“I’ve been waiting to do this for years”

It might just be the oddest ‘bucket list’ item in the history of bucket lists all over this planet.

Still, knowing the unique path Milt Stegall has long walked it will surprise no one who knows the man that he would scribble something like this atop his wish list.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Canadian Football League legend made it official Monday – Stegall, now 54, will be a full participant on the first session of rookie camp this Wednesday. That will include meetings, but also the first practice from 10:30 a.m.-12:55 p.m. at the field beside Winnipeg Soccer Federation South.

All of this begs two questions – why and honestly, why again?

“Why? Because I have a big ego. Let’s be honest, that’s it,” said Stegall with a chuckle during a Zoom call with Winnipeg media Monday afternoon. “I’ve been wanting to do this for years.

“When I turned 50, I told my wife, ‘I would love to go through a training camp.’  She thought I was crazy then; she thinks I’m crazy now. But over the last year and a half I talked to my boss (at TSN, where he serves as an analyst on CFL telecasts), Paul Graham, and said, ‘Paul, I want to do this.’ He said, ‘Speak to me in the offseason again and I’ll see what I can do.’ Right when the offseason started, I sent him a text and he said, ‘OK, let’s see if we can make it happen.’

“It’s fortunate I have a buddy who is president of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers because I got in touch with Wade (Miller, President &CEO) and he said, ‘OK, let me talk to Mike O’Shea and let’s see if we can make this happen’ and, as they say, the rest is history.

“I’m excited and nervous,” he added. “This is like my first training camp – that’s what I feel like, like this is my first training camp. I don’t know what to expect, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m just going to go out there and enjoy myself and have a good time. I’m playing with house money, as they say. I’m looking forward to it.”

The CFL’s all-time touchdown leader (147), nine-time all-star and member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Winnipeg Football Club Hall of Fame and one of the select few on the team’s Ring of Honour, Stegall last played in 2008 and retired that offseason before turning attention to his television career.

One of the most-popular players in Blue Bombers history, he broke into the CFL in 1995 with the Blue Bombers and appeared in 199 CFL games – all in Winnipeg colours – including the 2001 and 2007 Grey Cups. He said Monday this one-day ‘bucket list’ item could really have only come with the team that ‘made me into the individual I am today.’
Stegall’s legendary status will make Wednesday interesting, as will this: as dedicated an athlete as this league has ever seen, he still works out religiously. And that’s part of this bucket list item, too – he wants to be in pain on Thursday after the one practice session.

“Most people know this – I’m a workout fiend. I’ve been working out since I can remember,” he said. “I didn’t stop working out after I retired. Of course, it’s not as extreme as it was when I played, but I still go pretty hard.

“I just wanted to see what I could do in one day of training camp. It’s always been there; it’s always been a curiosity of mine to see what I could do. As I alluded to earlier, it has a lot to do with ego, but I also understand I am 54 years old and so for me to have the opportunity to get by these guys is very slim. It’s going to take a lot. I just want to see what I can do. I just want to go out there and have some fun with it and enjoy myself.

“I was talking to Davis Sanchez (fellow TSN analyst and former CFLer) earlier and he said, ‘What do you want to get out of this?’ I told him, ‘On that Thursday I want to wake up and have that training camp soreness.’ That’s something I’ve been longing for for 16 years. There’s nothing else like it. I’ve been trying to get sore, I’ve been working out, but there’s nothing that can duplicate that training camp soreness so I’m hoping when I wake up Thursday morning I’m walking around like an old man because I’m so sore. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Stegall also insisted he didn’t want to do take this on if it was going to limit the reps of players trying to make it through to main training camp. His goal is to test himself without being a distraction – if that’s possible.

“I understand it’s a critical time for these young guys and this is when they get most of their reps because when all the veterans come in, that’s when they take a back seat to other guys,” said Stegall. “I’m going to try and have some fun and try to loosen them up. I know they’re going to be a nervous wreck and their first opportunity to get the chance to make a professional football team, so I’m going to try to be loose and enjoy it as much as I can, like I always did.”

Asked about what ifs – what if he stood out, what if he was beating defensive backs – Stegall was quick to put up a stop sign.

“I’m just hoping I make it through this day and have a good time and after that I’ll walk into the sunset and see what happens next year,” he said. “If that was to happen – if I was able to go out there and show up these young cats, I’ll be looking into the Winnipeg scouting department with ‘How is this 54-year-old man out here showing up these 22-year-olds?’ That would be a big problem if that were to happen. I may beat one or two guys one route out of 20 or 30. I’m realistic with myself. But if that happens on a consistent basis, they may need to get some new players in there.”

Stegall admitted that while he has been training vigorously, it’s been difficult for him to find someone to throw him passes. His oldest son Chase, 19, is playing Division I soccer at DePaul University in Chicago while Colin, who was born here in Winnipeg, is also a soccer player entering his freshman year of high school.

“They say you don’t forget,” he said, “but I don’t think it’s like riding a bicycle. We’ll find out.”