Co-owners Bruce McNall and Wayne Gretzky were a fixture on the Argos' sidelines during the '91 season. (Hans Deryk/Canadian Press)

It cost $5 million US for the franchise, McNall says, with the hockey player and actor each buying in for 10 per cent.

“John Candy made it extra special because it was such a big deal for him to own a piece of the Argonauts,” McNall says. "He was a fan as a kid. He worked his butt off on this thing.”

Blaine Schmidt, an offensive lineman on the Argos, found that out right away. He was working at his auto body shop in Mississauga, Ont., the day after the ownership deal was announced when the phone rang — it was Candy, inviting him out to do media junkets.

“It was basically John and I in his limo, running around to TV stations... how good is that?”

Candy’s unquestioned love of the Argos was now requited. His daughter Jennifer, who was 11 at the time, remembers the excitement.

“It was pretty surreal and epic,” she says from L.A. “Our dad owned a football team. Not only a team, but a team in our hometown. It was the Argos, and it was very special because of our dad having a huge love of the team as a kid.”

Jennifer, now Candy-Sullivan and an actor herself, says John went full-speed the whole season, home and on the road.

“The thing with my dad was, you don’t just go half in, you go whole in, and he was so passionate about it — he wanted to travel through Canada, and he was not being paid for the promo stuff.”

Each new town the Argos visited, Candy would be up early for morning TV and radio shows, and keep it up all day.

“That much energy, and that much love, the team had to benefit,” Jennifer says.

Candy, Gretzky and McNall had bought a club that was already competitive, having gone 10-8 the year previous and making the East final before a three-point loss to Winnipeg. Along the way, they scored 689 points, playing a wide-open offence that attracted an average of more than 30,000 fans to home games.

They had a great attack, led by QB Matt Dunigan, a young slotback named Michael Clemons who everyone called Pinball, a solid O-Line, good receivers and a developing defence.

But McNall wanted more. And since Hollywood is all about splash and dash, he knew where to find it.

Enter The Rocket.