What if He was one of us?

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/11/2010 (5426 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

We wondered if it was just an old scout’s tale that had somehow become Canadian Football League folklore.

But after checking with former Winnipeg Blue Bomber boss Cal Murphy this week, we are able to confirm it now as fact: Some 16 years ago, back in 1994, the Bombers worked out quarterback Anthony Calvillo at one of their free-agent camps in the U.S. But because they were already committed to Matt Dunigan and had Sam Garza in reserve, Bomber brass opted to take a pass on the Utah State product.

Given the cold shoulder by the Bombers, Calvillo would sign instead with the expansion Las Vegas Posse, then flame out with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats before joining the Montreal Alouettes. These days Calvillo is a CFL legend, a future hall of famer and the face of an Alouettes franchise that is the picture of winning.

And so, play along please and imagine how things might have unfolded if the Bombers had indeed inked Calvillo back in the day and how the landscape and fortunes of the franchise might be different…

EDMONTON — A media throng has gathered around Winnipeg Blue Bomber quarterback Anthony Calvillo and is hanging on his every syllable.

That, in itself, is hardly a news flash. After all, Calvillo leading his Bombers to another appearance in the championship tilt — seven times in the last 12 years, with five titles and counting — is as common a scene during Grey Cup week as fans wandering the streets decked out in their favourite team’s colours, as the Calgary Stampeder horse trotting through a hotel lobby and fans calling in ‘sick’ the Monday after the game.

But Calvillo is particularly engaged by one question on this frigid Alberta morning…

“My favourite Cup win as a Bomber?” begins Calvillo, repeating the question while gathering his thoughts. “Let’s see… the first one at home in Winnipeg in ’98 was special. So glad to do it for Coach Cal in his last game that year. And 2000 was a real treat because of the way it ended — getting that one last possession and then Troy Westwood hitting that mammoth 54-yard field goal to win the game on the final play. Wow. Repeating in ’01 with that dominant 14-4 team was great and the 2006 championship, also back home in the ‘Peg, was very, very memorable because it was the first Grey Cup in our wonderful new dome.

“But, I gotta say — and I’m not just saying it because he’s an old friend and here working for TSN — last year’s win in Calgary was the best. It’s not that because it’s the most recent and freshest in my mind, but to help Milt Stegall go out in style really meant a lot. I was so glad that he was able to retire with another ring.

“Funny thing is,” added Calvillo with a wink, “I really like our chances on Sunday at getting a sixth title for our loyal fans in Winnipeg. Truthfully, I’ve been blessed.”

And so, too, have the Bombers to have No. 13 in their employ all these years.

Originally spied at a free agent camp in 1994, the club wasn’t initially keen on inking Calvillo, especially with their QB depth chart already stacked with Matt Dunigan and Sam Garza. But, despite their concerns about his throwing mechanics, the team signed the Utah State product as a long-term prospect — much the same way they viewed Danny McManus before he bolted to the B.C. Lions in 1993.

Little did Bomber brass know that Dunigan would exit for the Birmingham Barracudas in 1995 and that Garza, due to some elbow troubles, would not morph into the starter. And so by 1996 Calvillo, then just 24, was thrust into the role of starter. There were some growing pains, no doubt, but within two years he had brought another championship to Winnipeg and become such a folk hero and fan favourite in Winnipeg he helped lead the groundswell of support for a new stadium. That’s why Calvillo was there when the ribbon was cut at the opening of the 7-Eleven Slurpee Capital of the World Prairie Dome — ‘The House that A.C. Built’ — in the spring of 2006.

And, yes, there have been occasions when sports fans in Manitoba worried he might vamoose via free agency for bigger dollars — the Montreal Alouettes came courting in 2000 and again when his last contract expired in 2004. But the decision to sign Calvillo to a lifetime deal — who can forget that memorable windy day at the signing at Portage and Main? — was a stroke of genius by Bomber management.

Of course, renaming Charleswood ‘Calvillo-wood’ in his honour was inspired. Naming him to the Order of the Buffalo Hunt was a no-brainer. He got the keys to the city from Sam Katz and that 13-floor mural of him hanging from the Manitoba Hydro building is a gem. He can walk into any restaurant in town and get his meal comped, and the spicy Calvillo burger and fries at Kelekis is the spot’s most-popular menu item.

But it’s what Calvillo gives the Bombers on the field that is what frames his legacy during his 16 years in Winnipeg. Where other franchises have had so many struggles finding a bona fide starter at the QB position — the Als, for example, haven’t been the same since Khari Jones retired and they cut Kevin Glenn — the Bombers have had a hall of fame fixture at the most important spot on the field.

As Stegall so aptly put it: ‘There are seven guarantees in life: death, taxes, trouble, Milt Stegall being on time, Milt Stegall being pretty, Milt Stegall being in tip-top shape and Anthony Calvillo guiding the Bombers to a playoff berth.’

Yes, just imagine the nightmares if Calvillo hadn’t come aboard all those years ago. The Grey Cup drought would now be measured in decades.

And Calvillo? Who knows where his travels would have taken him after that camp back in 1994?

Say this: it’s a good thing that’s simply a hypothetical question for Bomber faithful to toss around today and not the reality.

“I can honestly say,” said Calvillo, proudly pointing to the Bomber ‘W’ on his shirt during the media scrum, “I can’t even picture not playing for this franchise and not wearing blue and gold.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

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