Sharon Higgins
CFL.ca
His name was Justin Ring.
When Tom entered the arena of being a head coach with the Eskimos, Justin was a football player our family fell in love with. Partly because of Justin himself and partly because of his delightful wife Michelle.
Justin, #36, 1999-2002, played in the Grey Cup with us in 2002, where we lost to the Montreal Alouettes on home turf. It never dawned on me then that when the next football season rolled around Justin would not be part of our team. Justin would symbolize that nice guys don’t always make up a football team.
One night before training camp 2003, Tom broke the news to the Higgins’ Team over dinner. He wanted us to know first, before it hit the media, that Justin was being released and would not be invited to training camp.
What? But we loved Justin and Michelle! Immediately there was unbelievable sadness and confusion from all of us. It was a difficult lesson to learn that evening. Many tough decisions were going to be made in the future involving people who we would love, enjoy and fashion close relationships with.
Another nice guy, George Hudson was also an Eskimo. He was on the verge of becoming a starter. George became a victim of the dispersal draft in 2002 when he was left unprotected.
Unfortunately for him, the Eskimos had more experienced offensive linemen in the same role and only a few of these men could be protected. It was anticipated the Ottawa Renegades would select George with the talent he was developing. It was ever so sad to see George, the greatest sideline cheerleader you ever saw, hit the road.
Happily, George has extended his career and still plays with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Players are not the only ones that become football family casualties. Sometimes it involves coaches. They all have a shelf life. Sometimes there is really no good reason to explain why it’s a player or coach’s time to get bummed off of the shelf, it just is. Reasons could be of circumstance, salary, age, experience, the import ratio or maybe you just don’t fit. All of us in this business have the unfortunate opportunity of this experience.
At the end of the Stamps season in 2006, a directive came from the team’s owners that Tom’s dear friend and co-coach Steve Buratto must be relieved of his duties. After attending a meeting where this decision was made, Tom came home and once again, we had a Higgins’ Team meeting.
The five of us huddled on our bed as Tom shared the news that Steve would be told about his departure in the morning. The coaching history with the Burattos’ and Higgins’ dates back to the 1980’s. Losing Steve and his wife Judy from the Stampeder family was like cutting off an appendage.
Steve’s dismissal was just the beginning of the complete erosion of that Stampeder coaching staff. One by one, most of the nice guys were all let go within the following year.
The sad reality of the situation is that when your boss tells you what to do, you have to follow through or lose your own job. I know this decision still haunts Tom today. Thankfully, Steve is still with the CFL, coaching the offensive line with the Ti-Cats.
The selection of a football team is an arduous task, which is a compilation of coaches’ calculated and observed factors! Players are selected on individual prowess that will combine with a phalanx of others working towards a parallel undertaking.
Whether a coach or a player is a nice guy doesn’t usually come into the equation. If he does possess this quality, it’s a bonus!
For whatever reason, this business is extremely transient and timely. Our paths have crossed many wonderful ‘nice guy’ football associates and their families throughout Tom’s career. We are most fortunate to stay in touch with many of them on a continual basis.
Although Tom and I are out of the football family team business for the moment, we still feel embraced by those we know who play such vital roles in teams around the league.
Scattered around the CFL on every team, we continue to work towards one worthy cause. Our league.
