November / 2003

Where the Buffalo Roam — the Making of CFL Traditions
“Wherever there was football and the CFL, we were there”

By Steven J. Miko
CSC Associate

ROMPIN' RONNIE: Ron Stewart was interviewed in Ottawa, where he shone as a running back for the Rough Riders for many seasons.

The assignment was as follows — travel to every city in the Canadian Football League and film interviews, 90 minutes to two hours in length, with CFL stars past and present, coaches, broadcasters and writers for a five-hour, 10-episode series called CFL Traditions.

It’s documentary filmmaking on the road — order the gear, check it, change it, pack it up, ship it out, unpack it, set it up, use it, tear it down, pack it up, ship it out . . . etc. Always on the move, working on a budget and trying to keep a schedule. Countless interviews set up and conducted over a short period of time spanning the length and breadth of our nation. Wherever there was football and the CFL, we were there.

From early March till late May our interviewer, syndicated sports columnist Jim Taylor, our indispensable production coordinator and road mama, Sheryl Grégoire, production manager Greg Bosworth, a slew of local sound recordists, and yours truly, behind a Sony DV570 camera, ventured cross-country to document the story of the Canadian Football League.

The show, which premiered on TSN on Aug. 24, is from Network Entertainment, producer of the Gemini Award-winning series Legends of Hockey and Legends of Hockey - The Second Season. CFL Traditions was released for national sale on VHS and DVD on Oct. 28.

The first episode recounts the origins of Canadian football, while the others tell the individual history of each of the nine CFL teams. CFL Traditions combines contemporary interviews with such notable players as Ron Lancaster, Hal Patterson, Sugarfoot Anderson, Russ Jackson and Warren Moon (to name just a few) with fast-paced, hard-hitting archival footage from some of the greatest moments in Canadian football history.

Going on the road for a series like this demands endurance, patience, a strong constitution and tolerance for your fellow crew members. Our first leg of the tour began in Vancouver, our home base, where Dave Cutler and Willie Fleming were two of the players interviewed. Next we headed east to Calgary for such greats as Normie Kwong and Tom Forzani, then proceeded north to Edmonton. Luckily this was a short week, and all the show’s photography takes place indoors, because the March weather was abominable. Despite an incompatible matte box and chimera, we persevered, using our creative problem-solving skills with the help of pony clips and paper tape. We got some great interviews from Dan Kepley, Hugh Campbell and Gizmo Williams.

BUFFALO BROTHERS: DOP Steven Miko (left) bonds with former star quarterback Matt Dunigan in Montreal.

It was back to Vancouver for another two shooting days, interviews with Norm Fieldgate, Al Wilson and Joe Kapp, and then prep for a three-week stint in Toronto, Hamilton, Montreal and Ottawa. Toronto and Hamilton were the ultimate test. The Gods did not smile upon us. It began with the cursed “red eye” flight to Toronto and a considerable lack of sleep. Our mantra from here on became “hungry and tired.”

After finding our lost luggage and accounting for the delivered gear in the late afternoon, we rested until the next morning — call time 7 a.m. (4 a.m. in Vancouver) for setup and shooting by 9 a.m. Our Toronto shoot suite was hot and claustrophobic, our schedule was overly ambitious, lunches were inhaled, and dinners postponed. Our first interview didn’t show up and one of our next day’s interviews came in a day early. Great interviews, though, with Joe Krol, Leo Cahill and Pinball Clemons.

Road weariness began to set in as we hit the highway to Hamilton. Our next studio was a big, black, cold echo chamber, but we had some entertaining interviews with Tommy Joe Coffey, Russ Jackson, Ron Lancaster, Angelo Mosca and Tony Gabriel. It was in Hamilton that we started our love affair with Tim Hortons coffee and maple dip donuts.

After four busy days of back-to-back interviews, often up to five a day, we packed up for Montreal. The sun was shining and at last it was a day off, while Jim and Greg crossed the U.S. border to interview the Flutie boys (Doug and Darren) in Boston. Our Montreal schedule included Red Storey, Don Matthews, Matt Dunigan, Sam Echeverry and Tony Proudfoot. We became friends with Matt, who told us about the Silver Bullet Buffalo Club that was started in 1957 by Jackie Parker.

The stated purpose of the club is “to promote camaraderie and fellowship among people.” So off we went to dinner with Matt and, for a nickel apiece, Greg, Sheryl and I became proud members of this infamous drinking establishment. Being a Buffalo requires you to declare your dominant hand and from then on, whenever in the company of another Buffalo while consuming an alcoholic beverage, you must use only your non-dominant hand. Otherwise you can be Buffaloed and you end up drinking more.

‘What are we waiting for, Greg?’
was all I could think of to say’

This is a serious lifetime commitment to having fun, and that’s what the game of football and this tour was all about. “Pigskins and Slobberknockers” became our preferred title for the show after Kay Vaughn’s description of how he liked to “knock the snot out of those Canadians” at training camp. And then there was Grover Covington, who loved to “give ’em hugs.” The stories unfurled reel after reel, and I thought about the editors: how would they choose from so many colourful characters and their stories?

ROAD WEARY: "Hungry and tired," production manager Greg Bosworth (left) and interviewer Jim Taylor drag themselves and their gear, including a multi-autographed helmet, through yet another airport terminal.

One of those characters was Sugarfoot Anderson, who played for the Calgary Stampeders
from 1949 through 1954. He came to Canada because at the time the National Football League would not allow black players. It was a smart move for Sugarfoot because the pay up here was better, and our dollar was actually stronger than the greenback.

From Tony Proudfoot, we heard all about the 1977 Grey Cup game between Edmonton and Montreal, known as the “Staple Gun Bowl.” The field conditions at Olympic Stadium in Montreal were so treacherously icy that some of the Montreal players drove staples into their cleats to give them added traction on the slick surface. Montreal won the game, but whether or not the staples actually helped is still debated. One things for sure: Edmonton never forgave them and used their humiliating loss to fuel their drive to five consecutive Grey Cup wins.

Proudfoot brought to our Montreal hotel studio suite the actual staple gun, which had been left on the sidelines by a telephone repairman at the new Olympic Stadium. For some reason, we were instructed to carry this artifact back to Vancouver, perhaps for further “B” roll. But because of a rushed departure for Ottawa, this famous piece of sports memorabilia was inadvertently left behind by a bellboy — along with our tape stock. The gun and stock were later retrieved, but not before some frenzied phone calls and creative stalling on the Ottawa set while a local supplier rushed us a shipment of tape.

Danny McManus and Ron Stewart would eventually give us some great stories, but first the spotlight was on my performance:

“Just a couple more minutes for lighting. Mr. Stewart, do you have another tie? The pattern is creating havoc with the video. Oh, blast, can we unplug that refrigerator? It’s buzzing too much. Jim, lean to your left, I don’t want to shoot the back of your head again. A little higher with the boom, please, Chris. Won’t be a minute; would you care for some coffee Mr. Stewart?”

We made sure that our production manager, Greg, didn’t see the NO TAPE message on the monitor. With only minutes to spare, Sheryl met the courier downstairs and fought her way through the throngs of a convention that forced the elevator to stop at every floor. It was 8:59; we were due to roll at 9 a.m. “Are you ready, Steven?” asked Greg as Sheryl quietly entered the room and slipped me a tape. “What are we waiting for, Greg?” was all I could think of to say.

The next leg was back to Vancouver, with just enough time to kiss the kids and do the laundry before heading off to the Prairies and our final two teams. In Regina, we met Roger Aldag and Ron Atchison, who told us the tale of his “club” forearm, how he fell off a tractor and needed a cast to protect his arm on the football field. Apparently that arm never healed properly because from one season to the next the “club” was always there.

Winnipeg was a great place to end the tour. Cal Murphy, Chris Alby, Bud Grant, Kenny Ploen, Bob Cameron, Garney Henley and Less Browne filled our heads with more great stories about dedication, passion and commitment.

It was truly a privilege to spend time with many of the legends of the game and to share their excitement as they relived the events that would become the stuff of sports folklore. In the old days, players would have to work a nine-to-five job and practise until 10 or 11 at night. Many Americans who moved north to play in the CFL ended up settling down, raising families, building their communities, and becoming Canadian citizens. Many of the players we interviewed said they would have played for no money at all; for them it was about their love of the game.

Earlier this season, I went to my first CFL game ever — I had always been an NFL fan — and I jumped and stomped and yelled and did the wave as the B.C. Lions defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 35-31. I can’t wait until Nov. 16 and the 91st Grey Cup championship game in Regina.

(Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Steven Miko is a Vancouver-based director of photography with global roots gained from extensive childhood travels. An award-winning cinematographer with an extensive lighting background, Steven specializes in documentaries, live music and music videos, sports and dramatic films. His credits include The Life and Times of: David Suzuki, William Shatner, and Mario Lemieux; an on-the-road music documentary, Barenaked in America, covering The Barenaked Ladies on tour; Stolen Lives – Children in the Sex Trade; Legends of Hockey; and Wings of Courage, the Making of . . . the first dramatic IMAX film to be shot in 3D. He is currently working on The ArtZone, a pre-teen creative art show for APTN. He is an avid B.C. Lions Fan.)

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