September 9, 2019
By Terry Jones
There are those who are adamant that the five members of the All-Canadian offensive line of the five-in-a-row 1978-1982 Edmonton Eskimos deserve to be enshrined in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
That hasn’t happened yet. But on the weekend in Chicago, one of them, Hector Pothier, was inducted into Mike Ditka’s Gridiron Greats Hall of Fame.
It’s not the one in Canton, Ohio, where Warren Moon, Bud Grant and Pat Bowlen reside. But Pothier, in the $500-a-plate affair at the Hyatt Regency, joined a long list of legends that includes the likes of Mean Joe Greene, Alex Karras, Paul Hornung, Mel Farr, Al Davis, Dick Vermeil, Don Maynard, Dan Pastorini, Ron Jaworski, Franco Harris, Howie Long, Herchell Walker, Ron Kramer and Pat Summerall to name a few. It’s a long list.
Formed by Ditka, Gale Sayers and Marv Levy to raise money to assist dire need retired players, the previous inductees from the Canadian Football League, in order of selection, have been Angelo Mosca, Hugh Campbell, George Reed, Matt Dunigan, Danny McManus, Ray Elgaard, Leo Ezerins and Peter Dalla Riva. It’s a short list.
“It was quite a night,” said Pothier from Chicago as Hall of Fame weekend wrapped up.
“It was a first-class affair and it was a lot of fun.”
Pothier said his qualifications to be considered for selection go beyond the six Grey Cups he won with the Eskimos in his 12-year career in green and gold.
“Everybody involved in Gridiron Greats, outside of having stellar football careers, also, in their post-career years, have continued to work with the alumni associations helping with the physical or mental challenges,” said the Edmonton school principal.
Pothier has been a member of the Eskimos Alumni Association board for 26 years and was president of the CFL Alumni Association from 2009 to 2016.
“The biggest thing to me was it was a night to show we have people on both sides of the border working to assist alumni. As you know, we’ve had a couple of fellas take their lives over the years. We still have fellas that have challenges or addictions.
“There are people like Mike Walker, one of the best defensive players I ever played against, who has gone through some horrific spinal surgery. He’s had a long, long road of fighting this to be able to walk again and recover. There are a lot of guys who have had a lot of challenges to face just because of the sport itself.”
Pothier said he received a lot of reaction from his acceptance speech at the dinner from many of the previous inductees in attendance.
“I talked about some of the things we’ve done on our side of the border. I did a comparison so they’d have a bit of an idea and understanding of the finances we have compared to the finances they have.
“The dinner tickets were more expensive than the Grey Cup championship tickets. I mentioned that as a teacher and a principal I’ve made far more than I ever made playing football.
“I also pointed out how fortunate any of us who live in Canada are that we have universal health care.
“That makes a big difference. Down in the States a lot of or American alumni don’t have that or any coverage at all.
“I also talked about Hugh Campbell, being one of those previously honoured, who as our coach, part of his philosophy was to do all sorts of things as a team to give back to the community. I told them of how we began the tradition of going to Klondike Days with all the kids who had physical and mental challenges and carried them on rides. Every year coach Campbell always talked about how fortunate we were to be men that got to play a sport we loved and got paid for it, and how important it was to give back.
“I talked about at Kameyosek, my Edmonton public school, one of our foundation principles is doing projects every year to give back to the community.”
Pothier said at the end of the evening, in addition to rubbing shoulders with so many greats of the game, he was blown away by the honour involved.
“Meeting Mean Joe Greene and all those guys and the way they reacted to me was wonderful. I had so many of them come up to me to pass on thanks for what we’re doing north of the border.
“Everybody involved seemed to go way out of the way to make me feel welcome. It was such a feel-good night.
“The thing involved here is that we all do what we do and we don’t expect to get recognition. When somebody does give you that pat on the back, it’s appreciated. You just leave after being part of an incredible night like that with a real feeling of ‘Someone noticed.’ ”
VIA: https://edmontonsun.com/sports/football/cfl/jones-former-eskimos-star-honoured-by-mike-kitkas-gridiron-greats-hall-of-fame
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