uberscheisse
Joined: 02 Dec 2003
Location: japan is better than korea.
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 Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2004 12:10 pm Post subject: |
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They came, they played and they stayed
They're a little worse for wear, but these Rough Riders still love the game, and Ottawa
Wayne Scanlan
The Ottawa Citizen
November 20, 2004
CREDIT: Julie Oliver, The Ottawa Citizen
Ed Miller, 87, and his pal, George Hitzroth, 84, both from Toronto, are arguably Canada's biggest Grey Cup fans. Between them, they have attended 128 Grey Cup games. Tomorrow's game will be Mr. Miller's 69th and Mr. Hitzroth's 59th. For that, they got some love yesterday from a few of the Toronto Argonaut cheerleaders in town to cheer their team on. For more on the cheerleaders, see page E6.
Bobby Simpson, Mr. Sleeper Play himself, expects to get out of hospital today so he can watch the 92nd Grey Cup tomorrow -- at home with his brand new shoulder.
The replacement surgery was completed at Queensway-Carleton Hospital yesterday morning, just hours after Simpson attended the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame dinner with his wife, Mary.
A two-way Ottawa Rough Rider warrior from 1950-62, Simpson has already had two knees and a hip replaced.
Football debts.
"I always tease him," says Mary, "that he comes from the planet Krypton because he recovers so well from these surgeries.
"But he would have paid them to let him play, even knowing the injuries he'd suffer. That's how it was in those days."
Ah, those days.
The black-and-white TV days, the glory years of the Ottawa Rough Riders.
Simpson has plenty of company in the replacement body parts business.
Whit Tucker, who could glide under a deep spiral like a swan in water, has had two knees and a shoulder done.
Dave Thelen, a punishing, fearless running back, gets around on an artificial knee.
Ted Smale, an offensive and defensive end from 1956-62, is the proud owner of two new knees.
If they replace any more hinges on these aging football gods, they'll all be some version of Steve Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man; an ironic reference for these men who played for the love of the game.
These glorious Riders of the CFL have more in common than replacement surgery --they're part of a massive group of football stars who came to Ottawa to play and then stayed.
The financial community, charitable organizations, sports clubs, schools and churches wouldn't be what they are today without the Rider factor.
Try to imagine an Ottawa without Ron Stewart, Tucker, Thelen, Smale, Simpson, Tony Golab, Jim Cain, Kaye Vaughan, Ken Vargo, Marv Bevan, Tom Pullen, Wayne Giardino, Ken Lehmann, Jim Conroy, Bruce Walker, Bill Sierkierski, Mark Kosmos, Rick Sowieta, Jim Foley, Dan Dever, Moe Racine, Pat Stoqua, Val Belcher, Jeff Avery, James Ellingson, Stephen Jones, Dean Dorsey, Irv Daymond, Jock Climie, Glenn Kulka and on and on.
Smale is treasurer of the Rider alumni association. By his count, 120 ex-Riders live in and around Ottawa. Another 25 are former club officials, coaches, trainers or media relations staff. Most of these men grew up somewhere other than Ottawa. Came here to play. Fell in love -- with the city, the fans, with Ottawa women -- and never left.
Ancient Golab was a pioneer of the gathering clan. A Second World War pilot who was shot down and wounded behind enemy lines, the "Golden Boy" was a Hall of Fame backfielder for Ottawa from 1940 to '50.
Golab started the great Windsor exodus to the nation's capital. In the mid-1940s, one of Golab's former high school coaches in Windsor was telling Simpson how much Golab enjoyed playing and living in Ottawa.
In 1949, Simpson was playing semi-pro football in Windsor. When the Riders matched the Toronto Argos'
offer of $600 a game, he jumped at it.
"I never looked back," says Simpson, who paved the way for other Windsor boys to join the Riders, including Bruno Bitkowski, Tucker and Walker. |
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