Football Hall of Fame welcomes 2023 class

By Lethbridge Herald on September 14, 2023.

Graham Kelly

Inside the CFL

Lloyd Fairbanks from Raymond leads the 2023 Class into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame on Friday night in Hamilton. Longtime football writer Vicki Hall, who got her start in Medicine Hat, is the first woman to be inducted into the Hall, Football Reporters of Canada division.

Two inductees starred with the B.C. Lions.

Defensive back Larry Crawford played eight seasons (1981-1989), was a divisional all-star five straight years and CFL all-star four consecutive seasons, ’83-’87. One of the greatest punt returners of all-time, he won the Grey Cup in 1985.

Solomon Elimimian, the only defensive player to win the CFL Most Outstanding Player Award, also won the Outstanding Rookie Award and two Outstanding Defensive Player Awards. He anchored B.C.’s defence from 2010-2018, Six times a Western all-star,four times All-Canadian, his Lions won the Grey Cup in 2011.

Five of the inductees are associated with the Montreal Alouettes.

Windsor, Ont. native John Bourke, chosen in the 3rd round of the 2004 Canadian College Draft, was a mainstay of the Alouette offensive line for nine seasons. Eastern Division all-star seven straight years, CFL all-star twice, named Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman in 2011, he was a key figure in Grey Cup victories, 2009 and 2010.

A stellar member of those championships was his teammate, D-Lineman John Bowman, who played 14 years with Montreal, 2006-2019. Nine-time division all-star, two-time All-Canadian, he racked up 134 sacks, placing him seventh all time in that category.

Jacques Dussault made an impact at both the professional and amateur levels. He played for McGill and was a development coach with the University of Montreal Carabins. He was also an assistant coach with the Montreal Concordes/Alouettes. He was the first French-speaking coach in CFL history.

Although Larry Smith was a Montreal DB for nine seasons (1972-1980) appearing in six Grey Cups, winning twice, he is entering the Hall in the Builder category. Smith was the CFL commissioner between 1992 and ’97. It was under his watch, the league expanded into the U.S. While that venture failed, at the time the floundering league had to do something. As it turned out, the most successful expansion team, the Baltimore Stallions, moved north for the 1997 campaign replacing the Alouette team that folded 10 years earlier. Smith was the president for 11 seasons, winning two Grey Cups. More importantly, he rebuilt interest in football in Quebec from the bottom up, visiting just about every high school in the province. Now more Canadian players come into the CFL from Quebec than any other province.

For Montrealer Smith, it was a labour of love. “From the time I was a little kid, I wanted to be an Alouette. I collected all of the Bank of Montreal cards of the players. It was a dream.”

While not with the Als, he was an executive with Ogilvie Mills. Every time I talked to him he asked me how the “little mill” (in Medicine Hat) was doing.

Why did it take so long for his call to the Hall? Probably because he was active in Conservative politics and served in the Senate.

One also has to ask what took them so long to call Lloyd Fairbanks, Jr.?

Over a 17-year career (1975-1991) with Calgary, Montreal and Hamilton, he had 11 team nominations for Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman, representing the West once, was nominated for Most Outstanding Canadian, was seven times a division all-star, twice All-Canadian. No one in Calgary football circles or former opponents could understand why he wasn’t in the Hall. They say offensive linemen toil in anonymity but not appointed for 19 years after retirement? Ridiculous. “That’s life,” he laughed, when I asked him about it.

A player has to be nominated to be considered for induction. Medicine Hat’s Stan Schwartz, assistant coach and president of the Stampeders, was relentless in advocating on Fairbanks’ behalf. He rounded up letters of reference, he made phone calls, he did everything to get him into the Hall. Fairbanks’ talent should have been enough but he needed a champion in his corner.

Stan and Lloyd were also active on the high school front with the Stampeders and Lloyd playing crucial roles in the development of Raymond’s high school football/soccer stadium, a wonderful facility with the big white horse on the wall.

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