Against all odds, the battle-hardened men of the 1983 Toronto Argonauts ended one of the longest Grey Cup droughts in the CFL.

The Argos beat the B.C. Lions 18-17 to win the 71st Grey Cup in 1983, the first time in 31 years the Boatmen hoisted the trophy.

Not even a sick starting quarterback, missed field goals and a fumble that could have ended their hopes didn’t stop the Argos from winning.

With the 30th anniversary of the historic victory around the corner, the Star rounded up 12 players from that team to see where they are now. Some players are retired, others are running their own businesses or still involved in the game they love.

A few believe they’re self-employed now because it allowed them to break free of the control they endured while playing in the CFL: eat at this time, practise at that time, run this play that way.

One former player is now a Tim Hortons owner, another player is a petroleum land man; one is an adventurer living on a tiny island near South Africa, and another is a Niagara Falls restaurant owner.

Looking ahead, the Star also asked 12 current Argos from the 2012 Grey Cup team where they think they’ll be in 30 years. Some pictured beautiful beaches and a picturesque retirement; others have concrete plans and Chad Owens became philosophical about future technology.

1983 Argos

Condredge Holloway, Quarterback

Holloway, who had to leave the Grey Cup game at halftime because he was sick, is the assistant athletic director for player relations at the University of Tennessee.

“Life’s too short to be doing something you don’t enjoy,” he said. “Football taught me how to handle tough situations and deal with people so I’ve transferred that into this job.”

He has a daughter and a son, who is just getting into football, although Holloway thinks it’s a bit too early at just 12 years old.

“After what I went through in football, why would you wish that on your son?,” he said. “It’s a brutal sport. You don’t need to get beat up at 12 years old.”

He’d prefer if his son focused on baseball, but admits the little guy is going to do what he wants.

Joe Barnes, Quarterback

Barnes, who lives in Texas, refers to himself as a “petroleum land man.” When oil is discovered on someone’s land, he negotiates leases with the land owners and oil companies. It’s a profession he got in to during his off-seasons while playing football.

“You have to be patient and work through everything, like negotiating a football contract,” he said. “Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.”

He has two kids from a previous marriage, and four stepchildren. He’s also a grandfather to three grandchildren. He still follows college football in the U.S. and the CFL on the Internet. But he’s not an NFL fan.

“Pros are a bunch of overpaid cry babies,” he said.

Jan Carinci, Slotback

Carinci has been building a new life on a tiny island located near South Africa for the past two years. His wife took a job on the island of Mauritius as the CEO of its lottery corporation.

“It’s Jan’s and Michelle’s next excellent adventure,” he said.

The couple met after Carinci retired from football and began working media relations for the B.C. Lottery Corporation.

Since then, they’ve lived in Atlantic Canada and Rhode Island before taking up this latest journey.

“Through her job we’ve been all over the place,” he said. “We went around the world once in 19 days. It’s been a whirlwind that hasn’t slowed down.”

Carinci said he’s now semi-retired, dabbling in media relations — a field he entered because of his experience being hammered by Toronto media — on the side.

Carl Brazley, Defensive Back

Brazley owns his own public relations firm in Louisville, where he does some work for the state of Kentucky. His firm also handles some marketing for local businesses, but he’s most excited about it expanding into sports marketing soon.

“Ever since I left playing ball I wanted to do something creative,” the father of two said.

Brazley said if he could do things over, he’d get himself a computer engineering degree so he could easily expand his current company into the mobile world.

Geoff Townsend, Wide Receiver

Townsend, who lives in Toronto, has been an independent investor for the past 13 years. He has a wife, and two kids in university. He’s currently focused on making sure his children, soon to graduate, get off to a good start once in the working world.

For his own work, Townsend says his football days help him remain disciplined.

“There’s never really a dull moment,” he said. “But patience is a virtue and I have to look to pick my spots.”

John Malinosky, Offensive Lineman

Malinosky owns a Tim Hortons in Acton, Ont., and is in the process of opening another one just south of Acton, north of his home in Georgetown.

He’s owned the Acton coffee shop since 1995.

“It’s a wonderful, small community,” he said. “Everybody knows everybody. I love it.”

He has three children, all married, and is the grandfather to three toddlers. He coached football at the University of Guelph for a few years, stopping in 2005.

He now spends his day at Tim’s, or in Georgetown walking up to six family dogs “like a crazy man,” he said, laughing.

Stephen Del Col, Defensive Lineman

Del Col has been living near Niagara Falls for the past 24 years and has established strong roots in the community. He owns and operates Zooma Zooma Resto and Wine Bar, along with two clothing boutiques. His main focus is the restaurant.

“It’s a pretty fast-paced environment when we get busy,” he said. “We’re almost addicted to the rush. Maybe it duplicates the rush of playing the game.”

He has two children, a son who works in the Zooma Zooma kitchen and a daughter who just moved to Toronto for a retail manager position.

“More than enough to keep us out of trouble,” he said.

Franklin King, Defensive Lineman

King is currently a regional sales director for Alere, a medical supplies company based in Massachusetts. He handles a team responsible for roughly $22-million worth of business per year.

He lives in Texas, has a wife and two children, and says his time playing football has helped him mentor his employees.

“Everybody wants to be part of something bigger than themselves,” he said. “It’s like the 1983 team, we all bought in to something.”

Ken McEachern, Defensive Back

McEachern is living in Calgary, where he’s working with Primerica, a distributor of financial services. As a senior vice-president, he’s in charge of eight offices. He’s a former teacher, but left the profession because it seemed too restrictive.

He has three children, the youngest 25, each of whom attends school in the U.S. where they’re involved with athletics — his two sons with football and his daughter with soccer.

He’s a season-ticket holder for the Calgary Stampeders, who will play the Toronto Argonauts in a 2012 Grey Cup rematch Friday.

“I never played for Calgary, so I’ll be cheering for the Argos,” he said. “Got to stay loyal.”

Mike Hameluck, Offensive Lineman

After retiring from football, Hameluck worked in corrections for the Department of Justice in Manitoba.

“I started to teach inmates to do mould and asbestos removal to give the inmates a chance to get jobs upon their release,” he said. “I then moved to a more community-based function, and it ran there for six years.”

After that, Hameluck worked on the Environment Reliability Portfolio for the province of Manitoba, where he has been for the past 13 years.

“I also drive transport trucks part-time for Arnold Brothers transport in Winnipeg, and every time I have an event around Canada, they give me a load on a semi and let me go.”

Emanuel Tolbert, Wide Receiver

Tolbert was convicted of rape and violating a minor in 2001. He lost an appeal in 2003, when the Arkansas Court of Appeals upheld his conviction and sentence of 15 years for rape plus four years for the violation.

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Tolbert, who was working as a substitute teacher when charged with raping three girls, aged 14, 15 and 17, also pleaded guilty to a separate violation and was deemed a habitual offender.

He was released on parole at the end of 2011.

Paul Pearson, Wide Receiver

Pearson got into the pizza business after retiring from football, opening up a Pizza Pizza franchise before he realized night shifts weren’t for him.

“It made me realize I couldn’t work at night,” he said of the late hours. “So we moved back to Vancouver and opened up a deli shop.”

Now, 23 years later, Pearson’s European Deli is a mainstay in Kelowna, where Pearson raised his family and now lives with his wife.

“It’s not an easy business but it’s like football — you just don’t quit,” said Pearson, who has two sons, 30 and 32, with his first grandchild on the way from his youngest son’s marriage.

“We’re pretty excited about that,” said Pearson, who still watches a bit of football on television. “I just turn football on T.V. sometimes and think about how crazy we were.”

2013 Argos

Noel Prefontaine, Kicker, 39

“I’m still going to be kicking the ball for the Argos,” he said, laughing as his younger teammates reminded him he’s the oldest member of the squad at 39 years old.

“No, no, I’ll be enjoying watching my children grow and living with my lovely wife.”

Prefontaine currently sells cars on the side, but said he’s not sure how long that will hold up.

“There’s going to come a time when I want to do something within the game, maybe coaching,” he said.

Ricky Ray, Quarterback, 33

“Maybe I’ll be coaching football,” he said. “But hopefully I’m retired from coaching football and I’ll be playing golf and watching football on TV.”

Ray, who has a 2-year-old daughter, said perhaps he’ll be in the middle of her wedding plans. Otherwise, he’d like to go travelling.

“We don’t get to enjoy the summers right now,” he said. “I’d like to go travelling in Europe in the summer, I’ve never been there.”

Chad Owens, Slotback, 31

“I’ll be back in Hawaii,” he said. “In a beautiful house that I’ll own, chilling with my grandkids.” Then, Owens got philosophical.

“It’s hard to tell what the technology will be like then,” he said. “Maybe I’ll be teleporting back and forth to Toronto, where I’ll give presentations about all the Grey Cups we won.”

Dontrelle Inman, Wide Receiver, 24

“I’m going to own some type of business, hopefully a sports team — that or something to do with sports,” he said.

Inman also thinks he can see himself falling back on graphic design once his football career ends.

Patrick Watkins, Defensive Back, 30

“In 30 years, I’ll be watching my kid’s game,” he said. “My son is into basketball right now, so I’m not sure if it’ll end up being football, but we’ll see.”

Khalif Mitchell, Defensive Tackle, 28

“I’ll be helping cure cancer,” he said. “Both my grandmother and great-grandmother died from cancer so I want to help find a cure. I’m going to be running my own foundation to help.”

Joe Eppele, Offensive Guard, 26

“I’ll be retired from my local fire hall and opening up a hunting and fishing lodge,” he said. “I grew up hunting and fishing in B.C. so its something I always wanted to get back to.”

Chris Van Zeyl, Tackle, 29

“I’m going to be retired, married with children,” he said. “I’ll be on a beach, watching my children’s children play in the water.”

Robert McCune, Linebacker, 34

“I’m going to have a couple businesses,” he said. “Maybe a fitness business, along with a couple properties I’ll own and look after.”

Other than that, McCune sees himself spending his down time on a beach, collecting both a CFL and NFL pension.

Marcus Ball, Linebacker, 26

“I’m going to be running the most successful automobile business in the south,” he said. “And watching my daughter graduate from school.”

Matt Black, Safety, 28

“Hopefully I’ll be retiring from business, some type of sports marketing,” he said. “I’ll most likely be getting ready to pay for my daughter’s wedding,” he added, a smile on his face as he thought of his daughter, 14 months.

Black, taking a second to think of his daughter, noted with a laugh that he does already have “a plan hatched out” on how to kick guys off the porch when she’s in her teens.

Andre Durie, Slotback, 32

“I’ll be living in the Toronto area, retired from work and playing in a flag football league.”

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