Hero’s welcome for Brock

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This article was published 10/09/2016 (3307 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For 10 seasons, legendary quarterback Dieter Brock slung the football like no other, etching his name into Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ folklore with each extension of his arm.

Saturday afternoon, in front of the biggest crowd of the season at his former club’s biggest home game on the calendar, Brock’s name and familiar No. 5 were enshrined at Investors Group Field as the fifth member of the team’s Ring of Honour.

Nicknamed the Birmingham Rifle, the Alabama native joined Chris Walby, Ken Ploen, Gerry James and Milt Stegall in the Ring, which pays homage to the CFL club’s past.

With Jamie Brock, his wife of 21 years by his side, Brock received a hero’s welcome during a halftime ceremony of the Banjo Bowl game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“It was just awesome. I couldn’t believe it. My wife and I were just thrilled,” Brock said after his induction. “To be back in Winnipeg, this beautiful stadium — we’re just awestruck.”

The reception was hardly surprising. Brock’s durability and longevity as a top pivot in the Canadian Football League produced franchise records that may never be surpassed.

Brock got his start in Winnipeg in 1974 as the backup to Don Jonas. Jonas was traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats that season for fellow pivot Chuck Ealey, who was expected to take over the reins as the Bombers’ signal caller. But by the middle of the 1975 campaign, it was Brock who had secured his spot as the No. 1 pivot in Blue and Gold.

Over his tenure, Brock set the club standard with 29,623 passing yards and 177 passing touchdowns, plus numerous other records with his cannon-like right arm.

“The thing I think about more than anything is just all the outstanding guys I had a chance to play with —Joe Poplawski, Rick House, Eugene Goodlow, Mike Holmes, Chris Walby at the end — just on and on. That’s what I think about,” Brock said.

Named the CFL’s most outstanding player twice — the only Bomber to achieve the feat in back-to-back seasons (1980-81) — Brock led the Big Blue to four consecutive playoff appearances from 1975 to 1978 and three in a row from 1980-82.

Like the man he replaced, Brock was traded to the Ticats during the 1983 season for fellow pivot Tom Clements. In 1985, Brock played one year in the NFL, marching the Los Angeles Rams to NFC Championship Game before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears.

Injuries to his back playing a pickup basketball game prior to the 1985 season and a knee injury in the first pre-season game of 1986 ended Brock’s playing days.

The 65-year-old’s only regret during his time with Winnipeg was his inability to deliver a Grey Cup trophy to the city he calls his second home.

“It wasn’t for lack of trying,” Brock said, naming the Edmonton Eskimos as his nemesis during his time in Winnipeg.

“They pretty much had a set team and didn’t do a lot of changes. We had some really good success… We were close. It’s just one of those things. When Edmonton’s time was over, it was then somebody else’s time and I think that was Winnipeg’s time to come up and get theirs. I just wish I was here.”

Jamie and Brock married after his playing days ended. To her, Brock is just her husband, but she saw Saturday he still means a lot to many people.

“He’s the guy that leaves the bathroom towel on the floor and I get to yell at him,” she said. “He’s just a regular guy to me, but to see everybody who loves him and wants to shake his hand and take pictures, it just makes me feel good.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @scottbilleck

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Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

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