Though he’s retiring as Football Canada’s executive director, Jack Jordan won’t stray far from the game he loves
By Wayne Scanlan,
Ottawa Citizen
He has ties to the late Frank Clair and Red O’Quinn, and counts among his best friends two more football Hall of Famers named Ron Stewart and Whit Tucker.
Not a bad turn of events for a smallish flanker/defensive back from Arnprior District High whose playing career ended with an injury at his first preseason game for the University of Guelph Gryphons.
Jack Jordan is retiring as the chief executive of Football Canada at the end of the month after 16 years of ensuring that every child in the country had an opportunity to put a football in his or her hands and the thought of the game in his or her mind.
To the great relief of Football Canada, Jordan will continue to manage the marketing and fundraising programs as a part-time worker, a task at which some consider him a miracle worker.
“Sixteen years is a long time, and it has been a fun time,” Jordan says. “A lot of good things happened over that period. But, at 62, I’d like to enjoy life a bit more.”
Not that he didn’t find time for the lighter side in his capacity as Football Canada boss.
Every year at the Grey Cup, Jordan could be found in the company of Tucker and Stewart et al, revelling in the spirit of the Cup festival. Together, they’d hit all the spots through the week, then fly home on Sunday morning to watch the big game in the comfort of their living rooms.
It was a tradition born of the 1988 Grey Cup in Ottawa. Last year’s trip to Vancouver will go down as the last official Cup gathering of the great trio.
Even with the Rough Riders and Renegades dead and gone, the Ottawa contingent always found a way to make a presence at the Cup festival. At the 1996 Grey Cup in Hamilton, with the corpse of the Riders still warm, Gary Page, a former club staffer, encouraged Jordan and friends to march in the Cup parade with a coffin, marking the demise of Ottawa’s football team. So they “crashed” the parade, much to the delight of Tiger-Cats fans lining the streets.
For as long as he can remember, Jordan was involved in Ottawa football. In the 1960s, he helped out the University of Ottawa coaching staff. At about the same time, he began organizing Quarterback Clubs for Riders bosses O’Quinn and Clair.
Maybe it had something to do with his Arnprior roots — Jack’s mother, Marion, still lives there at 95 — but he loved sharing the CFL game with the fans in the Valley. Riders players would visit Renfrew, Pembroke, Deep River and Seaway Valley, among other stops, mingling, conversing and signing autographs before leaving a lasting impression.
It’s easy to forget today that the Riders of the 1960s and ’70s were kings in this town, easily recognized on the street. Jordan would be given 200 game tickets to dispense and practically get assaulted for them.
For the quarterback clubs at the RA Centre, fans would begin lining up at 4 p.m. for a seven o’clock session hosted by Ernie Calcutt.
The game was his life, so imagine Jordan’s surprise when he discovered he could make it his livelihood. He was teaching a sales and marketing course at Algonquin College in 1991 when he saw an ad in the newspaper for the Football Canada position.
He thought he’d be perfect for the job. Sixteen years later, a host of people in the game and on the board of directors couldn’t agree more.
Jordan set out to generate interest in amateur football, in his words “to get more kids taking up football, touching, feeling, smelling the game.”
The growth has been impressive, about five per cent per year overall, with higher growth in Quebec. More than half a million Canadians play the game in some capacity, including 180,000-plus in Ontario, despite the demise of some tackle programs.
Perhaps the flagship event during Jordan’s tenure was the national flag football program he co-ordinated, financially supported by the NFL and CFL. First test-marketed in Ottawa in 1996, 265 schools were involved in regional play last year, and 300,000 participants in all. Today, the Canadian champions advance to a world tournament.
Never mind the coaches, referees and Canadian players that Football Canada has helped develop, the organization itself would be dead without Jordan.
Not long after he took over the job, Sport Canada, a source of paltry funds for a non-Olympic sport such as football, temporarily ceased funding to Football Canada altogether. The CFL was also questioning its measly annual contribution of $50,000, a figure that hasn’t increased in 40 years. To his credit, then-commissioner Larry Smith successfully fought to maintain a link with amateur football. Today, Smith’s Montreal Alouettes are thriving because of strong ties to the community and amateur football.
Jordan found enough support to bridge the gap until Sport Canada came back on board.
“It was Jack’s efforts that helped us survive,” Football Canada past-president Paul McCracken says from Edmonton. “Now, we have a bit of money in the bank. Jack is one of those guys who manages to get things done. He carried a big load on his shoulders; we value his contribution immensely.”
Along with his amateur connections, Jordan has maintained strong ties to the Renegades, Rough Riders and their alumni. He may be involved in the team’s revival over the next couple of years, but wants to be sure “the last kick at the cat” is done right.
“It has to be rebuilt brick by brick, and we can’t afford to have one brick askew,” he says.
Any prospective new management team would be wise to knock on Jack’s door for advice. He knows as much about Rough Riders tradition and community links as any man alive.
So it’s more than a little reassuring to know that this great friend of football in Ottawa — and in Canada — is not straying too far afield in his retirement.
