Here's Steve's column on the Hall of Fame inductees. I'm enjoying my holiday but would have enjoyed chatting with Earl Winfield about his induction.

By Steve Milton

Mark Cohon got a couple of interesting responses Thursday when he caught several legends off guard just seconds before they were told they were heading into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

Former Tiger Miles Gorrell, for instance, didn’t have his glasses on and thought from the “416” area code he could make out on his phone that his wife Suzanne was on the line. “Hi Babe!” he said into the phone which was, Cohon responded, a first for him as CFL commissioner.

And Burlington-raised referee Jake Ireland was so surprised that an official would be named to the Hall of the Fame that he didn’t believe that the CFL commissioner was on the other end of the line.

“I asked him if he could prove who he was,” Ireland laughed later. “I’m still shocked. Still humbled.”

Gorrell and Ireland joined receiving/returning legend Earl Winfield, longtime Argo offensive lineman Dan Ferrone, former University of Alberta star Brian Fryer, legendary St. FX coach Don Loney in the Class of 2013.



Marking the 50th year of the Hall, located in downtown Hamilton, the announcement of the six inductees was done for the first time live on TV (TSN, of course). And fittingly, given the setting, three of the six 2013 inductees have significant ties to the Hamilton area.

Winfield, the first CFL player to score touchdowns in three different ways in the same game, spent his entire 11-year CFL playing career with the Tiger-Cats.

Gorrell, a popular and gargantuan offensive tackle, played eight years for the Tiger-Cats, appearing in two Grey Cups and winning one. A scout for the Toronto Argonauts after his playing career, Gorrell is now the colour commentator on CHML’s broadcasts of McMaster Maurader games.

Ireland, by far the most recognizable referee of his era returned to officiate local amateur games just before retiring from the CFL field five years ago. . He stayed with the league after hanging up his flag, and became the first supervisor of video reviews.

Winfield was in Hamilton in early September for the final Labour Day game at Ivor Wynne Stadium. His remarkable 1988 Labour Day---during which he had 400 all-purpose yards, including a 101-yard punt return, a 100-yard kickoff return and a 58-yard pass receiving touchdown----was one of nine Tiger-Cat highlights chosen to be depicted on game tickets for the last Ivor Wynne season. While visiting, he spent time with his metaphorical Ticat successor, Chris Williams, who became the first pro football player to score touchdowns in five different ways in the same season.

Playing on often-weak Hamilton teams, the Virginia native was one of the most revered Ticats of the post-‘60s, and averaged nearly 1000 receiving yards per year through his 11-season career. The Cats reaped 10,119 yards and 75 touchdowns from his 573 career catches.

“I just wanted to play football,” Winfield said. “I never gave it a single thought about awards or Hall of Fames..

“Your body of work speaks for itself. But I’m not really good at accepting awards. It wasn’t just me, I had 11 other people helping and one of those who was a big part of me getting here was Miles. He had to protect the quarterback---my man Mike Kerrigan-- so he could get the ball downfield to me.

“I played with Miles, I played against Dan, and there was always Jake on the sideline throwing flags because he said I pushed off. Which I didn’t.”

Winfield played during the era of the greatest kick returners in CFL history and his 11 career punt return majors are second only to another great from that time, Gizmo Williams. Just 13 days after his unforgettable Labour Day explosion, also Winfield scored three touchdowns in a game against Ottawa, including a 45-yard punt return for the game-winning touchdown.

“Every time I caught the ball I’d want to score,” said Winfield, who acknowledged the 1988 Labour Day as his greatest memory.” Every time I caught the ball I believed I could score.”

Gorrell, 6-foot-8 and athletic, played 19 seasons in the CFL, from 1978 to 1996, eight of the them in his two stints with the Tiger-Cats.

An Edmonton native who played high school in Calgary, Gorrell was drafted by the Stampeders and spent his first five seasons there before being traded to Ottawa, where he spent only two games before being traded again to Montreal, which was then nicknamed the Concordes.

The Ticats signed him during the 1985 season and he was an integral part of the 1986 team which upset the Edmonton Eskimos in the Grey Cup. In the 27 seasons since that game, Hamilton has won just one Grey Cup. Gorrell was named the east’s best offensive lineman, an honour he took again in 1989, when the Cats again reached the national final, only to lose to Saskatchewan in what most amateur historians call The Greatest Game Ever Played. Winfield was also a huge contributor to that game.

“I’d say the ’86 Cup was a highlight,” Gorrell said. “But the biggest memory is that I have friends. And the memories are generated by friends. John Salvantis (coach), Less Browne (team mate), Bob Bratina (Broadcaster), Mike McCarthy (GM), now those are friends and they’re here today. Just to see those guys…that’s a highlight.”

“There are five guys from that 86 team in the hall of fame now. Rocky (DiPietro) and I grew up together at Ottawa U, went our separate ways, came back together to win a Grey Cup with Hamilton and now we’re both in the Hall of Fame together.”

Gorrell remaineded for the Cats through 1991, making the eastern all-star team three times and the All-Canadian squad in 1989. After four seasons in Winnipeg, Gorrell closed out his exemplary career back in Hamilton for the 1996 season.

Gorrell, who says he was hoping to play one game in the league, ranks fourth all-time in CFL games played and in 1982 when he was traded to Ottawa, then again to Montreal, he managed to play 17 games in a 16-game season. Remarkably, in the last 11 years of his playing career, he missed only one game.

“I always thought there was a difference between being in pain and being hurt,” he explained. “I felt you had to play through pain.”

Tiger-Cats fans had a love-hate relationship with Ireland but, in the end, respected him more than any other man who has worn black and white stripes.

Born in Townsend, Ireland went to Burlington Central, and began refereeing minor football when a friend was desperate for help with a tyke flag football game at MM Robinson in 1966. He soon joined the prestigious Lakeshore Football Officials Association, one of the great officiating training grounds in this country, while he was a Mac student. The CFL recruited him after supervisor of officials Harry Ross saw him work his very first Burlington Brave junior game. He worked the sticks for three years before graduating to duty on the field of play, and was a fixture there for the next three decades.

Ireland officiated his first CFL game in June of 1979 and worked 555 games through his brilliant career, which drew to a close after he refereed the 96th Grey Cup in Montreal in 2008. That was his 15th Grey Cup, and 12th as a referee. Four of those games, from 1985-’88, came in succession, a rarity in the modern era.

Being an official named to the Hall of Fame is another rarity.

“I was always of the belief that we’re supposed to be not noticed and it seems somebody noticed.”

Noticed all six of ‘em. Deservedly.

