TORONTO – On behalf of our Board of Governors, our league and our fans across Canada, I want to offer my condolesences to the family and friends of Ralph Sazio, another iconic CFL figure, who has passed away.
Ralph Sazio was more than a CFL player, coach, executive and builder. He was more than a Hall of Famer. He was a leader. And his tough-as-nails approach to leadership not only won games. It captured the mood, and epitomized the image of an entire city.
An original Tiger-Cat when he first came to Hamilton in 1950, Sazio went on to win several Grey Cups as a player, coach, general manager and team president over the course of three decades with the black and gold. He was a tireless worker in a blue collar town. He exuded strength in a city built on steel. And he never backed down.
But as much as he cherished his adopted home, he also loved the league in which he had built his career. And in 1981, he became president of the Toronto Argonauts, turning a team that hadn’t won a championship in three decades into a perennial contender and, in 1983, winners of the Grey Cup.
In a year when we have lost so many greats, we are comforted by the knowledge that their spirit lives on in a new generation of players, coaches, executives and builders. But there may never be another who so perfectly epitomizes a time and a place the way Mr. Sazio did.
