September 16, 2016

Derrell ‘Mookie’ Mitchell among legends honoured in Hamilton

THE CANADIAN PRESS

HAMILTON — When Derrell ‘Mookie’ Mitchell arrived as a wide-eyed rookie in 1997, the teammates he joined had already built a legacy as one of the best Canadian Football League rosters ever assembled.

It was hard to imagine topping the 15-3 season the Argos finished with in ’96, led by Doug Flutie at quarterback and Don Matthews at coach. Yet as a rookie experiencing football on this side of the border for the first time, Mitchell didn’t just want a front row seat — he wanted to elevate that team even further.

“The following year was my opportunity to get in on the Argo legacy I had just witnessed,” said Mitchell. “That’s where this real Hall of Fame journey started for me.”

 

Mitchell finished his rookie season with close to 1,500 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns, helping the Argos capture their second Grey Cup in a row with a win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders that November. A year later in 1998 he caught a CFL record 160 passes and became just the third player to eclipse the 2K receiving mark with exactly 2,000 yards.

Officially inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame on Thursday night in Hamilton, the journey, Mitchell said, started when he saw the ’96 winners putting on their Grey Cup rings.

“Right in that moment, I wanted that feeling those guys had,” recalled Mitchell. “It just happened, the championship — it was the brotherhood in that organization. I wanted to be a part of that.

“I didn’t want to just play,” he added. “I wanted to win with those guys.”

Mitchell was joined by three others in the players category on Thursday night — another former Argo in Rodney Harding as well as former Bombers James West and Doug Brown.

Former Saskatoon Hilltops president, Canadian Junior Football League commissioner and Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame inductee Don McDonald was inducted in the builders category.

There aren’t many receivers in CFL history that had the impact Mitchell did throughout his 11-year career. After earning Most Outstanding Rookie honours in ’07 and a record-breaking 1998 season, Mitchell went on to earn three CFL All-Star nods and five East Division All-Star honours.

On Sept. 12, 1998, Mitchell tied an Argos record with four touchdowns in a single game. Twice in 1999 he tied Terry Greer’s record with 16 catches in a single game, including once in a playoff game against the Alouettes.

After leaving Toronto and winning a Grey Cup with the Eskimos in 2005, Mitchell returned to Toronto to pass Paul Masotti in 2007 to become the all-time leading receiver in Argos history with 821 catches, 12,014 yards and 90 touchdowns.

Another All-Time Argo going into the Hall of Fame Thursday night was Rodney Harding, equally terrifying but for offensive linemen rather than defensive backs.

 

Harding started with the Argos in 1985 and was one of the most dominant defensive linemen in the league from the mid 1980s through the mid 1990s. On Sept. 25, 1998, Harding’s five sacks in a game vs. Edmonton set a CFL record.

On the way to a career that finished with 253 tackles, 105 sacks, 14 fumble recoveries and five interceptions in 201 career games, Harding was a seven-time division all-star, a CFL All-Star twice and an Argos team MVP in 1992 when he recorded 18 sacks in a single season. Harding also played in two Grey Cups and won in 1991. He continues to lead the Argos’ all-time sack list with 92.

If Harding was the defensive lineman of the ’80s and ’90s, the next decade belonged to Brown. Brown’s name became synonymous with the infamous ‘Swagerville’ that characterized a mean Bomber defence in 2011, but it was long before that the former Stampeders fifth overall pick made his mark.

After being drafted by Calgary in ’97, Brown briefly played with the NFL’s Washington Redskins. His CFL rights were traded to the Bombers and in 2001 he began his 11-year career in Winnipeg. Brown set the tone for the rest of his CFL career by earning league all-star honours and Most Outstanding Canadian in his first season with Winnipeg, while the Bombers went on to play in the Grey Cup that year.

 

Brown was nominated for Most Outstanding Canadian again in 2006 and 2007 and nominated for Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 2008. Only a year after he retired in 2011, Brown became just the third player in Bombers history to have his three-year waiting period waived for induction into the Bombers Hall of Fame. He finished his career as the second-leading all-time tackler for the Bombers and third on the team’s all-time sack list with 52.

While Brown is a Bomber legend in his own right, West was also known for his eccentric personality both on and off the field. After two seasons with the Stamps, the hard-hitting linebacker nicknamed ‘Wild West’ joined the Bombers in 1985 where he formed a well-known tandem with Tyrone Jones.

A three-time division all-star and two-time league all-star with Winnipeg, West was nominated for Most Outstanding Player in 1987 and played in three Grey Cup games throughout his career, winning two of them in 1988 and 1990.

 

West currently ranks fifth all-time on the Bombers tackles list with 400 to go with 55 sacks, 21 interceptions and three touchdowns, earning him a spot in the Bombers Hall of Fame in 1997.

Honoured in the builders category on Thursday night was McDonald, who played an integral role in the development of the legendary Saskatoon Hilltops organization as well as the CJFL. McDonald started coaching flag football then became the Hilltops’ president in 1975 before becoming the CJFL commissioner from 1979 to 1986.

McDonald also held the title of president of Football Canada for a decade from 1982 to 1992, while in 1990 he was awarded as a lifetime member of the Hilltops organization.

In 1993, McDonald was inducted in the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame, before earning Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame honours in 2009 for his contributions to the game at various levels.

While the speeches occurred on Thursday night in Hamilton, this year’s class will be officially introduced at halftime of the annual Hall of Fame Game, this year taking place between the Ticats and Alouettes on Friday night at Tim Hortons Field.

 

The new inductees will bring the total number of Hall of Fame members to 283 in the area featuring busts of each member of the Hall that will be located at Tim Hortons Field. The Hall of Fame Induction Dinner was hosted in Hamilton from 1972-2008; 2016 will be the first time induction events will be held in Hamilton since that time.

“Every one of the gentlemen in the 2016 class had a positive impact on the growth of football in our country, and for that we are forever indebted to them,” added CFL Commissioner Jeffrey L. Orridge. “This gathering of our football community provides us all with an opportunity to acknowledge, remember and thank each of these worthy inductees with the recognition they deserve.”