Grey Cup delights Brandon football fans

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This article was published 16/10/2022 (1055 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Grey Cup made a stop in Brandon on Saturday, delighting football fans who got a chance to hold the trophy, snap a photo and meet the Keeper of the Cup at the OK Tire location at Zorzos Auto Sales.

The trophy, which was commissioned in 1909 by The Earl Grey, then governor general of Canada, was set up on a pedestal, and hotdogs were passed around to eager fans who flocked to see it.

“It’s huge. Every time they come to Brandon, it’s huge,” said Rodney McKnight, a Brandonite who has been a fan of the Canadian Football League since the 1980s. “I’m really glad to be a part of this.”

Jeff McWhinney, Keeper of the Cup, was on hand representing the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum in Hamilton, Ont. He has served as keeper since 2015, and said he got the job by being in the “right spot” at the “right time.”

“I fell in love with this game in 1976. When I was in Grade 6, I did a project about it. Everyone else was doing science fair projects, social studies projects … I said, ‘Do you mind if I do the Grey Cup?’” McWhinney recalled.

McWhinney’s own father’s name is engraved on the Cup. Glenn McWhinney was a CFL player for the Edmonton Eskimos and Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and won the Grey Cup with the Eskimos in 1954. His career in football ended in 1956 when he broke his neck, but he later joined the Blue Bombers as a scout from 1956 to 1958.

“It was interesting that I fell in love with this game not only because of my dad, but it was more than just football. It was about what these guys did … it was about people getting together and being great teammates.”

McWhinney wasn’t the only one at Zorzos with a personal connection to the Cup. Robert Prince, who works at the business as a salesperson and said he is the great-grandson of Thomas George Prince, an Indigenous war hero and Canada’s most-decorated First Nations soldier, serving in the Second World War and the Korean War.

“Inclusion and diversity is very much what the Canadian Football League [is about],” McWhinney said, adding he was honoured to meet the great-grandson of the war hero, who fought for everything the Grey Cup represents.

For Prince, seeing the Cup and meeting McWhinney was a positive experience.

“It was overwhelming when I got to meet the Keeper … he showed me some pictures of how he’s connected with my great grandfather,” Prince said. “What [my great-grandfather] did for the country was a great thing.”

Seeing how excited the crowd that had gathered to see the Cup was, McWhinney said, is a great example of how the CFL brings people together.

“This is the people’s cup, and when people realize they can engage with it, they see a team they fell in love with, that team will remind them of a game, or remind them of a play, or even remind them of a loved one that’s no longer there.”

Jake Zorzos, owner of Zorzos Auto Sales and the OK Tire location, said he was pleased when OK Tire asked him if he’d like his store to host the Grey Cup. Seeing the turnout on Saturday, he said, was exciting.

“Everyone seems to be in good spirits.”

The 2022 CFL season, the 68th season of modern-day Canadian football and the 64th season of the CFL, will wrap up in Regina on Nov. 20, when the city hosts the 109th Grey Cup.

» mleybourne@brandonsun.com

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