By Kent Gilchrist,
Vancouver Province
B.C. Lions head coach and general manager Wally Buono, one of the premier coaches and administrators the Canadian Football League has ever had, came from humble beginnings, it might interest Nathan Friesen to know.
The league will be handing Friesen the Wally Buono Award, which goes to the top junior player in the land, on Sept. 29 as part of the CFL Hall of Fame game celebrations in Hamilton.
A quarterback, Friesen played for the Winnipeg Rifles and is the latest recipient of the Saint Bernard Pass Charitable Foundation’s award, which is named for Buono, who played and then coached junior football in Montreal long before his success as a CFL coach.
Friesen, now with the University of Manitoba Bisons, has aspirations to quarterback the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and is the fourth winner.
Calgary’s Al Giacalone was the first winner in 2003 and was presented with his trophy at a lunch in Vancouver. Chris Ciezki of Edmonton and now a running back for UBC Thunderbirds won in ’04. Jeff Halvorson of the Okanagan Sun, who died on the practice field, was last year’s honouree.
None, however, got to sit at the head table of the CFL Hall of Fame dinner for 700, as Friesen will. Like Buono himself, the award has come a long way. Buono, who met Richard and Christina Saint-Marche, the founders and underwriters of the award ,while he coached the Calgary Stampeders, agreed to lend his name when he got to know the family.
“It needed a higher profile,” figured Buono, “and they are trying to provide it; give junior football more exposure. I played and coached junior football so it was easy for me.”
As Buono noted, it’s not totally based on talent. The winners have to show a commitment to team and community as well as be good athletes.
“It gives kids something to shoot for,” said Buono. “It can never hurt when you can acknowledge someone.”
The award will now be housed in the CFL Hall of Fame in Hamilton in a yet-to-be-built exhibit, to raise the stature of junior football.
Like those before him, Friesen is a young man dedicated to the game and talented enough, perhaps, to take it to the next level. As he is aware, Canadian quarterbacks are rare. Just ask former B.C. Lions Giulio Caravatta, now the colour commentator on the Lions TEAM 1040 broadcasts, about being a Canadian QB in the CFL.
“Nathan understands the meaning of commitment in that he has always demonstrated the ability to defer short-term gratification in favour of a long-term goal,” said Greg Graceffo, former Winnipeg Rifles coach.
Still, Canadians are the lifeblood of the CFL, making it unique in the face of the behemoth NFL to the south.
Buono, for 10 years a linebacker and punter with the Montreal Alouettes, personifies this.
While Americans seem to muscle in on the glamour positions, homegrown Lions include defensive end Brent Johnson, middle linebacker Javier Glatt, and receivers Paris Jackson and Jason Clermont and kicker/punter Paul McCallum.
Jackson and McCallum at least used junior ball as a springboard to bigger and better things.
Perhaps, Friesen will, too.
