten how Calgary whipped Winnipeg at the Grey Cup game in Montreal back in 2001, when the Stamps were the underdogs and our Bombers were riding high with their beloved Khari Jones as quarterback. The ball refused to go between the goalposts for us and we lost.

Now that our Bombers are again in the Western Division, we can rejoice with the Stampeders on winning both the division trophy and the Grey Cup. We’re friends again. (Editor’s note: Or maybe not.)

I know one Dakota House tenant who was rooting for the West as avidly as I was on Nov. 30.
He is the Manitoba Football Hall of Famer Roger Hamelin. Wearing number 61, Roger was a defensive tackle for the Bombers from 1961 to 1970. Coach Bud Grant won four Grey Cups (1958, ’59, ’61 and ’62) during his 10 years here (1956-66), and Roger has the coveted 1961 & ’62 Grey Cup rings to prove it.

What a heyday that was!

Kenny Ploen was our quarterback then (1957-67), the same Hall of Famer who was recently named by readers of the Winnipeg Free Press to the All-Time Blue Bombers Team.

Roger claims that at the root of Grant’s successes was the slogan “Practice makes perfect,” which he changed to “Perfect practice makes perfect.” It meant working as hard in practice as in a real game — throwing, blocking, running — and wearing shoulder pads and helmets each time, to get a real feel for what it takes to win.

The team “worked together and ate together, just like a family —  and still connect to this day.”

On Oct. 23, Winnipeg was proud to have Bud Grant present at the unveiling of his larger-than-life statue at the entrance to our new state-of-the-art stadium, Investors Group Field, which opened in May, 2013.

When Grant saw his bronze figure clad in that familiar trench coat, he said he wished he hadn’t donated the coat to a garage sale.

Roger himself earned respect as a strong tackle but the way he is now overcoming his need for a wheelchair after a recent stroke and fall that is earning him further respect.

A friend characterized his hallmark as “determination and courage in the face of adversity” — a discipline that must have been thoroughly ingrained during his long career as a Blue Bomber.

In the end, 2014 was not too bad a year for Bomber Nation. The Grey Cup stayed in our Western Division; our new stadium kept getting rave reviews; and it was confirmed  that Winnipeg will host the Grey Cup game in 2015.

Let’s now get our act together and bring some of that 1960s glory back to our city.

Anne Yanchyshyn is a community correspondent for St. Vital.