They are the select few, the best of the best. And yet, to a man, they’ll all tell you the same thing about being selected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame: no one straps on the helmet and shoulder pads with that as the end goal.
That means when the call to the hall does come, it invariably knocks a man back on his heels.
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame announced its 2018 class on Wednesday and it is, not surprisingly, a star-studded cast. Scott Flory, Brent Johnson, Barron Miles, Hank Ilesic and the late Tommy Hugo are headed to the hall in the player category; Frank Cosentino will join them as a builder and former Winnipeg Blue Bomber Paul Brule is being honoured for his amateur career.
“To tell you the truth, I never really thought about going into the hall of fame,” said Johnson, who terrorized quarterbacks as a defensive end for 11 years as a member of the B.C. Lions. “Barron and I were just talking… you play, you have a record of your work and when you go out there and put the years in, and all the time you’re never even thinking or considering the hall of fame. It’s about the game that week and what sort of trajectory your team is on and what you plan to do that season. It’s a very day-to-day, methodical experience where you just don’t consider things like this.”
“So when you get a call like that, you’re at a loss for words… a lot of it because you’re stunned, but you’re just excited to be a part of it.”
Brent Johnson, Canadian Football Hall of Fame Class of 2018. Photo credit: CFL.ca/Johany Jutras
The 2018 class will be formally inducted on September 14th at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton in the annual Hall of Fame Game between the Tiger-Cats and Calgary Stampeders.
The inductees all offered the same response at a media gathering Tuesday night at the Chairmans Lounge at Investors Group Field when asked about the moment CFHOF Executive Director Mark DeNoble called with the news.
“I was shocked,” said Flory, the dominant Montreal Alouettes offensive lineman who made a career in the trenches for 15 years. “I was humbled and I was shocked. Mark DeNoble called me and we’ve had a relationship over the past few years so it wasn’t out of the blue that he would call me. I was blown away.
“There’s a lot of good years, a lot of good memories, a lot of great teammates, great coaches and players. (His career highlight) has to be the Grey Cups. The first one in ’02 and then back-to-back in ’09 and ‘10. We had some tough losses in between there that made the victories that much more special.”
Ilesic was just 17 when he joined the Edmonton Eskimos in 1977 and 18 when he suited up for his first CFL game. A member of seven Grey Cup championship teams, he becomes only the second player who handled punting chores exclusively to join the shrine.
The other? Bomber legend Bob Cameron, of course.
“I think I’m in good company,” said Ilesic with a grin. “Bob is the only other punter. So, him and I are the only true punters.
“it’s an honour. It’s a special club. Not too many players get inducted.”
Paul Brûlé
Miles spent 12 seasons in the CFL, split between the Alouettes and Lions. He turned to coaching in 2010 – he is now on the Edmonton Eskimos staff – and spent the 2015 season as an assistant coach with the Bombers.
“My goal was whenever they talked about DBs (defensive backs) in the CFL, I wanted to be mentioned,” said Miles. “With me being in the Hall of Fame, hopefully my name is mentioned. I set one of those goals and reached it today.”
Hugo played seven seasons for the Alouettes, earning 12 all-star selections in his career – seven as a centre and five more on defence as a linebacker.
Brule dominated Canadian university football in the 1960s before turning pro. He was a star at St. Francis Xavier University as a fullback, setting records for rushing, touchdowns in a season, points in a season and most points and touchdowns in a career. He was drafted by the Ottawa Rough Riders, but ended up with the Bombers in 1968, where he played both fullback and defensive back.
He had nine interceptions to earn a spot on the West Division All-Star team in 1970 and was also voted the Bombers Most Outstanding Canadian Player that year. He finished his career in Montreal in 1972.
Cosentino is added as a builder for a career playing, coaching and writing about the game. He starred at the University of Western Ontario, winning a Vanier Cup in 1960. He played 10 years in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Edmonton and the Toronto Argonauts. He then coached Western and York and has since authored 17 books on the history of sports in Canada.
