Rick Moffat
CFL.ca
In the financial flotsam and jetsom of another sunken attempt to sail the Alouettes to success, owner Robert Wetenhall turned to a former CFL Commissioner and former team captain under the glory years of Marv Levy in the ‘70s. Larry Smith knew enough about success, but he’d walked more than a few planks.
Now that the President of the Alouettes is stepping down, some need to be reminded how he saved the team he loves – 40 pushups at a time.
“Larry invited me to join him at a client visit,” recalls Pierre Vercheval, who signed in ‘98 as a free agent after back-to-back Grey Cup wins in Toronto in part because of the Smith charisma. “We hit 5 different areas of Air Canada: ticketing, sales, baggage handlers. At each location, Larry challenged the boss to pushups. He’d drop and do 40 and the crowd of employees would go nuts for him.
“After the first four groups of Air Canada people, we get to this big hangar. ‘Who’s the boss?’ Larry shouts. He cranks off another 40 pushups for the fifth time. Then the hangar guys’ boss drops and rips off 100 and says ‘is that enough for you?’ The crowd went crazy.”
Larry Smith doesn’t like to lose but he can turn defeat into a P.R. victory, too.
Vercheval and Eric Lapointe are the ex-Als instantly mentioned as possible successors to the former fullback who won his way to the presidency. Lapointe has done a remarkable job revitalizing the Alouettes Alumni Association. But he’s only four years removed from his playing days. Vercheval commands universal respect in the world of Quebec football.
“I think of all his accomplishments,” says Verch, “that’s his biggest one: teaching French Quebec about football. It was refreshing to see this English guy speaking French first. Traditionally French people were always ‘hockey first’.”
“When I joined the Alouettes, Larry was the first guy I met. His office was at Olympic Stadium (where only the locker-room and football operations department remains today) and I wanted to know the plan, was this really solid in Montreal?
“He knew it started with one fan at a time. He knows how to play the crowd; there’s energy and smiles.
“He kept telling the players it was important to make a personal connection. The CFL needs people in the stands and buying tickets. We had to be in the community.
So would the amiable football analyst on the French television network RDS see himself in the president’s office?
“First thing I tell people is I love my job right now, and it’s flattering to even suggest that. I’m not pretentious enough to think I could do that job.”
It was in the bowels of Olympic Stadium where Larry Smith chose to say farewell. Not at the downtown Montreal office where his desk is. In a team meeting room right beside the coaches’ offices and the players’ room. Conspicuous by his solitude.
He’d been lonely before in the most public of CFL jobs. As commissioner he was mocked and ridiculed for years over U.S. expansion and implosion. But a phoenix rose from the ashes where for almost a decade the “Larks” were dead and never coming back.
Lapointe believes Larry’s finest hour as president was a rare visit to the players. It was 2001 and the team was spiralling out of the control of coach Rod Rust, a seer from the Levy years. It was Grey Cup in Montreal, no less. Larry could feel the rare opportunity that he’d savoured in ’77 — victory on home turf — slipping away fast.
“We didn’t see Larry that often but he and Dalla Riva (Canadian Football Hall of Famer, long-time Als’ teammate and Larry’s handball nemesis) came into the room. He gave us such an emotional speech… he started slowly and picked it up. He was not just the president. He was so passionate about the game.”
“I don’t think a guy like Marv Levy is gonna name someone captain unless he’s got character,” reasons Lapointe. “If Larry steps down then someone else needs his charisma.”
Lapointe is on to something. Larry has never been “Mr. Smith.” He’s always been “Larry.”
“At a charity walk, I finally had to ask him: how is he capable of being everywhere, and always energetic and smiling? I was trying to get advice for my business. He said ‘Every time you meet people, make sure you’re at your best. You don’t have to be there long, but be intense. In the short period of time you are there, be close to people.’ He’s the kind of person that gives you advice without you realizing he’s giving advice.”
If Larry is close to any of his former teammates he is closest to Dalla Riva. The hulking tight end with hands the size of extra large pizzas confesses he is surprised by the timing of the resignation.
“Larry wasn’t the most vocal guy in the room, but he loved to clown around and keep guys lose. He’d get on Ed George all the time. Larry would imitate Howard Cosell and call Big Ed ‘Lurch’. He’d get us laughing. But Larry knew when to push and when to back off.”
“In our day American coaches crapped on the Canadians. When Larry came out of college there was a bond right away. Wally (Buono) was part of that. Rookies got shit on alot. But Marv (Levy, their Cup-winning coach in ’74 and ’77) had alot of class. He tried to change that.”
Teammates on the football field were intense rivals on the handball court.
“He’d kibitz and joke with you, but Larry would get pissed off if he screwed up and blew a shot,” says Dalla Riva, who refuses to admit he beat Smith with regularity — preferring diplomatically to say only “I did ok.”
“Larry would get on himself in the huddle too. There’s a lot of pressure, and nobody wants to fail.”
Is he destined for politics?
He can say all the right things and knows when not to say the wrong things. At the Als’ dazzling Grey Cup ring ceremony before 2010 training camp, he studiously avoided using the R-word “repeat” and resisted any temptation to guarantee another Cup.
He’s promised to do everything he can to bring a Grey Cup championship to Montreal this month even if his solitary announcement risked creating distraction.
“He made Montreal a model team for the rest of the CFL,” says Dalla Riva.
And whereas Vladislav Tretiak proclaimed during the Canadiens’ Centennial celebrations: “Montreal — hockey city.” Larry Smith can always take pride. Montreal also — football city.
“He’s a smart guy who’s always a step ahead of the game,” reminds Dalla Riva. “Don’t worry for Larry.”
Will Mr. Smith work his way to the nation’s capital? No, but Larry might.
