Mark Cohon
Commissioner
For all of us who love the CFL, this continues to be a year to remember.
A year Canadians have rallied to our league, seen tremendous football and, sadly, said good bye to some of our very best.
Jake Gaudaur, Bobby Ackles, Ron Lancaster and so many others have left us since last year’s Grey Cup.
We recognize them with a new “in memoriam” page here at CFL.ca.
I have been struck by the fact the same themes emerge in so many of the tributes to these gentlemen: “He was humble.” “He treated everyone the same way, with respect.” “He was so down to earth.”
I’m reminded of a line in our season launching video: “This is a league where superstars are extraordinary, and ordinary, at the same time.”
When we say “This is Our League”, we’re not talking simply about geography. We’re really talking about what defines us, what’s in our DNA.
And when our league is at its’ best, it is everything these men were: proud without being boastful, aspirational without being aloof… extraordinary, and ordinary, at the same time.
We love this league for the same reason these men, whether players or builders, media or fans, fell in love with it: it’s authentic, and it’s ours.
And in that way, the legacy these men leave behind is ours, too.
The best way to honour them is to carry ourselves as they did, as we carry our league forward.
The brilliant British physicist Sir Isaac Newton once acknowledged the greatness of the scientists who preceded him by saying: “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”
If we see a bright future for the CFL, and we truly do, it is because we stand on the shoulders of these extraordinary, and ordinary, men.
