Take Two: Former Shreveport Pirates assistant resets on CFL with Argos

It’s a safe bet that 23 years after his last CFL experience, Kerry Locklin will have a better go-round with the Toronto Argonauts.

Locklin, who’s in charge of the Argos’ defensive line this season, last set foot on a CFL field in 1994 as the assistant head coach of the Shreveport Pirates.

“I (coached) the first season, I left the second season,” Locklin said on Wednesday, after the Argos had completed their first day of rookie camp at York University. The Pirates were one of five American CFL teams to fold in February, 1996, ending the U.S. expansion era.

The Pirates lost their first 14 games in 1994 and finished 3-15.

“It was very difficult to transition because of the size of the field, the transformation of the complex (Independence Stadium), getting the right type of players at such short notice,” Locklin said. The team came into existence in the winter of 1994, leaving it just months to build itself up and get ready for June’s training camp.

“There were a lot more off-the-field things than there were on the field,” Locklin said. “Once you got on the field things were a lot more clear, distinct. You could see that the Canadian teams had a huge advantage because of their knowledge of the game, their experience, things of that nature.”

The Pirates’ legacy, along with a surprisingly large fan base given their record, will be linked to the off-the-field stuff.

A Brief History of the Shreveport Pirates

The Shreveport Pirates were part of the CFL’s US expansion program during the mid-1990s.  They, along with six other teams made up the expansion era that lasted two years.  Despite holding a record of only 8-28, the Pirates held the second-highest attendance of the American teams (behind Baltimore) while playing out of Independence Stadium in Louisiana.

“They were overtop of the stockade,” Locklin said. “We had ants and roaches, different insects and rodents running around in there. It was unhealthy and the players didn’t like it. A lot of them left. It was a very hard transition. The ones that stayed were really truly love-of-the-game and made the best of it.”There was the training camp, held at the grounds of the Louisiana State Fair. Players were put up in hostel-style dorms, 12 to 16 bunks per room. They where on the second floor. The livestock from the fair was on the first.

There was the head coach, John Huard, getting fired in June, before the season kicked off. That brought in a new coach, Forrest Gregg, who only kept three coaches from Huard’s staff. Locklin was one of them.

“Some of the guys had never seen Canadian football, never had coached it or been around it so they didn’t know what a rouge was. They didn’t know certain rules. You know, the last tap out, the out of bounds call, things of that nature,” Locklin recalled.

“It was hard to adjust to. When they got it they were better but that was over halfway through the season.”

What might have saved Locklin in that coaching turnover was his familiarity with the Canadian game. From the age of one to 11, he and his family were with his dad, Billy Ray, who spent a decade playing in the league in Montreal and Hamilton. While Kerry went on to play college at New Mexico State before a three-year run in the NFL, his introduction to football came in Canada, with three downs.

“Then (as a kid), the American game was kind of slow and boring, because of the four downs,” he said. “It was long and easier to make first downs. You just get used to a quicker, faster game.”

He was away from the CFL after that one unforgettable season in Shreveport, but he never forgot about the league. He interviewed for a d-line coaching job with Corey Chamblin’s Saskatchewan Roughriders four years ago. Chamblin’s LinkedIn profile popped up in front of him this past year and he sent him a message. Now the defensive coordinator for the Argos, Chamblin had an offer for Locklin.

“It was a friendship and an interview that took place four years ago, coming to fruition,” Locklin said.

He stood under the shade of a tent at York on Wednesday (no state fairs or circuses this time) and was excited about the work and the challenges that lay ahead of him. This will mark his 22nd year of solely coaching the d-line.

“It’s a form of pedagogy, which is teaching,” he said. “You’re teaching and watching guys develop and grow and turn into men at the younger levels. You help them through life at the upper levels and it’s a bond for life. You coach them and you learn from them and they learn from you. You share memories and ideas and you grow from that.”