Joe Kapp

Joseph Robert Kapp (born March 19, 1938) is an American former football player, coach, and executive. He played college football as a quarterback at the University of California, Berkeley. Kapp played professionally in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Calgary Stampeders and the BC Lions and then in the National Football League (NFL) with the Minnesota Vikings and the Boston Patriots. Kapp returned to his alma mater as head coach of the Golden Bears from 1982 to 1986. He was the general manager and president of the BC Lions in 1990.
Kapp is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame, the BC Lions Wall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, and the University of California Athletic Hall of Fame. Kapp's #22 jersey is one of eight numbers retired by the Lions. In November 2006, Kapp was voted to the Honour Roll of the CFL's top 50 players of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN. "Sports Illustrated" once called him "The Toughest Chicano." Kapp is the only player to play quarterback in the Super Bowl, Rose Bowl, and the Grey Cup.
Early years.
Born in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Kapp's mother (Florence García) was of Mexican-American heritage, his father of German descent. Raised in California in the San Fernando Valley and Salinas, he played quarterback for Hart High School in Newhall.
Kapp played college football at the University of California, Berkeley, where he led the Golden Bears to a Pacific Coast Conference championship in 1958 and the Rose Bowl, where they lost to Iowa. This remains California's most recent Rose Bowl appearance. Kapp was named an All-American, and was also awarded the W. J. Voit Memorial Trophy in 1958 as the outstanding football player on the Pacific Coast. A two-sport athlete and fraternity member of Kappa Alpha Order in college, he also played on the basketball team and was a member of the 1956–57 and 1957–58 squads that won the Pacific Coast championships. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education from the university in 1959.
Professional career.
Canadian Football League.
Kapp was selected in the 18th round of the 1959 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins, who owned his rights to play professional football in the United States. After the draft, Washington did not contact him, so his only choice was to accept the offer from Jim Finks, the general manager of the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
Kapp joined the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL for his rookie season in 1959. The following year, Kapp led Calgary to their first playoff appearance in years. The season was a difficult one, because he injured his knee against the Toronto Argonauts early in the season, but did not miss any games, because he played heavily taped.
In 1961, the BC Lions, then the CFL's newest franchise, traded four starting players to the Calgary Stampeders for Joe Kapp. The move paid off for the Lions when Kapp led the team to a Grey Cup appearance in 1963. The following season, Kapp led the Lions to their first Grey Cup victory in 1964. However, the Lions proved unable to defend their championship in 1965.
By that time, Kapp had proven he was an elite quarterback, and also developed the reputation of being a tough player and a great leader. While most quarterbacks dislike being hit, Kapp was the opposite. He loved to hit and when he took off on a run he'd try to run over defenders.
Before the 1967 CFL season, Kapp made the decision to return to the U.S. to play pro football. The AFL's Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers, and Houston Oilers were heavily pursuing him.
Kapp ended up signing with the NFL's Minnesota Vikings in a multi-player "trade" between the CFL and NFL teams, one of the very few transactions to ever occur between the two leagues.
The Minnesota Vikings in 1965 had drafted running back Jim Young out of Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He had spent the 1965 and 1966 seasons with the Vikings, but wanted to return to Canada. The BC Lions were very interested in acquiring Young, but the Toronto Argonauts had his CFL rights.
The Minnesota Vikings general manager was Jim Finks, who had brought Kapp to Canada in 1959, and their head coach was Bud Grant, who had faced Kapp while coaching the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Both Finks and Grant thought Joe Kapp would be the best replacement for Fran Tarkenton, who had been traded to the New York Giants. To make this transaction possible, the BC Lions traded all-star defensive lineman Dick Fouts, and future Canadian Football Hall of Fame running back Bill Symons to Toronto for the CFL rights to future Canadian Football Hall of Fame wide receiver Jim Young. They then managed to get Kapp waived out of the CFL. The Vikings managed to get Jim Young waived out of the NFL, which allowed the BC Lions to sign him. The expansion New Orleans Saints wanted Young and it took some work from Finks to keep them from claiming Young. Kapp, now waived from the CFL, was free to sign with the Vikings, who had previously claimed his NFL playing rights from Washington.
National Football League.
In 1967, Kapp's first season in the NFL, he started 11 of 14 games for the Vikings, compiling an unusual record of 3 wins, 5 losses and 3 ties. Kapp completed only 47 percent of his pass attempts with 8 touchdowns and 17 interceptions. Kapp also scored two rushing touchdowns. Of note, the team was winless without Kapp starting at quarterback. The Green Bay Packers won the division (and the Super Bowl).
In 1968, Kapp led Minnesota to their first ever playoff appearance, losing to the favored Baltimore Colts, 24–14. The Colts were upset a few weeks later by the New York Jets in Super Bowl III.
Early in the 1969 season, Kapp tied an all-time record when he threw for seven touchdown passes against the defending NFL champion Colts on . He is tied with seven other players (Sid Luckman, Adrian Burk, George Blanda, Y. A. Tittle, Nick Foles, Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees). Kapp led the Vikings to a 12–2 record, and a berth in Super Bowl IV after defeating the Los Angeles Rams 23–20 in the Western Conference championship game, and the Cleveland Browns 27–7 in the last NFL Championship game ever played. However, he was unable to lead the team to victory in the Super Bowl, as the Vikings lost 23–7 to the Kansas City Chiefs. In , the NFL and AFL consummated the merger that had been agreed to in , and the NFL Championship game was retired after 37 editions and 50 years of NFL competition. On July 20, 1970, "Sports Illustrated" dubbed Kapp "The Toughest Chicano" on the cover of its weekly magazine. He received the team MVP, but refused the team MVP award, saying, "There is no one most valuable Viking. There are 40 most valuable Vikings."
Prior to the 1969 season, the Vikings had exercised the option clause of his contract, so Kapp had played the entire season without a new contract. It was unusual for teams to use the team's option and not to offer a new contract prior to a season.
This dispute made him a free agent for the season, by the NFL's own rules.
Despite Kapp being a Super Bowl quarterback, no team in the NFL made contact with him until after the start of the 1970 regular season,
 when the Boston Patriots (1–1) signed him on October 2 to a four-year contract, making him the highest paid player in the league. Pete Rozelle stepped in and forced the Patriots to give up two number-one draft picks as compensation to the Vikings. His first appearance for Boston was on October 11 at Kansas City, relieving starter Mike Taliaferro in the third quarter of a 23–10 loss.
The Patriots of 1970 were a poor-performing team and the late-arriving Kapp played poorly himself that season, leading the team to the 26-team league's worst record at 2–12. When the year ended, Rozelle demanded that Kapp sign a standard player contract. After conferring with his lawyer and the NFL Players Association, Kapp refused to sign.
With the top pick in the 1971 NFL Draft, the Patriots selected quarterback Jim Plunkett of Stanford, the winner of the Heisman Trophy. Kapp reported to the newly-renamed New England Patriots' training camp in 1971, refused to sign a standard contract, and departed. The headlines in the Boston papers read "KAPP QUITS!". After this incident Kapp never played again; his 12-year career as a professional football player was over.
Kapp started an anti-trust lawsuit vs. the NFL, claiming the standard NFL contract was unconstitutional and a restraint of trade. He won the summary judgment after four years. The court had ruled that Kapp's trade was indeed restrained. It was two years later (April 1, 1976) in the trial for damages, that the jury decided that Kapp was not damaged.
Although Kapp was not awarded any damages, in 1977 the rules at issue in the Kapp case were later revised, a new system was instituted, and a multimillion-dollar settlement was made between the NFL and the NFL Players Association.
Post-football playing career.
Acting career.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, Kapp appeared in several television programs as well as theatrical film titles. In most cases, the character roles were minor. Programs included "Ironside", "The Six Million Dollar Man", "Adam-12", "Emergency!", "Police Woman", "Captains and the Kings", and "Medical Center". Movies included "Climb An Angry Mountain (1972)", 'The World's Greatest Athlete" (1973), "The Longest Yard" (1974), "Breakheart Pass" (1975), "Two-Minute Warning" (1976), "Smash-Up on Interstate 5" (1976), "Semi-Tough" (1977), "The Frisco Kid" (1979), and "Off Sides (Pigs vs. Freaks)" (1984).
California head coach.
In 1982, Kapp was hired as the head football coach at his alma mater, the University of California, Berkeley. He had never coached before. In his first year as head coach, he was voted the Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year.
In December 1981, Kapp made a promise to the football team that he would not consume any of his favorite alcoholic beverage, tequila, until the Golden Bears reached the Rose Bowl, which they did not under Kapp; indeed, as of 2020, the Golden Bears have yet to return to the Rose Bowl – they were Pac-10 co-champions in 2006 but a loss to USC sent them to the Holiday Bowl instead. (In a 1994 interview, Kapp stated that he had resorted to drinking rum instead.
Kapp had several philosophies while coaching at Cal. He called his special teams the "special forces." He told his players to play "One hundred percent for 60 minutes." He also wanted the players to have fun. On Sundays, he would have his players play a game of "garbazz", described as a mix of basketball and football where the only objective is to pass the ball downfield. There are no football rules such as offsides or forward passes.
Kapp's first season as head coach in 1982 concluded with The Play, the famous five-lateral kickoff return by Cal to score the winning touchdown on the final play of the Big Game against archrival Stanford.
During the 1986 season, the Bears lost to Boston College, defeated Washington State, then lost to San Jose State. Following an embarrassing 50–18 loss at Washington on October 4, Kapp expressed frustration unzipping his pants in front of the Seattle media. He was notified that he would be released after the Big Game, played in Berkeley. The Bears responded to the student section's pre-game chants of "Win one for the zipper" by beating the Gator Bowl-bound #16 Cardinal 17–11, which gave Kapp a 3–2 record in the Big Game. He was carried off the field by his players, amid chanting from the student section, "We want Kapp!" echoing a cheer from his playing days with the Boston Patriots.
General manager of the BC Lions.
In an effort to recapture their past glory, the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL) hired Kapp as the team's new general manager in 1990. Kapp's tenure was marked by his tendency to recruit ex-NFL players such as Mark Gastineau whose best football days had passed. Kapp was fired eleven games into the Lions' schedule, his most valuable legacy was the signing of quarterback Doug Flutie, who would blossom into a star in the CFL during the 1990s.
Sacramento Attack head coach.
In 1992, Kapp was named the head coach of the Arena Football League's Los Angeles Wings, but the franchise never came into existence in Los Angeles, and moved to Sacramento as the Attack. The franchise went 4–6 under Kapp, losing in the first round of the playoffs to the Detroit Drive. After the season, the franchise moved to Miami, Florida.
Personal life.
Kapp lives in Los Gatos, California, and makes himself available as a guest speaker. He has a wife and four children and four grandchildren. He was one of the owners of Kapp's Pizza Bar & Grill in Mountain View, California, which contained memorabilia from his career and closed in 2015. His son, Will, followed in his footsteps as a fullback at UC Berkeley. In 2015, grandson Frank Kapp, continued the Cal football tradition as a freshman tight end with the Golden Bears.
Kapp and fellow Canadian Football Hall of Fame player Angelo Mosca came to blows at a 2011 Canadian Football League Alumni luncheon. The source of the bad blood between Kapp and Mosca is a hit Mosca made on Kapp's teammate Willie Fleming in the 1963 Grey Cup game. The hit, which Kapp and many others considered dirty, forced Fleming out of the game. Mosca's Tiger-Cats defeated Kapp's Lions 21–10 for the 1963 championship.
In February 2016, the "San Jose Mercury News" reported that Kapp was suffering from Alzheimer's disease.


Bob Foster (boxer)

Robert Wayne "Bob" Foster (April 27, 1942 – November 21, 2015) was an American professional boxer who fought as a light heavyweight and heavyweight. Known as "The Deputy Sheriff", Foster was one of the greatest light heavyweight champions in boxing history. He won the world light heavyweight title from Dick Tiger in 1968 via fourth-round knockout, and went on to defend his crown fourteen times against thirteen different fighters in total from 1968 to 1974. Foster challenged Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali during his career, but was knocked out by both (the fight with Ali was not for a world heavyweight title, but for the regional NABF version).
Early life.
Foster was born at Borger, Texas on 27 April 1942. In his childhood years his family moved to Albuquerque in New Mexico, and he received his formal education at Albuquerque High School. On leaving school he enlisted with the United States Air Force, in which he served with the rank of Airman Second Class. He began boxing on the Golden Gloves amateur circuit, and also took part in competitive inter-service matches for the U.S. Air Force.
Boxing career.
Foster started his professional career on the night of March 27, 1961, against Duke Williams, in Washington, D.C., winning by knockout in two rounds. The first 12 bouts of his career were spent campaigning in the United States' Eastern coast and in Canada. In his tenth bout, he made his first of multiple forays into the heavyweight division, and suffered his first loss, at the hands of Doug Jones, by a knockout in the eighth round.
After two more wins, he went in 1963 to Peru, where he lost to South American champion Mauro Mina by a decision in ten rounds at Lima. This was his first major Light Heavyweight bout, but it wouldn't be his last.
Three more fights back in the States resulted in quick knockout wins for him, and then, in 1964, he made his second attempt at entering the heavyweight rankings, being knocked out in the seventh by future world Heavyweight champion Ernie Terrell. He finished the year by posting three more knockout wins at Light Heavyweight, two of them in the month of November. The night of November 11 was Foster's first win of note as a light-heavyweight. One month after knocking out Don Quinn in the first round, he stepped up in the ring again and faced former world title challenger Henry Hank. He beat Hank by a knockout in the tenth.
In 1965, he had five fights, winning four and losing one. He beat Hank again, by decision in 12 rounds, and lost to Zora Folley, by a decision in ten rounds, in another attempt at joining the heavyweight top ten.
In 1966 he defeated Leroy Green in two rounds.
By 1967, Foster, although his attempts to become a top heavyweight were being frustrated, was a ranked light heavyweight. He decided to stick to the light-heavyweight division for the time being, and he won all seven of his fights, six by knockout. Among the fighters he beat were Eddie Cotton, Eddie Vick, and Sonny Moore. After defeating Moore, Foster was the world's number one ranked light heavyweight challenger.
World light-heavyweight champion.
In 1968, Foster got his first shot at a world title. At Madison Square Garden in New York, on the night of March 24, Foster became world champion by knocking out Dick Tiger in four rounds. Tiger had been a two-time world middleweight champion and was defending his world light heavyweight crown that night. Foster then decided to box at heavyweight once again, and beat future George Foreman victim Charlie Polite by a knockout in three. He ended that year defeating Vick again, and his future world title challenger Roger Rouse, both by a knockout.
In 1969, he began by rising off the canvas to knock out Frank DePaula in the same first round and retain his belt. It is believed that was the first time ever a boxer won a world title fight in the first round after being floored in that same round. It is also believed that that fight is one of only three times that's happened... the second time being in 1984, when Juan Meza rose off a knockdown to dethrone world Jr. Featherweight champion Jaime Garza in the same first round too. It also happened in the 21st century, when Kendall Holt was dropped twice, only to knockout Ricardo Torres in round 1, for the WBO 140 lb title.
Foster's next fight in 1969 was against Andy Kendall, whom he beat in four rounds by knockout, to once again retain the crown. He closed the 1960s with two more knockout wins.
Frazier vs Foster.
In 1970, Foster made two more trips to the heavyweights. In the first, he beat fringe contender Lee Wallace in six rounds by knockout. This was followed by a return to the light-heavyweight division to defend his title against Rouse. Infuriated by some comments that Rouse's manager had made before the bout concerning the fact that even though Foster knocked out Rouse in their first bout he was not able to drop him, Foster dropped Rouse five times en route to a fourth-round knockout victory. A knockout in 10 to retain the title against Mark Tessman followed, and then he was given the chance to challenge for the world heavyweight title. Facing world champion Joe Frazier on the night of November 18 in Detroit, he was knocked out in two rounds.
After defeating Hal Carroll by a knockout in four rounds to defend his crown, the WBA stripped him of the title, but he was still recognized by the WBC as a champion. Foster became enraged at the WBA, which proceeded to have Vicente Rondon of Venezuela and Jimmy Dupree fight for the world title. Rondon won, becoming the second Latin American world light-heavyweight champion (after José Torres), and Foster set his eyes on him. Foster went on defending his WBC title, and he defeated challengers Ray Anderson, Tommy Hicks, and Brian Kelly. Of those three, it was Anderson who was the only one to last the 15 round distance with Foster.
Ali vs Foster.
Foster and Rondon met in Miami on April 7, 1972, in a unification bout. Foster became the undisputed world champion once again, by knocking Rondon out in the second round. In his next fight, he used what many critics have called one of the best punches in history to retain his title by a knockout in four against Mike Quarry. Foster then went up in weight and faced former and future world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, on November 21, 1972 in what was legendary referee Mills Lane's first bout of note as a referee. Foster lost to Ali by a knockout in the eighth, after being knocked down 7 times.
In 1973, Foster retained his title twice against Pierre Fourie, both by decision. Their second fight had a distinct social impact because it was fought in Apartheid-ruled South Africa, Foster being Black and Fourie being White. Foster became a hero to South African Blacks by beating Fourie the first time around, and in their rematch, the first boxing fight in South Africa during Apartheid featuring a White versus a Black, he cemented that position by defeating Fourie on points again.
Piet Koornhoff was the South African Minister of Sport at that time and he had to be persuaded to allow the fight. He had to amend the regulations relating to the prohibition of "mixed sport" in order to do so. Bob Foster was allowed into the country on condition that he refrain from making any political comments or speeches. In a post fight interview he diplomatically responded to a specific question that he liked the country and would be willing to come back again. This explains the sentiment of Mark Mathabane as noted in his autobiography "Kaffir Boy", that South Africa's black population felt betrayed by Foster since he didn't address Apartheid during his time in South Africa.
His last defense as world light-heavyweight champion came in 1974, when he was dropped by Argentinian Jorge Ahumada, but managed to keep the title with a draw. After that, he announced his retirement, leaving the world's light-heavyweight championship vacant.
Foster returned to boxing in 1975, before retiring from the sport in 1978 at the age of 36.
Post-boxing life.
In the mid-1970s Foster became a police officer with the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, later becoming a detective and a well known policeman in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Death.
Foster died at the age of 73 on November 21, 2015 in a hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His body was buried at Fairview Memorial Park cemetery in Albuquerque.
Personal life.
He married and became a widower in 1984.
Tributes.
He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame at Canastota, New York, in 1990.
Foster had a record of 56 wins, 8 losses and 1 draw, with 46 wins coming by knockout.
He was named to Ring Magazine's list of 100 Greatest Punchers. He was also named to Ring Magazine's list of the 80 Best Fighters of the Last 80 Years, ranking at #55.


Carol Isherwood

Carol Isherwood (born 27 July 1961) is an English former rugby union player and a founding member of the Rugby Football Union for Women. She captained against in 1986. She then captained in their first game against a year later.
Isherwood was born in Leigh, Greater Manchester, England. She first became involved in rugby in 1981 while studying at Leeds University when she set up a women’s team. Carol graduated from Leeds in History 1982, followed by a PGCE in 1984.
Ishwerwood was awarded an OBE in 2003. Isherwood was the first woman appointed to the IRB Rugby Committee in September 2009. She was one of the first six women inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame in November 2014.


Priya Cooper

Priya Naree Cooper, OAM (born 2 October 1974) is an Australian world champion disabled swimmer, winning nine Paralympic gold medals as well as world records and world championships. She competed in the Australian swimming team at the 1992, 1996 and 2000 Summer Paralympics with an S8 classification. She was twice the co-captain of the Australian Paralympic team, including at the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, and carried the Australian flag at the closing ceremonies for the 1992 and 1996 Summer Paralympics. Cooper has cerebral palsy and spends much of her time in a wheelchair. She attended university, working on a course in health management. After she ended her competitive Paralympic career, she became a commentator, and covered the swimming events at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
Early life.
Priya Naree Cooper was born on 2 October 1974 in Perth, Western Australia. She was born with cerebral palsy, and spends 75% of her time in a wheelchair. As a youngster, her mother encouraged her to try out several sports, including tap dancing and ballet.
With her father's encouragement, Cooper first started swimming in her backyard pool when she was six years old. Her first swimsuit was a bikini. Her father taught her to swim while making her wear big yellow floaties. She started competitive swimming at school carnivals. In the first carnival she competed in, she finished sixth in the F-division 50 m butterfly. She was informed about disabled athletes by a teacher at school. Her initial reaction to learning about disabled sport was to question if she was "disabled enough" to compete. She made her first national team appearance when she was in year 12 in school, after winning twelve gold medals in national swimming meets. By that time, Cooper had already begun serious training, waking up at 4 a.m. to make sure she had time in the pool.
Competitive athletic career.
Cooper is a world champion disabled swimmer, winning nine Paralympic gold medals as well as world records and world championships. She represented Wheelchair Sports Western Australia at the 1991 National Wheelchair Games, winning nine gold medals. Her home pool was the Swan Park Leisure Centre in Midvale, Western Australia. She had a number of coaches over the course of her competitive career, including Matthew Brown and Frank Ponta.
At the age of 17, Cooper made her Paralympic debut at the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona. She was in danger of not going to the 1992 Paralympics because of funding issues for the Australian Paralympic Federation. The Federation made an emergency appeal for funding from the public in order to cover the cost of transporting the Australian team to Barcelona. A variety of small donations allowed Cooper and other Australian athletes to compete. She won three gold and two silver medals, and broke two world records and three Paralympic records. She was offered a non-residential Australian Institute of Sport Athletes with a Disability swimming scholarship in 1993 and was supported until 2000.
She was a co-captain of the Australian team at the 1996 Summer Paralympics, where she competed in six individual events and two relay events in the S8 class, winning five gold medals, four individual and one team, one silver medal and one bronze medal. She set world records at the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta in the 200 m medley and the 400 m freestyle swimming events. She also set personal bests in the 100 m backstroke and 100 m freestyle. Her world record time in the 400 m freestyle was 5:11.47, her 100 m backstroke time was 1:23.43, and her 100 m freestyle time was 1:12.08.
In 1998, Cooper competed at the Paralympic Swimming World Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand. She set a world record in the 400m freestyle at the event. She set another world record in the S8 classification, with an 800m freestyle time of 10:40.03, three seconds faster than the previous record. She also won a gold medal in the 200m individual medley, with a finish that was half a second away from beating her own previous world record.
Cooper competed at the Sporting Wheelies and Disabled Association-sponsored 1998 Queensland Championships in five swimming events. She and Brad Thomas were invited to attend as special guest competitors. While attending, Cooper also hosted a coaching clinic with Thomas.
In 1999, Cooper moved to Sydney, the location of the 2000 Summer Paralympics, to prepare for the Games. She had been living there for eighteen months at the beginning of the Games. Her family continued to live in Perth and the move was an adjustment period for her. She helped to make several instructional videos for the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) to help train volunteers for the Games. In preparation for the 2000 Paralympics, the Australian Paralympic Committee created a CD to help with fundraising. She participated in this by choosing the song "Ashes" by The Superjesus and singing it onstage during the CD's launch.
At the 2000 Summer Paralympics, her last games, she was the co-captain of the Australian Paralympic team. Coming into the 2000 Games, there were some concerns that she would not be able to compete because of a shoulder injury. She was worried about how receptive Australians and the world would be in terms of disabled sport prior to the Paralympics being hosted in Australia. She was surprised when the Paralympic Games started at how supportive Australians and international visitors were of athletes at the 2000 Paralympic Games. She won the 400 m freestyle and took three bronze medals in the 100 m freestyle, 4 x 100 m freestyle relay and 4 x 100 m medley relay events. After the Games, Cooper believed that they had a long reaching societal impact in terms of creating a better image for disabled people around the country and helping to increase acceptance of them as part of Australian society. She also believed that the Games would help increase spectatorship for Paralympic sports around the country.
Cooper's swimming style relied on upper body strength, with her legs trailing behind her. Despite her love of water, Cooper had a fear of swimming in the open water of the ocean. To help overcome this fear, she competed in the 2002 open water Rottnest Channel Swim in Western Australia.
Recognition.
Cooper was selected to carry the Australian flag at the closing ceremonies for the 1992 and 1996 Summer Paralympics. She was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 1993, was named the 1995 Paralympian of the Year, was the Young Australian of the Year for Sport in 1999, received an Australian Sports Medal in 2000, and was inducted into the Western Australian Hall of Champions in 2006 and the Swimming Western Australia Hall of Fame in 2008. In 1998, Cooper won a Dairy Farmers Sporting Chance award in swimming. That year, she also won a Curtin University of Technology John Curtin Medal. In 1999, she won the APC Merit Award.
Cooper was chosen to officially open the Stadium at Curtin University in 2009. She attended the tenth anniversary celebrations for the Sydney Olympic and Paralympic Games held at Sydney Olympic Park in 2010.
In October 2015, she became the fourth Paralympian to be inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
Personal life.
Cooper studied at Curtin University, where she graduated with a degree in health promotion and media. She was also a public speaker, attending events to talk about disabilities. Cooper had a volunteer position, where she worked as a scriptwriter for a radio station in Perth.
At the age of 27 Cooper became a commentator for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, covering the swimming events. She is a Therapy Focus Ambassador, and a member of the Disabilities and Carer Council. She is actively involved in raising funds for several charities, and was part of the Great Pram Push event held in East Fremantle, Western Australia, a charity event that raised funds for the Starlight Children's Foundation and the Children's Leukaemia and Cancer Research Foundation.
Cooper is married to Paralympic swimmer Rodney Bonsack and has two children. Bonsack had both legs severed above the knees in an aircraft accident in 1987. Priya and her husband run motivational business, "Success is a Choice Global," which is designed to help people maximise their lives.


Don Schaly

Don Schaly (October 10, 1937 – March 9, 2005) was an American baseball coach. He was the baseball coach at Marietta College in Ohio for 40 years, from 1964 to 2003.
Schaly, a native of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, retired following the 2003 season after 40 years at the helm of the Marietta baseball program. On March 9, 2005, he died of cancer while attending the Pioneers' Spring Trip in Venice, Florida.
The 1959 graduate of Marietta College played baseball and football for the Pioneers. He returned to his alma mater in 1964 and never left, guiding his teams to three NCAA Division III National Championships and seven National Runner-up finishes. He won 18 Mideast Regional Championships and 27 Ohio Athletic Conference Championships.
The coach won numerous coaching awards during his career. He was inducted into the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Hall of Fame in 1995. Schaly was named the National Coach of the Year four times (1975, 1981, 1983 and 1986) and in 2000 Collegiate Baseball named him the Division III Coach of the Century. Schaly was also awarded the OAC's Coach of the Year 17 times and the Mideast Regional Coach of the year 21 times.
Schaly's final record at Marietta is 1,442–329, but Schaly’s role in the Marietta College Athletics Department extended far beyond the duties of head baseball coach. He was an assistant football coach for 17 years and served as an assistant athletics director for more than 20 years. Schaly also played a primary role in the formation of the Marietta College Athletic Hall of Fame, which he was inducted into in 2004.
Schaly was honored on November 8, 2003, at a banquet to celebrate his accomplishments at Marietta. He became the first person in Marietta College history to have his jersey retired. The college also renamed the main entrance of Ban Johnson Arena the Schaly Lobby in his honor. In 2006, Pioneer Park was renamed Don Schaly Stadium in his honor.


Rabbit Maranville

Walter James Vincent "Rabbit" Maranville (November 11, 1891 – January 6, 1954) was an American professional baseball shortstop, second baseman and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Boston Braves, Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Robins, and St. Louis Cardinals between 1912 and 1934. At the time of his retirement in 1935, he had played in a record 23 seasons in the National League, a mark which wasn't broken until 1986 by Pete Rose.
Career.
Maranville finished third in the MVP voting in his first full season, playing for the Boston Braves as a 21-year-old in 1913 even though his batting average was just .247 in 143 games with two homers. The following year, Maranville was the runner-up in the MVP voting to teammate Johnny Evers as the Braves won the National League pennant and then went on to sweep the powerful Philadelphia A's in the World Series. That year, Maranville was the Braves' cleanup hitter, despite batting just .246 and hitting four home runs. Even at age 41, when Maranville batted .218 in 143 games and hit no homers, he finished in a tie for 12th in the MVP voting.
Over a lengthy career which spanned both the dead ball and live-ball era, Maranville played for the Boston Braves (1912–1920, 1929–1933, 1935), Pittsburgh Pirates (1921–1924), Chicago Cubs (1925), Brooklyn Robins (1926) and St. Louis Cardinals (1927–1928). He retired having compiled a .258 batting average, 2,605 hits, 1,255 runs, 28 home runs, 884 RBI and 291 stolen bases. As a shortstop, he finished his career with a positional record 5,139 putouts. He won his only World Series championship in 1914 as a member of the Braves, and won his only other National League championship in 1928 as a member of the Cardinals.
Maranville was known as one of "baseball's most famous clowns" due to his practical jokes and lack of inhibitions. When he was appointed manager of the Chicago Cubs in 1925—one of their worst seasons ever—he did not change his behavior. One night he went through a Pullman car dumping water on sleeping players' heads, saying, "No sleeping under Maranville management, especially at night." Not long after that, he was out on the street outside Ebbets Field in Brooklyn mimicking a newsboy hawking papers. He cried out, "Read all about it! Maranville fired!" And so he was—the next day.
Maranville missed the entire 1934 season after breaking his left fibula and tibia in a collision at home plate during an exhibition game.
Following the end of his playing career, Maranville turned to managing, including stints as a minor league manager for Montreal Royals, at Albany, Elmira, and Springfield, Massachusetts.
In later years he worked as the director of a baseball school sponsored by the "New York Journal-American" newspaper.
Death and legacy.
Rabbit Maranville died of a heart attack shortly after midnight on January 6, 1954 at his home in Woodside, New York. Death was nearly instantaneous. He was 62 years old.
Maranville was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1954, just months after his death, along with Bill Terry and Bill Dickey, in his 14th year of eligibility.


Walter Byers

Walter Byers (March 13, 1922 – May 26, 2015) was the first executive director of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. He served from 1951 to 1988. He also helped start the United States Basketball Writers Association in 1956. The NCAA Walter Byers Scholarship is named in his honor.
Byers expanded the NCAA men's basketball tournament in 1951 from 8 to 16 teams, the first step in expanding the tournament to the spectacle it is today. The number of teams fluctuated over the next few decades, but never went below 16 again and eventually expanded further under Byers' leadership. WFAN New York's Mike Francesa referred to him as an "Oz-like" figure who ran the NCAA with ultimate control.
Byers went on to negotiate lucrative TV contracts that preempted individual colleges' rights on the way to building a billion-dollar business, leading to a 1984 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that freed the colleges to negotiate on their own. Ever since players have been attempting to win the rights to their names and images, the right to be paid, etc.
In his book "Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Exploiting College Athletes" Byers turned against the NCAA in its current form, saying it established "a nationwide money-laundering scheme." (P. 73). Byers also revealed that the NCAA developed the term "student-athlete" in order to insulate the colleges from having to provide long term disability payments to players injured while playing their sport (and making money for their university and the NCAA). (P. 69).
Byers concludes the book demanding that Congress, "Free the Athletes," and enact a "comprehensive College Athletes' Bill of Rights." (P. 374). He says that "[t]his is "not" a suggestion for new government controls; on the contrary, it is an argument that the federal government should require deregulation of a monopoly business operated by not-for-profit institutions contracting together to achieve maximum financial returns." Doing so would treat the "twin curses of exploitation and hypocrisy that have bedeviled college athletics in direct proportion to its intensified commercialization," and would prevent colleges from denying players the freedoms available to other students. (P. 375). Finally, he says, "Collegiate amateurism is not a moral issue; it is an economic camouflage for monopoly practice. . . , [one which] 'operat[es] an air-tight racket of supplying cheap athletic labor.'" (Pp. 376, 388). On May 26, 2015, Byers died at the age of 93.


Gil Rowntree

Gil H. Rowntree (born January 17, 1934 in Toronto, Ontario)
is a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse trainer and owner.
One of the most successful trainers in Canadian Thoroughbred racing history, Rowntree embarked on his racing career as a jockey in his native Toronto, riding from 1949 through 1951. As a trainer, he learned his conditioning skills as an assistant to Hall of Fame trainer and Kentucky Derby winner, Lou Cavalaris, Jr. Rowntree obtained his trainer's licence in 1959 and was hired by Stafford Farms in 1967 where he remained until the death of owner Jack Stafford in 1981.
During his training career, Gil Rowntree won eight Canadian Classic Races and following the creation of the Sovereign Awards program in 1975 he was voted the first-ever winner as Canada's Outstanding Trainer.
In 1973, Gil Rowntree set a record when horses he trained ran 1-2-3 in the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown series. Although Rowntree has won four editions of Canada's most prestigious race, the Queen's Plate, he is best known as the trainer of the 1978 Queen's Plate runner-up, Overskate. The Hall of Fame colt was twice voted Canadian Horse of the Year as part of his record setting nine Sovereign Awards while competing in Canada and at various tracks in the United States. As well, Rowntree conditioned Canadian champions Deceit Dancer, Proud Tobin, Northern Blossom, Ten Gold Pots, Allan Blue, Key to the Moon, Sound Reason and Tudor Queen, the 1969 American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly, and in the pre Sovereign Award era, the de facto Canadian Two Year-Old Champion.
Gil Rowntree makes his home near Woodbine Racetrack in Etobicoke, Ontario and continues to train Thoroughbreds for various owners plus breed, race and train horses for his own Gil Rowntree Racing Stable.


Billy Wagner

William Edward Wagner (born July 25, 1971), nicknamed "Billy the Kid", is an American former professional baseball pitcher who played 16 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He pitched for the Houston Astros (1995–2003), Philadelphia Phillies (2004–2005), New York Mets (2006–2009), Boston Red Sox (2009), and Atlanta Braves (2010). Wagner is one of only six major league relief pitchers to accumulate at least 400 career saves. A left-handed batter and thrower, Wagner stands tall and weighs .
A natural-born right-hander, Wagner learned to throw left-handed after fracturing his arm twice in his youth in Marion. His 11.9 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched ratio (K/9) is the highest of any major league pitcher with at least 800 innings pitched. He was a seven-time All-Star and the 1999 National League (NL) Rolaids Relief Man Award winner. He finished in the top ten in saves in the NL ten times, and in the top ten in games finished nine times.
Early life.
Wagner was born to 18-year-old Yvonne and 20-year-old William "Coal Bucket" Wagner in Marion, Virginia on July 25, 1971. Wagner's parents divorced in 1976 when he was five years old. Wagner and his younger sister, Chasity, spent the following ten years living variously with combinations of their parents, their stepparents, and their grandparents in the general Marion area. During this time, Wagner and his family often relied on food stamps. Wagner described a typical breakfast as a "few crackers with peanut butter and a glass of water."
At seven years old, Wagner's right arm was broken while playing football. Shortly after having the cast removed, he broke the arm again. During this time, Wagner, a natural right-hander, began throwing a baseball left-handed.
At 14 years old, Wagner moved in with his aunt, uncle, and cousins, who lived in the Tannersville/ Tazewell area about 25 miles away from Marion. Despite having fallen behind a year in school due to the instability in his home life, Wagner was socially promoted to Tazewell High School because administrators feared he threw hard enough to injure his middle school classmates.
Career.
Amateur career.
Wagner graduated from Tazewell High School in Tazewell, Virginia, compiling a .451 batting average, 23 stolen bases, 29 runs batted in, 116 strikeouts in 46 innings, a 7-1 pitching record, and a 1.52 ERA in his senior season of baseball. As a senior in high school, Wagner grew to only tall and and, as a result, could not get attention from Major League Baseball scouts or Division I schools.
Wagner chose to follow his cousin to Ferrum College, a small liberal arts college in Ferrum, Virginia, where they both played baseball and football. Coaches at Ferrum encouraged Wagner to focus on baseball and he would eventually take their advice and stop playing football.
Wagner set single-season NCAA records for strikeouts per nine innings, with in 1992, and the fewest hits allowed per nine innings, with 1.88. After the 1992 season, he played collegiate summer baseball with the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League.
In 2012, Wagner was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.
Houston Astros.
Minor leagues and early major league career: 1993−97.
Wagner was selected in the first round of the Major League Baseball draft in June 1993 by the Houston Astros. He pitched exclusively as a starting pitcher in Minor League Baseball for the Quad Cities River Bandits, until his major league debut. In 1994, Wagner led all North American minor league pitchers in strikeouts, with 204. Wagner made his first Major League appearance with the Astros, as a late-season promotion from AAA baseball, on September 12, 1995, pitching against one batter late in a 10–5 defeat by the New York Mets. This was his only opportunity to pitch for the Astros that season.
Wagner began in 1996, once again in the minor leagues as a starting pitcher, but he finished the season by becoming a relief pitcher for the Astros. He accumulated a 6–2 record with a 3.28 ERA, in twelve starts for the AAA Tucson Toros. His baseball contract was purchased by the Astros on June 2, 1996, and Wagner was then assigned exclusively as a short-relief pitcher by the Astros manager. He finished the Major League season with nine saves in 13 opportunities, allowed 28 hits, and he struck out 67 hitters in innings – giving him a rate of 11.7 strikeouts per nine innings pitched. His opponents had a batting average of .165 against him.
In 1997, Wagner played his first full season in the Major Leagues. He accumulated 23 saves from 29 save opportunities, and he struck out 106 batters in innings. This set a Major League record of 14.4 strikeouts per nine innings, which broke the old record of 14.1 set by the former Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Rob Dibble in 1992 (with 110 strikeouts in innings).
Wagner struck out the side 13 times in his 66 innings pitched, and his season total of 106 strikeouts set a Houston Astros record for relief pitchers.
1998−99.
In 1998, Wagner posted a 4–3 record with a 2.70 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 60 innings pitched. He saved 30 games, which was the third-best single season in team history. He converted 19 consecutive save chances between his first blown save against the Los Angeles Dodgers, on April 12, and then his second one facing the St. Louis Cardinals on July 11.
On July 15, 1998, while protecting an 8–7 lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks, Wagner was struck by a batted ball on the left side of his head behind his ear. Wagner was alert and conscious on the ground, and his vital signs remained good. He was carried off the baseball diamond on a stretcher, and it was found that he had suffered a concussion. He spent the night in the hospital. On the next day, he flew home to Houston, and he was also immediately placed on baseball's 15-day disabled list. Wagner worked on his balance and coordination for weeks before he was cleared by the team physicians to embark on a rehabilitation assignment with a minor-league team. After pitching there in three games, Wagner was recalled to the Astros on August 6, and he completed the rest of the baseball season there without incident. The Astros won a franchise-best 102 games while winning the National League Central division title and leading the league in runs scored. Their season ended with a defeat at the hands of the San Diego Padres in the National League Division Series.
Wagner captured the 1999 Relief Man of the Year Award in the National League. He saved 39 games and struck out 124 in 74 innings (15 strikeouts per 9 innings). Wagner posted a 4–1 record with an ERA of 1.57 and had more saves than hits allowed (in innings, he allowed 35 hits).
2000−03.
The 2000 season started off in typical fashion for Wagner, who saved three of the Astros' first four wins while retiring 16 of the first 20 batters he faced. However, after recording a save on May 4 against the Chicago Cubs, he suffered back-to-back blown saves on May 12–13 against the Reds. While he was still occasionally throwing 100 m.p.h. as measured by radar, he was not throwing his slider at 85 to 90 m.p.h. as often as he had been previously. Wagner continued to struggle before going on the disabled list with a torn flexor tendon in his pitching arm and would miss the final three and a half months of the season. He finished with a 2–4 record, a 6.18 ERA, and six saves in 15 opportunities, striking out 28 and walking 18 in innings. He would rebound in 2001. Coming off elbow surgery, he posted a record of 2–5 with 39 saves in 41 chances and an ERA of 2.73. He was one of the leading candidates for The Sporting News Comeback Player of the Year Award in the National League. In innings, he struck out 79 hitters.
In 2002, Wagner went 4–2 with a 2.52 ERA, 88 strikeouts, and 35 saves in 75 innings. Then, he enjoyed his best season in 2003, when he reached career-highs in saves (44), innings pitched (86) and games (78), and got 105 strikeouts while leading the league in games finished. In that year, he also cemented his status as the hardest-throwing man in baseball by leading the major leagues with 159 pitches at 100 mph or above. Second on the list was starter Bartolo Colón with 12.
On June 11, 2003, Wagner closed out a no-hitter thrown by a record six pitchers against the New York Yankees.
Following the World Series, Wagner criticized the Astros front office for not building a playoff worthy team. On November 3, Billy Wagner was informed that he had been traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Philadelphia Phillies.
Wagner was traded to Philadelphia before the 2004 season, only to have his season shortened by a strain in his hand. He had the best ERA of his career in 2005 and again led the league in games finished. Wagner became a free agent after the 2005 season and signed a four-year, $43 million contract and a one-year club option with the New York Mets.
In a May 7, 2006 interview, Wagner stated that he was confronted by all of his former Phillies teammates in September 2005 after he had criticized their performance in the media by repeatedly saying that the Phillies had "no chance" of making the playoffs (which proved accurate, as the Phillies lost out on the playoffs by one game); Phillies left fielder Pat Burrell reported called Wagner a "rat." The confrontation reportedly was one of several factors that drove Wagner from Philadelphia in the 2005–2006 offseason.
New York Mets.
Wagner finished 2006 with 40 saves and a 2.24 ERA and recorded his milestone 300th career save. His performance contributed to the Mets' first division championship in 18 years. However, he did not have a good post-season: he recorded three saves, but he lost one game and allowed six runs in the innings that he pitched – an ERA of 10.40.
Wagner had a good first half of the season in 2007. He was successful in 17 out of 18 save chances, and his ERA was 1.94. July was his best month, when he recorded eight saves in eight chances; did not allow a run scored; and he won the D.H.L. "Delivery Man of the Month" Award. During that month, Wagner's ERA was 0.00, he gave up two hits, and he pitched enough innings to be equivalent to a complete game pitched. His performance earned him a slot on the National League All-Star Team.
The second half of Wagner's baseball season was not nearly as successful. He converted 13 out of 17 save chances, and his ERA was 3.90. Wagner's pitching performance declined during the final two months of the season. On August 30, Wagner failed to save the crucial fourth game of a four-game series between the Phillies and Mets. The final result was four-game sweep by the Phillies. This sweep turned out to be the difference in the season: the Mets finished one game behind the Phillies at the end of the regular season. One more win against the Phillies would have allowed the Mets to win the division that year.
Wagner had an ERA of 6.23 in August of that season, and he suffered from back spasms during September.
On May 15, 2008, Wagner issued a tirade full of profanity against his teammates and coaches following the Mets' 1–0 loss in a game against the Washington Nationals. Some people have speculated that this was directed in particular toward his teammates Carlos Beltrán and Carlos Delgado about their not being available for interviews with the press following games. However, Wagner's pitching performance in April, May, and June was good enough to find him chosen by the All-Star Game's National League manager for his pitching staff.
During this All-Star Game, Wagner, pitching late in the game, surrendered a game-tying double to the American league's third baseman, Evan Longoria, and then the National League lost the ballgame in 15 innings.
In September 2008, the Mets announced that Wagner had torn the ulnar collateral ligament of his left elbow and also his flexor pronator tendon. These injuries required Tommy John surgery. This surgery, and its recovery, put Wagner out of play for a calendar year.
Wagner had a guaranteed-payment baseball contract, and he was paid a total of $10.5 million by the Mets in 2009. For the baseball year 2010, his contract gave the Mets an option to pay him $8.0 million for the season, or else to pay him a $1.0 million to terminate the contract.
In the news conference following the announcement of his major elbow injury, Wagner vowed that he would return to playing Major League Baseball. Although he had previously stated that he would not pitch anymore following 2009, Wagner amended this by saying that he did not wish to end his baseball career in this fashion – ending it on a major injury. He also said that he had dreams of winning a World Series, and also of reaching a total of about 420 saves in his career.
However, Wagner stated furthermore that he had "played his last [baseball] game as a Met". Wagner explained that it would not make good business sense for the Mets to guarantee him $8.0 million for 2009, pitching or not pitching.
Despite these statements, Wagner remained on the Mets' 40-man roster on the disabled list at the beginning of the season in 2009, and still drawing his salary. He pitched for the first time in 2009 for the Mets late in the season on August 20, in a game against the Atlanta Braves. He pitched one inning with two strikeouts and giving up no hits or walks.
Boston Red Sox.
On August 21, 2009, it was reported that the Boston Red Sox claimed Wagner off waivers from the Mets. After initial reports suggested Wagner would invoke his no-trade clause to veto a trade, he agreed to be traded on August 25 for Chris Carter and Eddie Lora, with the added stipulation that the Red Sox could not exercise his $8 million option for 2010, but could offer him salary arbitration. The Red Sox did offer Wagner arbitration, but he declined so the Red Sox received the first-round draft pick from the team that signed Wagner (Atlanta Braves) and a sandwich pick in the 2010 rookie draft. His only victory in a Red Sox uniform came on September 9, against the Orioles.
Atlanta Braves.
On December 2, 2009, Wagner and the Atlanta Braves agreed on a one-year contract worth $7 million that included a $6.5 million vesting option for the 2011 season. On April 30, 2010, Wagner revealed that he would retire at the end of the 2010 season to spend more time with his family. In a game against the Detroit Tigers on June 25, Wagner achieved his 400th career save. After the game, he told reporters that he still planned to retire after the 2010 season. On July 11, Wagner was selected as an injury replacement to the 2010 National League All-Star roster, which he declined due to an ankle injury.
He played his final regular season game on October 3, 2010, and struck out the final four batters he faced – the last three of whom struck out looking. He concluded his final major league regular season with a career-best 1.43 ERA. Wagner made his final major league appearance on October 8 in Game 2 of the 2010 National League Division Series against the San Francisco Giants. Wagner suffered an injury to his left oblique and left the game after facing just two batters. The Braves eventually lost the series before Wagner could recover.
Post-playing career.
Wagner retired to Crozet, Virginia, following the 2010 season.
On February 12, 2011, Wagner reiterated his intention to retire, stating, "I'm totally content with not playing baseball," Wagner said. "I love watching it, I love talking about it. If I miss anything, it would be some of the guys I played with and actually competing on the field, but other than that, you can keep it."
On March 30, 2011, the Braves officially released Wagner.
Billy Wagner is currently the Baseball Coach for The Miller School of Albemarle in Virginia. He coached against his high school alma mater and his own high school coach on April 6, 2013. The Mavericks won the 2017 and 2018 Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division II championship.
Accomplishments and honors.
Of all pitchers with at least 800 innings pitched, Wagner's 11.9 K/9 and 33.2% strikeout rate total batters faced are both the highest in major league history. Opposing batters hit for only a .187 average against him, lowest in MLB history with 800+ innings pitched. Wagner also has the lowest hits per nine innings ratio (H/9) in history, for pitchers with 800+ innings, allowing 5.99 hits per nine innings. In 2019, Wagner was inducted into the National College Baseball Hall of Fame.
Wagner has appeared on balloting for the National Baseball Hall of Fame since 2016 when he received 10.5% of the vote, well short of the 75% required for election, but above the 5% minimum required to remain on the ballot. His support has increased to 46.4% as of the 2021 ballot, his sixth appearance. A player may appear on the ballot a maximum of 10 times.
External links.
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Roger Aldag

Roger Aldag (born October 6, 1953) is a former Canadian football offensive lineman who played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1976 through 1992. He was part of the Grey Cup championship-winning Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1989. Aldag currently holds the Roughrider record for games played with 271 regular season games and 5 play-off games.
Aldag played for the Regina Rams in the Canadian Junior Football League from 1972–1975, during which time the Rams won two National Junior Football Championships (1973 and 1975). He was twice named the Rams Most Valuable Player.
During Aldag's time as a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, he was named to the CFL's Western All-Star team 8 times. He twice received the Schenley Award as the CFL's Outstanding Offensive Lineman. He was also awarded the Mack Truck "Bulldog" award four times. The Mack Truck "Bulldog" award is voted on by opposing players.
Aldag was inducted into the Roughrider Plaza of Honour in 1993. He is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. His jersey #44 was retired by the team, making him one of only eight players so honoured. He was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. Aldag was voted one of the CFL's top 50 players (#32) in a poll conducted by Canadian sports network TSN.
Aldag was mentioned in the May 9, 2008 "Get Fuzzy" cartoon by Darby Conley. Satchel notices that Bucky is wearing a CFL hat. (Although not mentioned specifically in the strip, Bucky is wearing a Hamilton Tiger-Cats toque.) Bucky replies that all sports in Canada are puck based. Satchel informs him that football is huge in Canada, and then asks Bucky if he had ever heard of Roger Aldag, since Aldag can't walk down the street in Saskatchewan. Bucky replies that nobody can walk down the street in Saskatchewan since it is covered in ice.
On July 1, 2008 Aldag accompanied the Grey Cup to Kandahar, Afghanistan for the Canada Day celebrations. Members of the Canadian Forces were reportedly thrilled to meet Aldag.
Roger Aldag now works for SaskEnergy in Regina as head of the Land Services department to the delight and humour of his coworkers, who often see his bobblehead figurine around the office.


Winston Hill

Winston Hill (October 23, 1941 – April 26, 2016) was an American college and professional American football player.
Early years.
Hill grew up in Joaquin, Texas. His father, Garfield Hill, served as principal of Weldon High School in Gladewater, Texas. Winston was a tennis champion in high school. He played both offensive and defensive line in college at Texas Southern University and was an All-American.
Career with the New York Jets.
Hill was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1963, but signed as a free agent with New York's American Football League franchise in the same year that they became the New York Jets, and went on to record the tenth-longest string of starts in pro football history at 174. As left offensive tackle for the Jets, he spent his career protecting Joe Namath's blind side and opening holes for the likes of Emerson Boozer, Matt Snell and John Riggins. He was an American Football League All-Star in 1964, 1967, 1968 and 1969, and a Pro Bowl selection in 1970, 1971, 1972 and 1973. He and Joe Namath joined the Los Angeles Rams in 1977; Namath retired after one season and Hill after three games. On January 15, 2020, Hill was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
1968 season and Super Bowl III.
Hill was an overpowering blocker who was instrumental in opening gaping holes for Jet running backs during the 1968 season, in which they won the Eastern division title with 11 wins and 3 losses and gained as a team 1608 yards rushing and 3574 yards passing. Hill also starred in the Third Professional AFL-NFL World Championship Game (Super Bowl III), as the Jets decimated the right side of the Baltimore Colts' defensive line with Ordell Braase at end against Hill and Fred Miller at tackle against Bob Talamini, so that Matt Snell gained 121 yards rushing in the Jets' 16–7 upset victory.
Special recognition.
In 1970 Hill was selected by a panel of members of the AFL's Hall of Fame Board of Selectors to the second-team All-time All-American Football League Team. He was a member of the New York Jets' All-Time Four Decade Team, which was determined by the fans in 2003. Hill was a 1986 inductee into the Texas Southern University Sports Hall of Fame.
The 2009 NFL season was the 50th season for the eight original AFL teams, and that anniversary was commemorated throughout the season with 16 "AFL Legacy Games." One of those games, pitting the NY Jets against the Miami Dolphins, took place in New York on Sunday November 1; designated by the NFL as "Winston Hill Day". Hill's daughter, opera singer Heather Hill, opened the game by singing the national anthem, and fifteen of Hill's former teammates and other ex-Jets joined the festivities. As part of the celebration, Hill's jersey, #75, was retired during the halftime ceremonies.
On Monday August 16, 2010, during halftime of the first game played at the New Meadowlands Stadium (a preseason opener; Jets vs. Giants), Hill was inducted into the Jets Ring of Honor. This selection was made by an internal committee led by Jets Chairman and CEO Woody Johnson.
On January 15, 2020, Hill was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2020.
Later life.
Hill brought a smoker and his cooking talents to Centennial, Colorado in the early 1990s and opened a small restaurant - Winston Hill's BBQ or Winston Hill's Ribs & Stuff; now called Winston's Smoke BBQ. It was still active as of 2020.
Hill died on April 26, 2016 at the age of 74.


Willie deWit

William Theodore deWit, Q.C. (born June 13, 1961) is a Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta sitting in Calgary since 2017. Previously, he was a criminal defence lawyer and a professional boxer. He represented Canada at the 1984 Summer Olympics and won a silver medal in the heavyweight division. DeWit and teammate Shawn O'Sullivan were heavily touted going into the Games, as both had won the world championship.
Early years.
DeWit played football in high school and was an all-star quarterback. He was offered a scholarship to the University of Alberta, but decided to quit football after he began learning how to box at a Grande Prairie health club which was run by a man named Jim Murrie. Impressed with his dedication and size, Murrie introduced deWit to Dr. Harry Snatic, a dentist and rancher who had been a youth boxing coach in Louisiana before moving his family in 1971 to Beaverlodge, a small town near Grande Prairie. He worked out with deWit three times a week, first in the health club, and then in the deWit's unheated garage where temperatures would often get to 10 or 20 degrees below zero.
Amateur boxing career.
DeWit's first fight came at the Alberta provincial championships in March of 1979 in Medicine Hat. Snatic entered deWit in the light heavyweight intermediate novice division for boxers age 17 to 20 with less than 10 fights. DeWit knocked out his first opponent in 20 seconds which caused the coaches of the six other fighters in the division to pull their fighters. DeWit had won his first championship. Snatic then entered Willie in the British Columbia Golden Gloves championships where he fought 18-year-old Shane Anderson who was the western Canadian 178-pound champion and a veteran of about 40 fights. DeWit lost by decision, but he did beat Anderson in two of three return matches. In the last of those bouts, deWit knocked out Anderson, who never fought again.
Snatic then took Willie to fight at the Washington State Penitentiary where he knocked out his opponent in the opening minute of the first round. Afterwards in April 1982, Snatic decided to sell his ranch and moved to Calgary. deWit went with him in order to find sparring partners, and to train with a Ugandan exile named Mansoor Esmail, who was Calgary's top boxing coach, and was considered a physical conditioning genius.
Willie's first major victory came in Las Vegas in June 1982 when he knocked out Cuba's Pedro Cardenas to win his first North American title. Then he won gold at the Commonwealth Games, taking him a total of three minutes and 12 seconds to knock out three opponents. In March 1983 he defeated Alexander Yagubkin of the U.S.S.R. to win the world title. Then, in September 1983 he defended his North American title against highly touted Cuban Aurelio Toyo.
Leading up to the 1984 Olympics, a benefit in Calgary featuring boxing fan Ryan O'Neal and Farrah Fawcett raised $70,000 to finance Willie's training. At this point Snatic began importing professional sparring partners from the United States.
1984 Olympics.
At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics deWit lost the gold medal match in the heavyweight division to Henry Tillman of the United States. Heading into the Olympic Games, deWit and fellow Canadian Shawn O'Sullivan were considered favorites, particularly by Canadian fans and the Canadian media. The Tillman-deWit gold medal final featured no decisive blows, however deWit appeared to win the first two rounds against Tillman with productive work to Tillman's midsection, although Tillman clearly won the third round. Nevertheless, Tillman won by a 5-0 decision. Three of the five judges controversially scored every round for Tillman. The unanimous decision startled Howard Cosell who was calling the bout for ABC Sports. "Good Lord! How do you like that?" Cosell blurted when the decision was announced. During his post-fight interviews, Cosell informed both Tillman and deWit that he personally disagreed with the official verdict. Tillman had also won a controversial decision in his semifinal bout, as had deWit.
Professional boxing career.
Tabbed early as a "Great White Hope," deWit turned professional immediately, persuaded in part by a contract offer reportedly worth $1 million and began to train out of Burnet, Texas. He then defeated Ken Lakusta to capture the Canadian heavyweight championship.
A loss to Bert Cooper in 1987 was deWit's only career defeat, as he retired after six consecutive wins, the last of which being a unanimous decision victory over Henry Tillman.
Retirement and later life.
After announcing his retirement he worked and was part owner in a concrete surfacing company in California, which he eventually left to return to Canada. A friend of his who was a judge, suggested he get an education and become a lawyer.
DeWit returned to school and graduated from the University of Alberta in 1994 with a law degree. He was appointed Queen's Counsel (Q.C.) in 2013 and is the former president of the Canadian Bar Association Criminal Law subsection.
In 1995 deWit was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. He also has a street named after him in Grande Prairie, Alberta.
In 2012, deWit made a cameo appearance in the Calgary-based "Souls in Rhythm" band's musical video "Another Round" (featuring hop-hop artist "Transit").
In 2017, deWit was appointed as a Justice to the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta. He sits in Calgary.
External links.
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Martin Johnson (rugby union)

Martin Osborne Johnson CBE (born 9 March 1970) is an English retired rugby union player who represented and captained England and Leicester in a career spanning 16 seasons. He captained England to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup, and is regarded as one of the greatest locks ever to have played, and one of England's greatest ever players.
Johnson made his debut for Leicester Tigers in 1989 and in 1993 debuted for as well as being a late call up to the 1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand. He was a try scorer in the final when Leicester won the 1993 Pilkington Cup and a member of the side which won the 1994-95 Courage League. Johnson was an ever-present as England won the Grand Slam in the 1995 Five Nations Championship. In 1997 he was named as captain for the victorious British Lions tour to South Africa, in 2001 he became the first man to captain the Lions twice as he led the 2001 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia.
He became England captain in 1999 and led the side in 39 matches, the third most ever. He was captain as England reached the quarter finals of the 1999 Rugby World Cup, won the Grand Slam in the 2003 Six Nations Championship and as England won the 2003 Rugby World Cup. The 2003 Rugby World Cup Final was his 84th and final international match.
During his club career he played 362 games for Leicester, his only senior club, and as well as the cup in 1993 and the league in 1995, he was also captain of the side as they won the 1997 Pilkington Cup and four consecutive Premiership titles between 1999–2002, and became the first side to retain the European Cup, winning in 2001 and 2002. His final season was in 2004-05.
On 1 July 2008 he became the England team manager. Under his management England won the 2011 Six Nations Championship, their first since 2003. He left the post in November 2011 following England's quarter final defeat at the 2011 Rugby World Cup and has not taken another management position in the game since.
Early life.
Johnson was born in Shirley, Solihull, the second of three brothers – his younger brother Will is a former back row forward for Leicester. At the age of seven, his family moved to Market Harborough, Leicestershire, where Martin attended Ridgeway Primary School, Welland Park School and Robert Smyth School.
Early career.
Johnson briefly played American football for the Leicester Panthers as a tight end or defensive end.
In 1989 he was approached by former All Black Colin Meads to try out for the King Country side in New Zealand. Johnson's trial run was successful and he played two seasons for King Country. In 1990 he was even selected for the New Zealand under-21 side which went on a tour of Australia playing a side that included another of the all-time great lock forwards, John Eales.
Playing career.
1989-92: Club debut and early seasons.
Johnson made his Leicester debut on 14 February 1989 against the R.A.F. rugby team. His Courage League debut came against champions Bath at Welford Road; Tigers won 15-12 to deny Bath an undefeated season. Johnson did not feature for the first team again until 1990 as he played in New Zealand. His return to the first team was again against Bath; on 15 November 1990, due to an injury to Alex Gissing, Johnson started in the third round of 1990-91 Pilkington Cup and Tigers won, the first cup game that Bath had lost at The Rec since 1982. In 1990, Johnson moved to New Zealand to play for King Country and was selected to play for the Under 21 All Blacks.
A recurrence of a shoulder injury limited Johnson to just 5 games for Leicester in the 1990/91 season, though he did make his divisional debut for the Midlands. Johnson returned to action in August 1991 as Leicester toured Canada, but Gissing was still preferred for the early season club matches. Johnson established himself in the side in early 1991 playing 11 consecutive games from October onward and only missing 5 of the next 26 matches. Although he made his Leicester debut in the same season, 1988/89, as fellow lock Matt Poole, the pair did not start a game together until 5 November 1991 against Cambridge University. They went on to play together 129 times, a club record for a second row partnership.
1992-93: Cup success, England and Lions debut.
Johnson was now firmly established in Leicester's first choice line up. He played every game in the 1992-93 Pilkington Cup as Tigers defeated London Scottish, Nottingham, Exeter and Northampton to set up a final at Twickenham against Harlequins. Johnson scored Leicester's second try, after taking the ball from a tap penalty 5 meters out, as Leicester won 23–16.
He made his test debut against in the opening game of the 1993 Five Nations Championship on 16 January 1993. He was due to play in an England 'A' game when he was unexpectedly summoned to Twickenham to replace the injured Wade Dooley. With only a 20-minute line-out session with his new teammates before the game, Johnson was thrown into the deep end. An early clash of heads with French prop Laurent Seigne left Johnson concussed, but he continued to play as England won 16–15. Johnson did not feature again for England in the Five Nations that season but was called up for an uncapped tour to Canada. After featuring in England's loss to Canada he was called up, again as a replacement for Dooley, for the 1993 British Lions tour to New Zealand. Dooley had returned to England for his father's funeral and was blocked from returning to the tour by the Lions' own committee. Johnson played in the final two tests against New Zealand.
1993-95: First League title, Grand Slam and Rugby World Cup.
In 1993/94 season Johnson again was an ever-present in Tigers run to the cup final but this time Leicester fell short to rivals Bath, losing 21–9. Leicester were also runners up in the league to Bath, Johnson played in 15 of Leicester's 18 matches.
Johnson celebrated the first of his 5 league titles in 1995. That season the league was played in two main blocks with sporadic fixtures in between; the first 9 games were played on consecutive weekends from 10 September 1994 to 5 November 1994, two games were played in January 1995, one in February 1995 and one at the beginning of March 1995 before finishing with 5 games in 6 weeks from 25 March to 29 April. Johnson played in all 9 games in the first period as Tigers won 7, drew against Bath away, and lost to Bristol to leave them 2nd in the table. Against Orrell R.U.F.C. on 14 January 1995 Johnson captained Leicester for the first time, regular captain Dean Richards and vice captain John Wells being unavailable. Tigers won 29–19.
He was ever-present in the England side that won the 1995 Grand Slam. Preparations for the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which started in May, were deemed all important so Johnson, along with England colleague Rory Underwood, missed Leicester's February league match against Gloucester where Leicester slipped to a second defeat. Johnson returned for the matches against West Hartlepool, which saw Leicester go top, and the crucial wins against Bath and Sale. England duties meant he missed the last game of the season against Bristol which clinched the title.
Johnson was again an ever-present in England's 1995 Rugby World Cup Campaign, featuring in group stage wins against , and as well as the quarter final against , the losing semi-final against and the third place play off against .
1995-97: Professionalism and near misses.
Open professionalism was declared in August 1995, though a moratorium was declared by the RFU until the next season. After interest from Sale, Richmond and Newcastle Johnson signed his first professional contract with Leicester in 1996, a 5-year deal worth "six figures" per year. Johnson gave up his previous career with Midland Bank.
The 1995/96 season had been another of just missing out to perennial rivals Bath. The Somerset side clinched the league on the final day of the season; despite Bath only drawing at home with Sale, Tigers were unable to beat Harlequins at Welford Road, losing 21–19. Leicester's full back John Liley had a poor day kicking at goal missing 6 of 9 kicks including a last minute attempt which would have sealed the match, and with it the title. Bath secured a league and cup double after defeating Leicester in the Cup Final. The match is perhaps best remembered for the controversial penalty try awarded by referee Steve Lander for repeated infringement which gave the match to Bath, and after the final whistle Leicester flanker Neil Back pushing Lander to the ground.
The second-place finish in the league did secure Tigers place in the second season of the Heineken Cup, the English clubs were not involved in the first season. Dean Richards was still the club captain in 1996/97 but age and injury limited him to 23 starts, in his place Rory Underwood captained 5 of the first 9 games before Johnson became the regular stand in captain. He led the side in the short lived Anglo-Welsh League against Bridgend then again in Leicester's Heineken Cup debut against Leinster at Donnybrook. Johnson was an ever-present in Leicester's side as they reached the 1997 Heineken Cup Final in Cardiff; Leicester beat Leinster, Scottish Borders, Pau and Llanelli in the group stage before beating Harlequins (quarter finals) and Toulouse (semi finals) to set up the final against Brive. The match was close at half time, Leicester were behind 8-6 but the French side ran riot in the second half to win 28–9.
That season Johnson captained Leicester in 12 matches including the 1997 Pilkington Cup Final, which Leicester won beating Sale 9–3 in the final. Johnson captained Leicester in the 6th Round against Bath then again in the quarter finals and semi finals.
Lions Tour 1997.
Johnson was selected to captain the 1997 British Lions tour of South Africa. The Lions convincingly won the first test at Newlands 25–16 with Neil Jenkins kicking five penalties and Matt Dawson and Alan Tait scoring tries. Despite scoring three tries in the second test at Durban, the Springboks suffered from some woeful goal kicking and failed to land any penalties or conversions, while for the Lions Neil Jenkins once again kicked five penalties to level the scores at 15–15 before Jeremy Guscott dropped a goal for an 18–15 lead for the Lions. The Lions then held off a ferocious South African fightback, Lawrence Dallaglio putting in a try-saving tackle, to win the match 18–15 and take the series. The third test at Ellis Park proved a match too far for the Lions squad and they lost 35–16. The tour was seen as a triumph for the Lions management of Fran Cotton (manager), Ian McGeechan (head coach), Jim Telfer (assistant coach) and especially Johnson as captain.
1997-2000: Domestic Success.
After returning from the victorious 1997 Lions tour Johnson was formally appointed Leicester's captain. The season started with the Heineken Cup and Leicester secured a quarter final play off after finishing second in their group containing Leinster, Toulouse and Amatori Milan. Tigers beat the Italian side twice but lost away to Leinster and at home to Toulouse. In the quarter final play off Leicester beat Glasgow 90-19 but lost in the quarter final proper away to Pau. Domestically Tigers were a mixed bag, winning 12, losing 8 and drawing 2 games to finish 4th in the Allied Dunbar Premiership. In February 1998 Johnson's predecessor as Leicester captain Dean Richards was appointed as Director of Rugby following Bob Dwyer's sacking.
Following a dispute between the English clubs and European Cup organisers there was no English involvement in the 1998-99 Heineken Cup; this led to an expanded Premiership of 14 clubs and 28 games. Tigers started the new season well with a 49–15 win against Harlequins and wins against London Scottish, Northampton and Bedford to see Tigers top the table at the end of September. Losses against Saracens and London Irish in rounds 5 & 7 saw Tigers slip to 3rd in October; Leicester regained the lead in the table after victories against Richmond and West Hartlepool and were never to lose it despite a loss to Wasps two weeks later. Dreams of the double were dashed by Richmond in the quarter finals of the cup, Johnson received a white card (at the time signifying 10 minutes in the sin bin) and during his absence the Londoners scored their two tries in a 15–13 win. The next week Johnson was sin binned again, this time in a league match against closest challengers Northampton, but even with Pat Howard also sin binned and Leicester down to 13 men for a period so outstanding was Johnson's play they won 22–15. Mathematically Johnson's second English championship title was sealed in the penultimate match of the season away to Newcastle Falcons. Johnson's form was such that he was named as the Premiership's Player of the Season.
By now appointed England captain, Johnson missed the start of the 1999-2000 Premiership season due to the 1999 Rugby World Cup. He returned in the 7th game of the season a 12-all draw against Newcastle that left Leicester in 4th position. Johnson then missed much of the season, including the start of the Six Nations, with an Achilles tendon injury. Returning to the first team against Bedford in March Johnson captained Leicester in the last 9 games of the league season as Leicester retained their Premiership crown.
2001 & 2002: European Champion.
Having dominated domestic rugby for the previous two years Leicester were desperate to avenge their 1997 Heineken Cup Final defeat and claim their first European title. Local rivals Northampton Saints had claimed the previous season's title with perennial rivals Bath claiming the title in 1998. Tigers were drawn with Pau, Glasgow and Pontypridd in their Heineken Cup pool. Johnson played in the first four games of the group; wins at home to Pau and away to Glasgow before a loss in Wales to Pontypridd that was quickly avenged a week later at Welford Road. On 9 November 2000 Johnson was one of only three then current players named in Leicester's "Team of the Century".
Johnson missed the final two pool games and the quarter final against Swansea due to a 5-week ban picked up against Saracens in the Tetley's Bitter Cup quarter final. Domestically Leicester were again top of the table and at this stage 11 points clear of Northampton in second place. The gap was pushed to 18 points on 10 March 2001 when Tigers beat Northampton at Franklin's Gardens and Johnson's fourth English league title was formally sealed on 17 March 2001.
With the domestic title sealed, Johnson led Leicester into the Heineken Cup semi finals against Gloucester. Leon Lloyd's try gave Leicester a 19–15 win, despite Johnson spending time in the sin bin, to set up the final in the Parc des Princes against Stade Francais. In the final Johnson was again sin binned, for punching Christophe Juillet, but Tigers prevailed winning 34-30 to secure the club's first continental title. Tigers had won the inaugural Premeriship play offs the week before so also sealed an unprecedented treble.
Leicester became the first side to retain a European title after beating Munster in 2002. Johnson also led Leicester in retaining their Premiership title. Returning from the 2001 Lions tour Johnson was rested for the first game of the Premiership season and was kept on the bench for a further two games, not making his seasonal debut until 22 September 2001 against Bath. The next two weeks he started Leicester's Heineken Cup pool games against Llanelli and Calvisano but shortly after picked up the injury that would keep him out of England's rearranged Six Nations game with Ireland.
Johnson returned to fitness to see Leicester through to the Heineken Cup semi finals against Llanelli but as with the season before missed mid-season matches due to a ban picked up in a game against Saracens. The ban was controversial as it was felt that the RFU did not have the right to hold the hearing, the incident having been seen and dealt with by way of a sin bin at the time, and that having then decided to ban Johnson he was only banned for Leicester game becoming available once England's games resumed.
Johnson though returned to Leicester after the Six Nations and helped Leicester secure their fourth successive title against Newcastle on 13 April 2002 at Welford Road. Two weeks later Johnson captained Leicester as they traveled to Nottingham's City Ground for the Heineken Cup semi final against Llanelli. Tigers won thanks to a Tim Stimpson penalty which hit both the post and the cross bar before going through the posts. Tigers again victorious in the final winning 15–9 against Munster; the match is best remembered for Austin Healey's try and Neil Back's handling in a last-minute scrum on the Tigers' line. Though Johnson did have a try of his own ruled out after 10 minutes, with Tigers also having a first minute score from Freddie Tuilagi ruled out.
In 2002 he was the third England captain after John Pullin and Will Carling to beat , and after beating the All Blacks 31–28.
2003 Rugby World Cup and Grand Slam.
The 2003 international season started with the 2003 Six Nations Championship. Johnson featured in four of England's five games, wins against France, Wales, Scotland and the Grand Slam decider against Ireland. This success, the first England Grand Slam since 1995 was followed by a successful 2 match tour to New Zealand and Australia. England's first match was a 15–13 win over the All Blacks, during which the 6-man England scrum held off sustained pressure to clinch England's first win over the All Blacks in New Zealand since 1973. During the match, Johnson famously told his comrades in the scrum to "get down and shove". When asked about what was going through his head in the scrum he replied "my spine". In England's second match, a 20–17 victory over Australia, Johnson also performed at a monumental level, leading the former Australian captain, John Eales (who retired in 2001), to commend his display as 'among the best ever by a lock forward'. They took this into the 2003 World Cup, where they won crucial matches against South Africa, Wales and France, beating Australia in the final to win the cup with an extra time drop goal.
2003-05: Final Seasons.
Johnson continued to play for Leicester until 2005. Leicester struggled after winning the 2002 League and European double, slumping to 6th in the 2002-03 Premiership season. As focus was on Johnson and co. in Australia for the 2003 Rugby World Cup Leicester's troubles continued, finding themselves in 11th place when their world champions returned. Dean Richards was sacked with John Wells his assistant taking charge. Wells led Leicester into 5th and qualification for the 2004-05 Heineken Cup. Johnson announced this was to be his final season along with Neil Back, who was also retiring, and coach Wells, who was leaving Leicester to join the England coaching staff. Tigers topped the table and went straight to the 2005 Premiership Final against Wasps, but lost 39–14. In the European Cup Leicester won away against Leinster in the quarter finals but were defeated by Toulose 27–19 at the Walkers Stadium.
Awards.
Johnson was awarded the Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1997 following his success in captaining the victorious 1997 British Lions tour to South Africa.
After the 2003 Rugby World Cup victory he was awarded the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2004 New Year honours and was second in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards behind Jonny Wilkinson. Johnson's testimonial match and farewell to competitive rugby, held at Twickenham on 4 June 2005, was one of the biggest rugby events of the year. It was historic in another way as the match marked the return of All Blacks legend Jonah Lomu after a recent kidney transplant. Johnson's XV defeated Lomu's 33–29.
On 24 October 2011, at the IRB Awards in Auckland, Johnson was inducted into the IRB Hall of Fame alongside all other Rugby World Cup-winning captains and head coaches from the tournament's inception in 1987 through 2007 (minus the previously inducted John Eales).
England head coach.
In November 2006 it was rumoured the then England head rugby coach, Andy Robinson, was to be sacked and Johnson was one of many names speculated by the press as his replacement. The Rugby Football Union eventually selected Brian Ashton for the role.
Johnson was appointed England team manager in April 2008. England started the 2008 Autumn internationals by beating the Pacific Islands 39–13. That was followed with a loss to Australia, then a 42–6 defeat to South Africa and then another loss this time 32–6 against New Zealand at Twickenham.
England had four wins under Johnson going into 2009; in the 2009 Six Nations Championship they beat Italy 36–11, France 34–10 and Scotland 26–12 but were defeated by Ireland by 14–13 and to Wales by 23–15.
In the 2010 Six Nations England won their first two games against Wales and Italy, losing against Ireland, drawing with Scotland and losing their final game against France, allowing the French to win a Grand Slam.
In 2011, Johnson led a new-look England side to win the 2011 Six Nations title, thanks to wins over Wales, Italy, France and Scotland, though a 24–8 loss to Ireland on the final weekend of the competition denied them the Grand Slam. He resigned on 16 November 2011 following England's poor performance on and off the field at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
Personal life.
Martin Johnson comes from a sporting family. His great-grandfather was a wrestler.
A fan of American football, Johnson is a supporter of the San Francisco 49ers and worked as a studio analyst for ITV at Super Bowl XLI, and also for BBC Sport at Super Bowl XLVII. He then worked as a studio analyst for BBC Sport during their coverage of the 2018 Six Nations Championship.


Basil Maclear

Basil Maclear (7 April 1881 – 24 May 1915) was an Irish rugby international. He played eleven games for Ireland between 1905 and 1907.
Personal life.
Maclear was the grandson of Sir Thomas Maclear, Her Majesty's Astronomer in Cape Town, South Africa, and one of five sons of a Bedford Doctor, Major Henry Wallich Maclear. He was later sent to Fermoy in County Cork by the British Army. Like three of his brothers, Maclear was killed in action during World War I, serving as a captain with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers during the Second Battle of Ypres. His remains were not recovered and his name is recorded on the Menin Gate memorial nearby.
Career.
Maclear played his first international game on 11 February 1905 against England, a game which Ireland won 17–3. He scored four tries and three conversions during his eleven international games for Ireland. In the match against New Zealand on their 1905 tour, he was captain of Munster, which ended up losing 33–0.
Maclear was one of 25 individuals inducted to the World Rugby Hall of Fame during ceremonies held at Wembley Stadium during the 2015 Rugby World Cup.