Have you ever tried to play a game, doing everything you learned and practiced over and over and over again, but have not only the rules change, but also the actual size of the field?

The history of the great game of CFL football is rife with players that have been able to do just that. They have been able to alter their game to both the style played in Canada, as well as in the U.S.

From Dieter Brock, Doug Flutie, Rocket Ismail, Joe Kapp, Warren Moon and many others, fans both north and south of the Canada-U.S. border have had the pleasure of watching these talented athletes excel in the CFL, NFL and AFL.

Below we’ve listed the players that come to mind when we think about these two-league warriors. Do you know of any we’re missing? If so, please let us know at leo@cflalumni.org.

CFL-NFL

Margene Adkins
Tim Anderson
Zenon Andrushysyn
Neill Armstrong
Terry Baker
Fred Biletnikoff
Al Brenner
O.J. Brigance
Dieter Brock
Tom Clements
Tom Cousineau
Eric Crouch
Anthony Davis
Troy Davis
Eagle Day
Al Dorrow
Sam Etcheverry
Gil Fenerty
Vince Ferragamo
Doug Flutie
Jeff Garcia
Bud Grant
Joe Horn
Rocket Ismail
Billy Johnson
Joe Kapp
Peter Liske
Dave Mann
Leon McQuay
Terry Metcalf
Warren Moon
Joe Pisarcik
Andre Rison
Johnny Rodgers
Tobin Rote
Chris Schultz
Bo Scott
Onterro Smith
Joe Theismann
Frank Tripucka
Mike Vanderjagt
Billy Vessels
Andre Ware
Vic Washington
Alex Webster
Ricky Williams
Felix Wright
Jim Young

CFL-AFL

Art Baker
Cookie Gilchrist
Gerry McDougall
Ernie Warlick

Alumni:  Toronto

Date:  Monday, June 3, 2013

Location:  Eagle Ridge Golf & Country

Contact:  Peter Martin, petemartin77@gmail.com

Alumni:  Edmonton

Date:  Friday, June 7, 2013

Location:  Links Golf Course, Spruce Grove

Contact:  Hector Pothier, hector.pothier@epsb.ca

Alumni:  Montreal

Date:  Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Location:    Club de golf Islemere, Laval, Quebec

Contact:  Eric Lapointe, alarouche@montrealalouettes.com

Alumni:  Hamilton

Date: Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Location:  Sundrim Golf & Country

Contact:  Mark Bowden, golf@relevant.ca

Alumni:  BC

Date: Thursday, June 13, 2013

Location:  UBC Golf Course

Contact:    Jamie Taras, jtaras@bclions.com

Alumni:  Saskatchewan (1)

Date:  Monday, July 8, 2013

Location:  Royal Regina Golf & Country

Contact:  Terry Bulych, tbulych@hotmail.com

Alumni:  Winnipeg

Date: Monday, July 9, 2013

Location:  Niakwa Golf & Country

Contact:  Wade Miller, wade@bomberalumni.com

Alumni:   Calgary

Date:  Monday, July 15, 2013

Location:  Country Hills Golf Course

Contact:   Linda Orr, lindaorr@shaw.ca

Alumni:  Ottawa

Date:   Friday, August 2, 2013

Location:  Hylands Golf & Country

Contact:  Jeff Avery, javery@coltonaverydeacon.com

Alumni:  Saskatchwan (2)

Date:  Monday, September 23, 2013

Location:  Saskatoon Golf & Country

Contact:  Terry Bulych, tbulych@hotmail.com

Riderville.com

The Saskatchewan Roughrider Football Club would like to extend its deepest sympathies to the family of former Roughriders player Bryan Illerbrun.

“We are saddened to hear the loss of former Roughrider Bryan Illerbrun.” stated Riders President/CEO Jim Hopson. “Bryan was a solid player and the kind of guy that knew the importance of the Roughriders throughout the province. He will be greatly missed.”

Illerbrun originally joined the Riders in 1978, playing 13 games as a rookie on the offensive line. He played five consecutive seasons with Riders before joining the BC Lions for the 1984 and 1985 seasons then returned to Saskatchewan in 1986 where he remained for four more seasons.

The Gainsborough, SK native played 138 games over ten seasons with the Riders and was part of the teams 1989 Grey Cup Championship.

This past Monday (May 13, 2013), the Boston Bruins staged the biggest comeback in the history of the NHL playoffs, coming back from being down three goals in the third period to go on and beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 in overtime and secure a spot in the second round of the playoffs.

While the playoffs in the CFL and NHL are beasts of a different nature, a great sporting comeback is, nonetheless, great.

There have been numerous great games in the CFL playoffs, but there is only one comeback that is the greatest of all-time, and that was in the 1986 Eastern Conference Final.

Under the field marshaling of head coach Al Bruno, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats trailed the Toronto Argonauts by 26 points in the second quarter of game two (Nov. 23, 1986) in the two-game total point Eastern Conference Final. The Ti-Cats went on to win the game 42-25 to secure themselves both a place in CFL history, as well as a birth in the title game.

Heading into the Grey Cup, Hamilton was the underdog, having finished the regular season 9-8-1. The Edmonton Eskimos, on the other hand, had a 13-4-1 regular season and had just whipped the BC Lions 41-5 in the Western Final.

The Ti-Cats went on the beat the Eskimos 39-15 in front of almost 60,00 fans in a lopsided game that was dominated by the Ti-Cats from the very start, including a fumble recovery by the CFLAA’s very own Leo Ezerins on the game’s first offensive play.

 May 29

 Rookie Camps Open

 May 31 – June 2

CFL Officials Training Camp

 June 2

 Training Camps Open

The 2013 Eskimo Alumni Winefest is May 25 in the Jackie Parker Lounge from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. For just $30, Esks fans can taste up to 80 types of wines from around the world. It’s an event that former Eskimo Bayne Norrie looks forward to every year.

“Every time we’re together as alumni it gives us a chance to share stories with one another,” says Norrie.

“When you get all of us together from the different eras, there is that sense of one-upmanship of what we all accomplished, but we can really joke around and have some fun.

“It also gives us an opportunity to mingle with the fans, and they certainly like to hear the stories as well.”

There will be roughly a dozen former players attending this year’s event from different Eskimo eras, including 2013 Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductee Bryan Fryer, Ed Jones, Todd Storme, Hector Pothier,Blake Dermott, Tom Richards and Shannon Garrett.

During Winefest, Eskimo fans get a first-hand look at Eskimo Grey Cup rings and other memorabilia and view classic Eskimo Grey Cup games from the past.

It’s an alumni event that has grown into something special. What started out small has grown to have over 400 in attendance over the past several years.

“Our motto with this event is to have fun,” says Norrie.

“It’s an event that continues to grow. People who have attended the event before are now calling in January, because they don’t want to miss it.”

For tickets call 780-232-2951 or by e-mail winefest@esks.com.

Coach of the Year Finalists Announced

February 15

Free Agency Period Opens The free agency window opens at Noon ET on Friday, February 15th.

February 26 – March 1

CFL Congress 2013

CFL Congress 2013 is being held in Regina, Saskatchewan, home of the 101st Grey Cup. The four days of annual meetings will take place at the Delta Regina Hotel.

February 28

2012 Coach of the Year

The top head coach of the 2012 season will be honoured during the 52nd CFL Coach of the Year Luncheon. This year’s luncheon will take place on Thursday, February 28, at 12:15 CT at the Delta Regina Hotel in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Media planning to attend this event are asked to please RSVP to Jamie Dykstra at jdykstra@cfl.ca by Friday, February 22.

 March 21- March 22

Rules Committee Meeting

The meetings will be held over two days in Toronto at the Toronto Park Hyatt Hotel.

 March 22- March 24

2013 CFL Combine

In preparation of the 2012 CFL Draft, general managers, coaches and scouts from across the league will be in Toronto to evaluate more than 50 of the Country’s top football prospects. This year’s CFL Combine is being held at the Park Hyatt Toronto Hotel and Varsity Centre at the University of Toronto.

Media planning to attend this event are asked to please RSVP to Jamie Dykstra at jdykstra@cfl.ca by Friday, March 15.

 May 6

2013 CFL Draft

The 2013 CFL Draft will be held on Monday, May 6 (exact time TBD).

May 11

CIS East-West Bowl

The 2013 CIS East-West Bowl will be played on Saturday, May 11 at Western University.

When life knocks you down, one of two things will happen. Either you’ll stay down, or you’ll pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move forward.

For three-time Grey Cup champion Lyle Bauer, the thought of not getting back up after he was knocked down never crossed his mind. And get up is exactly what he did.

Eight years ago, Bauer took a hit that was more crushing than anything that can be delivered on a field of play. Diagnosed with throat cancer, Bauer refused to let the insidious disease beat him. He fought it hard, and like he did so many times throughout a terrific CFL career that spanned 10 seasons, he came out a winner.

Now into an eighth year in remission, Bauer is not sitting back reminiscing on his three championships (1984, 1988, 1990), his Most Outstanding Lineman award (1988) or his induction into the Blue Bombers Hall of Fame (1998).

Dove-tailing off his playing career, as well as a career in the front office – which most recently saw him serve as the chief operating officer and president of the Calgary Stampeders – Bauer now spends his time helping in the fight against a faceless opponent.

Bauer has a new passion and a new enemy. He is helping comfort people suffering from cancer, and he is helping raise money to fight what he calls “an epidemic,” hoping to “make cancer a treatable condition.”

Bauer launched The Never Alone Foundation (neveralonefoundation.ca) in 2005 to help raise funds to fight cancer, and to-date the foundation has donated in excess of $800,000 to the cause.

“You always have to have hope,” Bauer said recently from his home in southern Utah. “I was very fortunate. I was one of the lucky ones.”

While Bauer says the fight to beat cancer is “very close to my heart, obviously,” he isn’t doing it just for himself. He is doing it to “honour those who have fought [cancer], for those that are fighting now, and those who will have to fight it in the future.”

He is doing it for the memories of Tyrone Jones, who died from brain cancer in 2008 at the age of 46, and for Steve Rodehutskors, who died of cancer in 2007 at the age of 43. Both Jones and Rodehutskors were former teammates of Bauer’s, and he isn’t going to let their deaths be in vain.

“Great strides are being made [in the fight against cancer], Bauer said.

His efforts to honour the memories of not only Tyrone Jones and Steve Rodehutskors, but also anybody that has suffered from cancer, have become a driving force in Bauer’s life.

“It’s rewarding, and you just have to do it,” he said. “More so than the on-field memories, are the memoires and highlights of friendships and camaraderie.”

It’s those memories, which helped lay the cornerstone for the charity work he puts so much into, that have brought him the greatest satisfaction.

“You don’t get rich playing in the CFL,” Bauer said, “but the friendships you make are the greatest riches.”

Is there a member of the Canadian Football League Alumni Association that you’d like to “Catch up’ with? Let us know who you’d like to hear about.

Image courtesy neveralonefoundation.ca

With the first pick overall, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats selected conference all-star Linden Gaydosh, a defensive lineman out of the University of Calgary.

The remaining Round 1 picks were:

Pick 2: Winnipeg selected Andy Mulumba (DE) out of Eastern Michigan.

Pick 3: Montreal selected Mike Edem (LB) out of Calgary.

Pick 4: Saskatchewan selected Corey Watman (OL) out of Eastern Michigan.

Pick 5: Montreal selected Steven Lumbala (RB) out of Calgary.

Pick 6: BC selected Hunter Steward (OL) out of Liberty.

Pick 7: Calgary selected Brander Craighead (OL) out of Texas El Paso.

Pick 8: Toronto selected Matthew Sewell (OL) out of McMaster.

Pick 9: Ottawa selected Nolan MacMillan (OL) out of Iowa.

The Draft’s first two rounds were broadcast live on TSN, bringing fans of  CFL the due that the event deserves.

The Draft was first held in 1953, and has grown in number of teams participating and schools eligible and is today a highly anticipated event on the CFL schedule.

For young athletes who dream of becoming the next CFL great, winning the Grey Cup is usually seen as the ultimate goal. Seldom do pro-athlete hopefuls consider what happens after the victory cries have faded.

But that’s just where Fabio Filice breaks the mold. A week before his 24^th birthday, the native of Hamilton, Ont. made his CFL debut with the Tiger-Cats. Three years later, he found himself celebrating a Grey Cup win as an offensive lineman for the Calgary Stampeders.

Most would have seen the Grey Cup win as the pinnacle of his career, but for Mr. Filice, it was only the beginning.

In 2007, while playing for the Toronto Argonauts, Mr. Filice decided to take advantage of the down time in the off-season and start his part-time MBA at the DeGroote School of Business at McMaster University.

“Football was always just a game to me,” he said. “I never looked at it as something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”

The athlete was fortunate to have some encouragement in the form of Mark Haley, the recently retired associate vice-president and chief human resources officer at McMaster University (Mr. Filice’s alma mater). Mr. Haley became a mentor for many students after personal commitments pulled him away from coaching football alongside his full-time job at the university. As a former university football player himself, Mr. Haley connected with the young McMaster Marauders and continued to work with them off the field, looking for opportunities to encourage and support them to advance their education.

Mr. Filice distinctly remembers when Mr. Haley sat him down and said, “Fab, you need a plan.”

“He told me to write the GMAT because it would pay off in the long run,” said Mr. Filice. “He is the reason I did the MBA program. He provided me with the direction I needed.”

“I was kind of the pilot project,” said Mr. Filice. “I had a hell of a time directly applying my experience on the field to the specific MBA program criteria.”

Mr. Filice’s successful admission to DeGroote’s MBA program, along with the support of Mr. Haley, encouraged other CFL players to pursue MBA degrees of their own. Matthew O’Meara, a former guard for both the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, began his MBA part-time in January 2009 while still playing in the CFL.

“I really began to evaluate my prospects in football,” said Mr. O’Meara. “I could see my expiration date was fast approaching and I wanted the opportunity to devote myself full time to my education.”

“I am gaining broad exposure to the inner workings of such a large financial institution,” said Mr. O’Meara. “I wouldn’t have had this opportunity without my MBA.”

For Jason Pottinger, who is currently still playing for the Toronto Argonauts, his interest in pursuing an MBA at the Schulich School of Business at York University was sparked early by players like Mr. Filice and Mr. O’Meara.

“I picked their brains and there was one common theme,” said Mr. Pottinger, who and celebrated his own Grey Cup victory this past fall. “They told me to get started early and not to wait until it’s too late to set up my second career.”

Mr. Pottinger said he took his peers’ advice to heart and along with constant mentoring from Mr. Haley he began researching different options.

“I looked at everything,” said Mr. Pottinger. “From engineering to underwater welding, I considered it all before eventually deciding that an MBA would fit perfectly.”Mr. Haley’s role as mentor became increasingly important when all three players ran into difficulty during the admissions process. As the first player in his network to go back to school, Mr. Filice said he had a tough time selling professional football as real work experience.

“Fabio, along with Jason and Matt, needed to learn how to adopt the language of the business school and how to translate their experiences into an application,” said Mr. Haley. “Football is often looked at as just a game. Admissions staff see their transcripts, but they don’t see the endless training hours, the resiliency, the focus, the teamwork, and the depth of commitment it requires compete at the highest level.”

Mr. Pottinger chose to diversify from McMaster, and apply to Schulich because the school’s flexible MBA program would cater to his unique schedule.

“I have to take the summer off completely and take a lighter course load in the fall, but my winters are wide open,” said Mr. Pottinger. “It has taken longer than it would a normal student, but I need the flexibility in order to continue playing football.”

Hoping to graduate next spring, Mr. Pottinger is specializing in international business and emerging economies. Signed with the Toronto Argonauts until 2014, Mr. Pottinger hopes he is setting a good example for the younger players in the league.

“It’s easy to be blinded by the sport and the excitement that goes with it,” he says. “There is less emphasis on the academic and more on the athletic, but it’s the academic that really sets up your future. Ideally, players should be thinking about both. It’s all about balance.”

All three players now speak to both high school students and their pro-athlete peers about the benefits of a strong academic background.