Bombers Notebook: Lincoln locomotive honoured by blue

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This article was published 15/09/2016 (3366 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Bombers will honour former running back Leo Lewis as the sixth inductee into the Ring of Honour, the team announced Wednesday.

Lewis, who will be recognized during halftime of Saturday’s home game against Toronto, joins a list of names already inducted this season, including Dieter Brock, Milt Stegall, Gerry James, Ken Ploen and Chris Walby.

Lewis played all 12 years of his CFL career in Winnipeg (1955-66), winning four Grey Cups. A triple threat, Lewis recorded 8,861 rushing yards, 4,251 receiving yards and another 5,465 in the return game to become the Bombers’ all-time combined-yardage leader with 18,577. He was also the Bombers all-time leading rusher until Charles Roberts surpassed him in 2007.

Nicknamed the ‘Lincoln Locomotive’ during his college years at Lincoln University, Lewis is already a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (1973), the Winnipeg Football Club Hall of Fame (1984), and the College Football Hall of Fame (2005).

“Leo Lewis was a CFL West Division all-star six times over his career and has been honoured at just about every level,” said president & CEO Wade Miller, in a release. “His inclusion into the Ring of Honour only made sense, and we are pleased to be able to add his name to the growing list of Bomber greats already inducted.”

Lewis died Aug. 30, 2013, at the age of 80. There to accept the award on his behalf will be his sons Marc and Leo Lewis III.

LAST-MINUTE DECISION

With the Bombers having just one full practice between now and Saturday’s game against the Toronto Argonauts, coach Mike O’Shea wavered in his confidence about the status of his star running back.

“I’m thinking that Andrew Harris will (play),” he said, before taking a brief pause following Wednesday’s workout at Investors Group Field. “I’ll give him every opportunity to go and then there are a variety of ways to stack the roster after that.”

Harris has missed both practices this week after suffering a lower-body injury in the first half of Saturday’s Banjo Bowl win against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. After the team ruled him out for the final two quarters, Harris watched from the sidelines as the Bombers won 17-10.

“Earlier in the year he was a little nicked up,” said O’Shea. “We went out the day before the game, he ran a little bit and he said ‘I’m good to go’ and he was good to go. Like I said, I’ll give him every opportunity.”

In the meantime, Timothy Flanders has taken first-team reps with the offence. Flanders said he doesn’t know what the status of Harris is, but was warned to be ready to go in the event he can’t play.

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“I’ve been waiting for my opportunity to come,” said Flanders, adding he hopes for a healthy return for Harris. “Every week I’ve been studying like I am about to play.

“If I do play, I just want to go out there and put it all on the line for my teammates, do it all for the fans and just make sure we get a win.”

Linebacker Ian Wild has also missed the last two days of practice. He, too, was ruled out in the first half against the Riders and, like Harris, his status remains day-to-day.

NEW BLOOD

The Bombers added non-import defensive back Justin Warden to the practice roster. Warden, an Ottawa native who played his collegiate football at Bishop’s University, was the Bombers sixth round pick — 46th overall — in the 2015 CFL Draft.

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

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