They threw a party in Mike O’Shea’s honour in his hometown on Saturday, dedicating the football field at a sports complex in North Bay, Ont. in his name. And those who know the Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach best will attest that while he would undoubtedly be humbled and appreciative of the recognition, he would also be squirming that the spotlight would be directly aimed at him.
In fact, he would be much more comfortable after the pomp and circumstance shaking hands and slapping backs in a place so important and still so near and dear to him.
“Heading home to my hometown of North Bay is always special,” O’Shea said last week. “They don’t need to do that or honour me in order for me to feel good about going home.”
The football field at the Steve Omishchl Sports Complex in North Bay will now bear O’Shea’s name, but when he sat down with bluebombers.com before leaving Winnipeg on Friday, he was more interested in detailing the career of Omischl – a World Champion freestyle skier from North Bay – than on being recognized himself.
Most important for O’Shea and his family over the next few days will be to visit his mom, who still lives in the house he grew up in after 50 years, reconnect with his buddies, spend some time on Trout Lake and doing the usual memory lane tour around North Bay.
“My old high school (Widdifield Secondary School) is closed down now – they made a super-school by amalgamating schools,” O’Shea said. “And the field I played on, I don’t think it’s even kept up any more so that’s a bit disappointing.
“I’m sure the building’s still being used for something, but when we go around there my buddies from North Bay will be, ‘What are we going here for?’ and I tell them I just want to drive by. Then I’ll get the ‘Oh, come on…’
“I’ve done the same thing several times with my kids. I’m sure they could probably run the tour now by themselves.”
Inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2017 for his work as one of the country’s greatest linebackers – he was the CFL’s top rookie in 1993, top Canadian in 1999 and a three-time Grey Cup champion as a player and one as an assistant coach with the Toronto Argonauts before guiding the Blue Bombers to two more championships – O’Shea didn’t begin playing the game until Grade 9.
He had played hockey up until then and after trying out for the senior team at Widdifield and being cut, first suited up with the school’s Grade 9 team as a quarterback and safety before moving to the defensive line. He grew six inches before his Grade 12 year, made the switch to linebacker and began to open eyes with his ferocity and his athleticism.
He had a handful of universities offering him scholarships before settling on the University of Guelph because of the courses they offered that catered to the career he was planning for as a brew master.
Drafted by Edmonton and traded that same day to Hamilton, football has dominated O’Shea’s adult life, first as a player and then – following a brief time as a medical sales rep – turning to coaching.
He is now a two-time Grey Cup champion as a head coach with the Blue Bombers, and ranks behind only Bud Grant and Cal Murphy on the franchise’s all-time wins list.
All those accomplishments, of course, make him more than worthy of having a football field dedicated in his name. His mother was to be at the ceremony, while he lost his father – an Englishman and pilot in World War II for the RAF before moving to Canada and operating the Dairy Queen in North Bay – in 2012.
“My mom’s proud, for sure,” O’Shea said. “She doesn’t answer all the questions when people see her, but she’ll remind me once a month if people see her and ask, ‘Are you Mike O’Shea’s mom?’ She’s obviously proud of that, but she’s always had a pretty good sense of humour, so she usually turns those conversations into something quite interesting – maybe more than people bargained for.
“And my dad… He’s on my screensaver, so every time I turn my TV on, he’s there with my kids. Do I think of him in these moments? He was not a sportsman like that. He grew up in England during The Depression and swimming was their sport – all the schools he went to had pools. He was a terrific swimmer.
“’Football’ for him growing up would have been soccer. He wasn’t a big sports fan at all. There are some funny stories about when he would come watch me play when I was playing for Hamilton. An honest day’s work was important to him so, you’re getting paid to play a game was odd to him. It would have really struck him as odd that we were getting paid to do what we did out there.”
The O’Sheas sold the Dairy Queen, FYI, and it has since been sold again.
“But,” added O’Shea, who worked at the shop as a kid and insists he could still bang out all the DQ specials, “I will definitely be at the Dairy Queen at some point when I’m there.
“I’m proud to be from North Bay and look forward to spending time there. That’s the way it is for a lot of people. If you have any sort of fond memories, I don’t know if you ever truly abandon your home from your youth. If you got bad memories maybe you never want to go back. But I had a great childhood. It’s hard not to say ‘home’ about where you were born and raised.”
