When rallying Canadians to donate to the Purolator Tackle Hunger® program, Chris Schultz wrote, “In a world that’s often based on wins and losses, it’s rare to be involved in something where everyone wins.”

That was in 2015. Schultz had another Purolator Tackle Hunger drive in front of him then, with his goal for people across the country to donate a million pounds of food to help people and families in need.

Through the summer and into the fall, you’ve seen shots of this year’s campaign during games on the CFL on TSN. Almost every time we see food being donated, someone on the TSN panel makes mention of Schultz, who passed away in March of 2021.

There was no bigger ambassador, no one happier and more willing to use their platform to rally the food-giving troops than Schultz.

This year, Purolator has become the CFL’s sponsor of Thanksgiving Weekend. Its Tackle Hunger program is in its second-last location for the season on Saturday, appropriately in Toronto for the Argonauts’ home date with the BC Lions. It’s impossible to think of those things without thinking of Schultz.

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND presented by Purolator
» Learn more about Purolator Tackle Hunger
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» Canadian football loses a giant in Chris Schultz

Being involved with this campaign meant the world to Chris Schultz. #Argos fans, when you come on Saturday, please help if you can. The Big Man would thank you for it. #PullTogether #CFL #CFLfamily https://t.co/7rtoxjoGmR

— x-Mike Hogan (@MikeHoganArgos) October 3, 2022

“Chris was not only a legend in the CFL but also with our Purolator Tackle Hunger program,” said John Ferguson, President and CEO, Purolator.

“I remember attending my first Grey Cup lunch after joining Purolator and many of the people I met with, referred to Chris as ‘the guy who started it all.’ As the first and most passionate ambassador for Purolator Tackle Hunger, Chris created a legacy in helping foster strong emotional connections and a generous spirit with the CFL and its players that continues today. He was part of the Purolator family and will always hold a special place in the hearts of our employees and of course among the communities that he championed for so deeply.”

“Any time I come to BMO Field I think about him,” said Mike Hogan, the Argos’ play-by-play voice and communications manager. He worked alongside Schultz calling Argos games in 2018 and 2019 and shared the airwaves with him in Toronto before that for a number of years.

“I know how much he loved this building and the grass and the natural surface, which was kind of his mantra as a player. He loved all things natural. I think that’s why he loved his involvement with Purolator so much, because for him it was a natural progression.”

As their working relationship grew into a friendship, Hogan came to learn about Schultz’s generosity.

“He would do stuff and I would hear about it. I heard a lot of it after he’d passed, that he went out of his way to do something for someone else,” Hogan recalled.

“He’d just give the shirt off his back to somebody who needed it, or he’d be walking down the street on a road game and just take his per diem cash and give it to somebody that looked like they needed it. That was him. I think that’s what again, with Purolator for him it was kind of everybody wins. It doesn’t take a lot to do to make a difference.”

Hogan said that while Schultz was never a boastful person, he took great pride in those million-pound hauls that Canadians contributed to. Purolator Tackle Hunger has delivered over 18 million pounds of food for food banks across the country since 2003.

Paul Graham, the vice president and executive producer at TSN, told CFL.ca after Schultz’s passing last year that he’d always remember Schultz dropping what he was doing a few years back to take a last-minute flight to Edmonton to speak at an engagement tied to the Purolator Tackle Hunger drive there.

“He readily got on a plane, a big frame like Chris has and he didn’t complain about it. He wasn’t sitting in business class, I can tell you that,” Graham said.

“Chris just got out there and did his thing and did his speaking engagement and represented Purolator and the Tackle Hunger community in a very positive way. He would not hesitate to work for that initiative and was always first-rate, top-notch all the time.”

Schultz is a constant in Hogan’s mind, especially during football season. He thinks his friend, the former Argonaut, would love the nastiness on the Argos’ offensive line this year. He wishes the two of them could have called their games these last two seasons, now that the team has turned a corner from the 2018 and 2019 squads that Schultz saw. He knew how much it meant to Schultz to be back in the realm of the Argos’ organization, up in the radio booth at BMO Field.

This weekend, when Hogan sees fans lining up to donate their non-perishable food items at BMO Field and the Argos chase another win and eye the top of the East Division, he’ll think of Schultz even more.

“It’s always there when I’m talking football,” he said of Schultz’s memory.

“He was so instrumental in my growth that anything I do, there’s a part of him in there whether or not I’m consciously thinking about or not. Peter Martin (the legendary former Argo and radio colour commentator), same thing. They are guys that are a part of me.

“I think about (Schultz) a lot. Any time I have a discussion about offensive line, there’s a part of me thinking, ‘What would Schultzy say in this instance?’ I think anybody who met and spent any time with Chris thinks of the positives because there are a lot.”