EE Football Alumni Association looking for Elks to recapture legacy

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They spent their entire playing careers building on the legacy of professional football in Edmonton, only to witness it all unravel in an unstoppable downward spiral over the past five years.

The EE Football Alumni Association — whose name incorporates both the Edmonton Eskimos Era of days gone, as well as the current Edmonton Elks rebranding — watched helplessly as the seasons-long slump dragged said names through the proverbial mud.

But the change to private ownership is breathing new life into the old guard, as a new age has begun under the guidance of some of their own with the club now under new management.

After slapping a sold sticker on the for-sale sign, Larry Thompson’s first order of business was to put former EE offensive lineman Chris Morris in the president and CEO’s office right next to his name on the Wall of Honour encircling Commonwealth Stadium.

And Morris’ first move was to bring back teammate and fellow Grey Cup champion Ed Hervey for his second stint as general manager in Edmonton, after his first time here resulted in the club’s most recent Grey Cup championship in 2015.

The main goal wasn’t necessarily to get the alumni fully back on board, but it was certainly a beneficial byproduct.

“The ownership, that was the first domino that really needed to be put into place. If you’re trying to build something, the foundation needs to be completely solid,” said alumni spokesman Jed Roberts, a second-generation CFLer and Grey Cup champion who spent his 13-year playing career in Edmonton, alongside both Morris and Hervey.

“With this club, the foundation hasn’t been good for an extended period of time. And for all different reasons. It’s all really semantics at this point.”

The bottom line is change needed to happen. The antiquated community-owned format under direction of a board of directors could no longer generate any forward momentum. Funds were drying up. Interest was waning and everyone was suffering — from fans to players to the alumni, whose own work in the community hasn’t exactly been made easier by the downward slide the team has taken.

After all, everyone can get behind a winner. So, it’s as much a credit to the entire city as it is the alumni that they have been able to continue supporting not just minor football, but a list of programs as long as a Canadian football field, including: Boys and Girls Clubs Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Canadian Red Cross, WIN House, YMCA Strong Kids Campaign, Kids Kottage, Zebra Child Protection Centre and the University of Alberta Sexual Assault Centre, to name a few. And there is also a player support fund.

The majority of their financial backing comes from two annual fundraisers, the Jackie Parker Memorial Golf Classic in the fall, and the EE Alumni Annual Wine Fest, coming up May 3 in the Legends Club at Commonwealth Stadium, with a meet and greet with former players. (Tickets are $60 and available at www.eefootballalumni.ca).

Fans can be forgiven if they need the odd glass or two to get over the sting of 22 straight home losses.

But the horizon is far from bleak. While the team missed the playoffs for a fourth straight time, they finally showed signs of life last year, winning five of six after an 0-7 start could have just as easily had them dead in the water the rest of the way.

And having a promising young up-and-coming head coach in Mark Kilam, himself a U of A Golden Bears football alumnus, makes for some welcome light at the end of a long tunnel.

If all signs are indeed pointing up, a big reason for that is because the focus has been aimed back to how things used to be run around Commonwealth, home to 14 Grey Cups and the five-in-a-row championship run.

Make no mistake, there is still a legacy here.

“Getting Larry in was awesome, just the way he honoured the brand and the tradition, and some people might call it the mystique,” Roberts said. “That’s something you can’t buy, and that’s something as alumni we were harping on the board.

“Why are you so anxious to get away from tradition when you’ve got expansion teams that would kill to have that? And you’re taking it for granted. There’s a way to meld the two, you can move forward with a new brand but at the same time not forsake what got you there, right?”

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge