A couple of former CFL stars fondly recall a coach they would have gone through a wall for.
Darren Flutie and Danny McManus needed some time to gather their thoughts and emotions upon hearing the passing of Ron Lancaster on Thursday.
He was their coach, a kind of father figure; as close to a family member without actually being a blood relative.
Flutie and McManus, one of the best receiver/quarterback combinations in Canadian Football League history, left B.C. after the 1995 season to play for Lancaster in Edmonton. After two seasons in Edmonton, they followed Lancaster when he moved to Hamilton to coach the Tiger-Cats.
Flutie ended his career in Hamilton after 2002. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2007. McManus is still in the city and, in fact, is in his first year as an assistant coach with the Tiger-Cats. He should also have his bust in the Hall of Fame at some point soon.
Immediately upon hearing of Lancaster's passing, McManus took a solitary walk around Ivor Wynne Stadium, the scene of many great memories for himself, Lancaster and Flutie. Two weeks ago McManus was playing golf in a foursome with former teammate Rob Hitchcock, Damon Allen and Lancaster, who was in good spirits.
When you think of great Hamilton Tiger-Cat players, you think of Flutie and McManus, and both noted how much Lancaster, who was battling lung cancer and passed away on Wednesday at age 69, impacted on their careers and their lives.
"Obviously, he's like a family member who passed away, when I think of Coach Lancaster," Flutie said from the Boston area, where he lives and works full time."
McManus echoed that thought, saying you could talk to him about anything.
"He used to send me jokes on my e-mail, so yeah it is definitely losing member, it's not like it is," McManus said. "Darren and I both followed him wherever and that was the big thing for both of us. We were comfortable with Coach Lancaster. Not only his style of coaching, but the way he carried himself on and off the field. It was for us to model that temperament, that style and just that love for the game."
Flutie recalled that when playing in B.C. in the early '90s, he viewed Lancaster, then coaching the Eskimos, as a stern, intimidating figure. Then he went to Edmonton as a free agent and found Lancaster to be a "very caring, very understanding, very knowledgeable person, all the way around." Lancaster would talk to him about family and children, in essence the complete opposite of what Flutie thought of him until he met him.
Flutie said Lancaster identified with him and McManus because similar to him they were not the fastest or strongest player.
"It's all kind of a kindred spirit that we played a lot like he did and he gave us a lot of freedom and that relationship, both on the field and off the field, just took off from those first few years in Edmonton and, of course, carried through until I retired in 2002," Flutie said. "I always looked at him as a family member - Ron, his wife, Bev, (their children), they were family to me when we were up in Canada, so I've lost kind of a family member."
Flutie said the only reason he left Edmonton to go to Hamilton in 1998 is because of Lancaster and McManus.
"To me (Lancaster) gave Hamilton credibility because I knew he would coach in a manner in which we would were able to have success," Flutie said. "In Edmonton I had two great years and they still wanted me, but to me you go to a coach who treats you like a son and gives you every freedom you could ever want. He treated us like men and you don't get that a lot from a coach. That's why we followed him to Hamilton and ultimately why we had success in Hamilton."
McManus called Lancaster a "career saver" for him.
"He took a chance on me to come to Edmonton," McManus said. "He gave me a shot to run his ballclub. (He'd say), 'Just go in. You're the guy on the field, you call the plays. It's your shot and we'll deal with it.' He kind of gave you that responsibility, which is nice. The biggest thing is you would run through a brick wall for him and I think everybody that was ever coached by Ron understood that…He enjoyed the game too much, he had too much respect for the football game and the football player to blow smoke up your rear end. He's going to tell you like it is and as a player you can understand that and appreciate that."
The Tiger-Cats were 2-16 in 1997, but Lancaster took them all the way to the Grey Cup in 1998. Although Hamilton lost, it made it back the following year and won.
"Immediately it was turned into a great team in Hamilton and Coach Lancaster orchestrated that whole thing," Flutie said.
Flutie has one particular memory of Lancaster going back to their days in Edmonton. Following a game in which Flutie had done well, Lancaster wrote him a letter and placed it in his mailbox. The letter detailed how Lancaster felt about Flutie and the kind of player that he became.
"It's just something I'll never forget," Flutie said. "He basically told me I was one of the best receivers he'd ever coached, one of the best players to ever play in the Canadian Football League. He wasn't very emotional, the kind of guy that would go up to you and give you a big hug, but for him to take the time and write that letter and tell me how he felt about me meant a lot."
