Bob Cameron Winnipeg Blue Bombers 1996. Photo Scott Grant
We open our latest instalment of ’10 Lists in 10 Days’ with some math about Bob Cameron, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers all-time leader in games played…
Consider this:
-Cameron, who handled the punting chores for the Blue Bombers from 1980-2002, played in a franchise record 394 Canadian Football League games.
That total ranks second all-time to B.C. Lions kicker Lui Passaglia, who played in 408 games during a career that ran from 1976-2000.
-And Cameron’s CFL record of 353 consecutive games played works out to 19.6 seasons without missing a contest.
-Oh, and there’s also this: Cameron was cut eight times before he landed the permanent punting gig in Winnipeg and kicked until he was 48 years old.
“It’s luck, it really is,” began Cameron in a chat with bluebombers.com upon his addition to the Blue Bombers Ring of Honour in 2019. “It’s pretty amazing for a punter to be in any hall of fame or be honoured like this. And I have to say that I have won way too many awards in my life that I don’t deserve.
“From the Hec Crighton back in university to all-star awards… I didn’t deserve any of that. There were guys way better than me. I don’t know how this happened, I swear to God.
“But you know what?” added Cameron with a chuckle, “I’m not giving them back.”
Cameron was a gifted quarterback during his collegiate days at Acadia University — he was Canada’s top player in 1977 — and that led to him being selected in the first round of the CFL Draft that year by Edmonton.
After his shot with the Esks he would later try out and be cut by the Ottawa Rough Riders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills, and the Calgary Stampeders before his opportunity with the Blue Bombers.
Back then, CFL rosters featured just 32 players, and the punting chores often fell to a position player who dabbled in kicking, rarely to a specialist who only punted.
Funny story about his first go-round with the Blue Bombers, too…
In 1980, just before a game in Hamilton — not far from his hometown of Ancaster — he was told he was being cut again.
And if you know Cameron at all and his self-effacing sense of humour, you know he can best provide the details.
“So here I am in Hamilton and in the pre-game meal (then-Bombers head coach) Ray Jauch taps me on the shoulder and says, ‘Yeah, you’re cut. We’re going to let Gerald Kunyk punt in this game,” Cameron recalled. “I’m like, ‘What?!?!’ I had bought tickets for my parents, my buddies, my high-school football coaches. You talk about getting slapped in the face… put it this way: my confidence wasn’t exactly at its highest at that point.
“But Gerald had a terrible game with a 35-yard average or something. It was like I had a voodoo doll and stabbed him every time he went to punt. He was a good punter, but I just thought I was better.
“After we got back to Winnipeg, I went to Bob Vespaziani (his college coach at Acadia and then a Blue Bombers assistant) and said, ‘Bob, I think I’m getting royally screwed. I’m better than this guy. What can I do to get my job back?’ Bob passed away (in 2018), but I can remember him giving me the best advice. He said, ‘You’ve got to go into Ray Jauch’s office and tell him what you think. Grow some balls and get in there.’ I’m thinking, ‘I’ve been cut eight times and I’m going to do what?!’ But I sucked it up and went into Ray’s office and told him I thought they were evaluating punters wrong and that they needed to copy game conditions and that each punt should be charted for hang time, distance and time to get the punts off. That made it a competition. I tell him that and I think, ‘OK, I know I’m done here now’ but Ray looks at me and says, ‘All right, Bob. We’ll do exactly that.’ I’m like, ‘What? Really? Holy s—t. It’s game on now.’
“Well, you talk about pressure in Grey Cups, that was nothing compared to this. To Ray’s credit, he went back to me and I’m forever grateful.”
Bob Cameron (third from left) at the Canadian Football Hall of Fame induction in 2010
Cameron fought through those early struggles to become a legend in these parts. He would appear in six Grey Cups with the Blue Bombers — 1984, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2001 – and has three championship rings from the ’84, ’88 and ’90 teams.
He was a four-time CFL All-Star (1988, 1989, 1990, 1993) and a six-time divisional all-star (1984, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1995) and was the Blue Bombers Most Outstanding Canadian Player in 1988 and 1998. He was also the Most Valuable Canadian in the ’88 Grey Cup.
Cameron was inducted into the Winnipeg Football Club Hall of Fame in 2003, the Nova Scotia Football Hall of Fame in 2009, Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2010, and the Acadia University Athletics Hall of Fame in 2013.
“I keep saying how lucky I was, but It was my dream to play and I loved every game,” said Cameron. “I always said playing professional football was like you were in high school and you were getting paid.
“I was lucky I played on incredible teams with incredible players. I was the punter and in a lot of games I had no effect on it at all. Those guys won all the games. Not me. I was there cheering them on, for crying out loud.
“I played with many, many hall of famers and some great coaches. But think about it, what if I had made it in Ottawa and then the team folded like they did (on the eve of the 1987 season)? All of it, as I said, was just pure luck.”
Blue Bombers Top 10 career regular-season games played:
1 Bob Cameron, P, (1980-2002) — 394
2. Troy Westwood, P/K, (1991-2007) — 293
3. Chris Walby, OL, (1981-96) — 249
4. Jake Thomas, DL, (2012-25) — 223
5. Stan Mikawos, DL, (1982-96) — 220
6. Milt Stegall, WR, (1995-2008) — 199
7. John Bonk, OL, (1973-85) — 195
8. Ernie Pitts, WR/DB, (1957-69) — 194
9. Roger Savoie, OL/DL, (1951-65) — 191
T-10. Trevor Kennerd, K, (1980-91) — 188
Doug Brown, DT, (2001-2011) — 188
