Neighbourly love

U of C has deep connections with Calgary Stampeders

here has always been a close relationship between the University of Calgary Dinos and the Calgary Stampeders. From formal channels such as the agreement to share McMahon Stadium, to informal ones where coaches sometimes migrate from practice to practice, the relationship between the red and gold and the red and white has always been one of great next-door neighbours.

That neighbourly spirit deepened with the recent unveiling of the new Stampeders ownership group. Three owners — John Forzani, Doug Mitchell and Ted Hellard — were appointed as executive committee members responsible for the general management and operations of the team. Hellard, the founder and major shareholder in Calgary-based web marketing giant Critical Mass, graduated from the University of Calgary in 1980 with a bachelor of education. With his arrival in the executive suite, there are now U of C alumni at every level of the organization.
“ We’re very good neighbours," laughs Stan Schwartz, president of the Stampeders from 1996-2003. “With this new group in place, you can bet that the ties will remain strong.”

• • • •

Tom Higgins, the new head coach and vice-president of football operations of the Stampeders, hasn’t even activated a cellphone yet. His office walls are still bare, and he has been living at the Banff Trail Motel Village for the past week while looking for a house.

“ I am extremely happy to be back, it’s like a homecoming for me,” says Higgins, whose coaching career includes a three-year stint on the sidelines for the U of C Dinos. “It occurred to me last year when I was the speaker at the Dinos Football Dinner just how many friends I have in this town. Now, coming back, my wife and I don’t have to establish friendships — we re-establish them. We’re joking that we have so many dinner invitations that we won’t have to go grocery shopping for our whole first month.”

After replacing Matt Dunigan as head coach of the Stampeders, Higgins begins his fourth stint at McMahon Stadium. This will be his first time as head coach of the Stampeders, but he is no stranger to Calgary, having played for the Stampeders in 1976, and been an assistant coach for both the Dinos 1982-1984 and the Stampeders 1985-1992.

“ We won two conference championships and a Vanier Cup in my three years, so my Dinos memories are definitely positive,” smiles Higgins. “We won the Vanier Cup in 1993, but I still remember the 1984 team — they were even better. That was my last year with the Dinos.”

After his three-years with the red and gold, Higgins stayed at McMahon with the red and white.

“ I remember that moving from the Dinos to the Stamps was a pretty smooth transition for me,” says Higgins. “Both the Dinos and the Stamps played out of McMahon Stadium, and I was a guest coach for the Stamps at training camp for a couple of years before that, so I knew a lot of people and I had a taste of what it would be.”

Now in 2005, Higgins hopes that this stint will be his last.

“ This is the perfect opportunity for me,” he says. “If all goes well, I would really like to retire here.”

• • • •

“The longer you’re in this business, the more you realize that there is very little you do know,” says Stan Schwartz, a U of C alumnus whose Calgary football career spans five decades.

Schwartz, who came out of retirement to become senior consultant to the executive committee, graduated from the U of C in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in education and an Alberta Teaching Certificate. He began his Calgary football career playing with the Dinos from 1965-1969.

“ The nice thing back then is that we had a small university and small classes and we all knew each other fairly well,” he says. “We shared in a lot of things back then — I remember going to university hockey games on Friday nights, watching my friends and classmates play. The friendships and all the people you met — those ties last a lifetime.”

He also remembers the academic side of life at the U of C.

“ I remember going to classes, and in those days, as physical education students, we had to do all the sports,” continues Schwartz. “And let me tell you: for us big football players, gymnastics is not an easy sport to take.”

Since leaving the U of C, Schwartz has had a successful career as a teacher and as a coach, serving eight years with the Stampeders as assistant coach from 1976-1984. In 1985, he dropped his coaching duties to lead the redevelopment of McMahon Stadium prior to the 1988 Olympics. His last full-time job was as president of the Calgary Stampeders from 1996-2003.

Schwartz is very excited about his latest challenge.

“ It’s a new face and a new image — the group that we have gives us instant credibility in the community. This group really understands the culture of Calgary and we’re all very optimistic about the future.”

• • • •

The man charged with selling that future to Calgarians is another U of C alumnus, Darrell Moir. Moir, who graduated from the U of C in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education, followed his Critical Mass boss Ted Hellard to become the Stampeders new senior vice-president of marketing and operations.

While he has been away from sport for a few years working as marketing director of Critical Mass, he is no stranger to the gridiron. Moir played quarterback for the Dinos from 1976-1978, and followed that with a successful CFL career with the Stampeders and the Toronto Argonauts.

“ In 1977, we came within two points of making the national championship game,” he remembers. “We played in a snowstorm in London, Ontario, against the University of Western Ontario, and the game became a mud bath. I remember that it was an agonizing game for us — we missed three field goals, and I had a touchdown scramble called back. We lost by only two points — any one of those plays would have made the difference.”

Like many other Dinos, Moir made the jump from university to the CFL because of his passion for football.

“ In my case, going to the CFL was a no-brainer. Sure, you don’t make NHL or NFL money, but you do it because you really love the game. My original signing bonus was something like $1,500.

I was lucky enough to land myself a couple of jobs that allowed me time to play football during the season.”

His time on the football field taught him the value of teamwork, knowledge that held him in good stead once he joined the business world.

“ Football is the ultimate team game. I know it’s a cliché, but it’s so true. In football, everyone has a role to play and a job to do. In business, it’s the same thing. We’re not all created equal — not everyone can do everything, but everyone can be successful together if everyone knows their role and does their job.

In 2005, Moir has the opportunity to combine his love of football and his marketing expertise, and really, he says, what more can you ask for?