Post your thoughts on Ron Lancaster

By PERRY LEFKO

SPORTSNET.CA

He was known as The Little General, and in the pantheon of Canadian football the native of Pennsylvania made his mark in so many different ways.

Whether as a player, a coach or broadcaster, Ron Lancaster embodied the spirit of the Canadian Football League and was synonymous with the words legend and icon.

The Canadian Football Hall of Famer died of heart failure Wednesday night in Hamilton, his home for the past 10 years.

He was 69.

Lancaster had been battling lung cancer - the second time he had been diagnosed with the disease - since late July and had undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatments. As recently as two weeks ago he had been in good health, golfing with a foursome that included former quarterback Danny McManus, who played for Lancaster in Edmonton and Hamilton.

"It's a tough for everybody, not only the Lancaster family but I think in the CFL as well," McManus said on Thursday. "It's a sad day, but it's also a day to remember what he did for the CFL, when he was playing, coaching and broadcasting. He loved the game and he wanted to promote it wherever he could and whoever he talked to about football. He always talked about the brand of CFL."

CFL Commissioner Mark Cohon mourned the loss of Lancaster.

"Our league has lost its Little General and our country has lost a giant of a man," he said in a statement. "Ron Lancaster is deeply loved across Canada, as a CFL player, coach, broadcaster and mentor, but most of all as a true friend. His career spanned eras, bridged west and east, and delighted our fans. But his life transcended sport, because the young man who came here from Pennsylvania grew into a true Canadian hero - a role model who often towered above the rest, and yet remained resolutely down to earth, at the same time.

"Our hearts and thoughts are with his wife, Bev, three children Lana, Rob and Bob and his four grandchildren."

Retired Edmonton Eskimos president Hugh Campbell first met Lancaster in 1963 when the two were with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and later worked with him when Lancaster coached the Eskimos from 1991-97.

"Ron Lancaster was exactly what you got," Campbell said. "His words and body language were unfiltered. Ron's love for Bev and his family was always at the centre of his life. He believed in hard work and thoroughly enjoyed his interaction with the huge variety of people in his life. Ronnie would turn a simple conversation with someone he knew forever or a fan he just met into a fun experience. I have a really good book's worth of info going through my head, but it's a struggle to put it into words. We were kids when we met and our families have been great friends."

Current Ticats coach Marcel Bellefeuille broke the news of Lancaster's passing to his team.

"I said something in regards to the young players that he is the epitome - is, not was the epitome of Tiger-Cat football - and he is the epitome of this town," Bellefeuille. "He is a microcosm of this town - hard-working, down-to-earth person."

Lancaster joined the Tiger-Cats as head coach in 1998, taking a sad-sack team that that had won only two of 18 games the previous year and took them to the Grey Cup, losing to Calgary. The next year his Tiger-Cats won the championship, the last time the franchise accomplished the feat.

"He left a big mark on the league and I hope we can win another Grey Cup in his memory," said Ticats general manager Bob O'Billovich, who knew Lancaster from their playing days in the 1960s. O'Billovich said Lancaster was one of the first people he met when he joined the league with Ottawa in 1963, prior to the trade that sent Lancaster to Saskatchewan.

Along with running back George Reed, Lancaster became the face of the Roughriders, one carrying the ball unlike any other of his generation, the other passing the ball without parallel.

In his 19-year playing career, Lancaster completed 3,384 passes for 50,535 yards and 333 touchdowns and was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player in 1970 and 1976.

He moved on to coach the team in 1979 and 1980 and for one of the few times in his football career, he failed, winning only four games and losing 28 - last overall in the league both years.

He turned to broadcasting with the CBC and received respect and acclaim for his insight. But his heart yearned for the game and he returned to the sidelines, this time with Edmonton, coaching the Eskimos from 1991-97. He totalled 83 victories, the most in franchise history, and 43 losses, again winning the Grey Cup in 1993. He coached the Eskimos to a Grey Cup final in 1996 before moving to Hamilton in 1998.

He coached the Ticats through 2003, though that year the team finished last in the league with a 1-17 record. When Bob Young took over the team in 2004, he kept Lancaster with team as an advisor.

He also did colour analysis for the team's radio broadcasts until he had to take a leave this summer because of his health.

Lancaster's passing sadly coincides with this year's Canadian Football Hall of Fame weekend, which begins today. This year's inductees - Doug Flutie, Mike (Pinball) Clemons, John Bonk, Mike Pringle and Tom Shepherd - all had connections to Lancaster in one form or another. The inductees will be paraded at halftime of tomorrow's game between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Ivor Wynne Stadium. Lancaster was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1982 and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1985.

His passing comes in the same year as the deaths of B.C. Lions president Bob Ackles and former player-broadcaster Leif Pettersen, a teammate of Lancaster's with the Roughriders.