Winnipeg Blue Bombers Game Day

July 30

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6 HOME GAME PLAYBOOK THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ALUMNI PROFILE SOME FANS OF WINNIPEG'S NEW HOME FOR POLAR BEARS JUST CAN'T GET ENOUGH, RETURNING TO SEE THE EXHIBIT AGAIN AND AGAIN. NATURALLY, THAT HOME COMES UP IN A CONVERSATION WITH DIETER BROCK, WHO IS INVITED TO CHECK IT OUT. W ith a laugh, the former Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback said he'd like to visit the renovated Assiniboine Park Zoo again. "I love the zoo," he says in a phone call from his Birmingham, Ala., home. After all, it was the place he once mentioned in a now- legendary comment before he was traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats during the 1983 Canadian Football League season, a move that ended an almost 10-year, record-setting stint with the Blue and Gold. His personal and football life before, during and after the Bombers will soon be an open book — literally. Brock's wife, Jamie, and long-time friend and former quarterback J.C. Smith are writing a book titled The Birmingham Rifle, the nickname he thinks a Winnipeg journalist bestowed on him. The release date is being announced in early August. "I've been talking over the last several years and people and friends of mine were saying, 'Well, you know, you should write your story,' " Brock, 64, says. It was a natural fit that Smith be part of it. The two met when Smith attended a Bombers' training camp in 1975. Smith also did some coaching and the two remained close friends. Former coaches and teammates were contacted for the book, which will have highlights from the Canadian Football hall of famer's high school, college and pro career in Winnipeg, Hamilton and Los Angeles. The book also allows him to set the record straight about his exit from Winnipeg. "Let's put it this way; I forced this whole thing about the trade. I've seen some stories that were written and a lot of it is not accurate," Brock says. "I never really wanted to leave Winnipeg to another CFL team. I wasn't unhappy with my contract." But after he saw that former Edmonton quarterback Warren Moon was able to get out of his contract and go to the National Football League, Brock wanted to shorten his contract. He was in the third year of a five-year deal. "Instead of going to Hamilton, I wish I could have stayed in Winnipeg and been able to leave after probably the '84 season." What he wanted was an opportunity to possibly end his career playing for Birmingham of the now-defunct United States Football League. "There was a short period of time I had left to play," he says. "That was the whole reason behind wanting to leave Winnipeg, not leaving Winnipeg because I didn't like it, because I loved it." His zoo comment — which was interpreted to mean the city was a boring place to live — didn't endear him to fans. "I think I said something like, 'How many times can you go to the zoo?' " he recalls. "Whatever was said was just kind of something that came out and I don't really know why. Maybe I was just frustrated. I was getting a lot of negative press, and I understand why. Maybe it was something I said just to kind of retaliate, which really wasn't the truth at all." Holdouts limited him to six games (5-1) in 1983 until he was traded to the Ticats for quarterback Tom Clements. Brock remains Winnipeg's all-time leader in passing yardage (29,623) and is the only Bomber to win CFL Most Outstanding Player awards in back-to-back seasons (1980 and '81). Although he hadn't thought about the NFL, when his Ticats' contract ended, agent Gil Scott sent out queries "and that's where the interest was and that's where the money was." He signed a four-year deal with the Los Angeles Rams in 1985, but two months before training camp things took a turn for the worse. "I was playing a pick-up basketball game and I came down and I felt a pop in my back," he recalls. "I think I had ruptured a disc at that time, but I just thought it was going to be something that was going to be a two- or three-day deal where I'd be hurtin' a little bit, but I'd be OK. But it kept on and on and I got worried because training camp was just about to start." He missed the first week of camp while getting injections and treatment. "I was playing with this problem that whole year … After practices, I would come in and my back would be hurting so bad I could hardly straighten up." He hurt a knee in the first '86 pre-season game and was put on the injured reserve list. He returned to the field, but his back still bothered him and he was released. He coached from 1994 to 2006, including CFL offensive co- ordinator positions with Hamilton, Ottawa and Edmonton, as well as colleges and high schools in Alabama and Tennessee. Many of the players he guided benefitted from one unique training method he used — a process that helped him earn his nickname because of his explosive throws. After his first year with Winnipeg, he started throwing steel balls at a net in front of a fence. However, the fence kept getting damaged so he looked for something softer. He stuffed tennis balls with pellets at weights of four, three and two pounds, wrapping them up with electrical tape and throwing each one for about a month. "The idea behind it is, you drop down in the weight and you're getting faster and faster arm speed and by the time you get to the football (just under a pound), you've got a real good quick release and speed on the ball." He also did workouts designed for javelin throwers to improve his strength. "I didn't want to do a bunch of lifts that would screw up my throwing action or anything like that. It just conditioned my arm. I never had a sore arm after my first year in Winnipeg." He and Jamie, who celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary this year, are kept busy these days with family. They enjoy looking after daughter Hayley's son, who turns one in August. She's expecting another boy in October. Son Kaleb will be a high school sophomore this fall. "He's not into the sports, but he's so damn smart," the proud dad says. "He loves doing things other than sports and that's fine with me." If Brock has one regret about his career, it's not winning the Grey Cup with Winnipeg. Coincidentally, the Bombers beat his Ticats in the '84 championship. "It was kind of the best of times and the worst of times because I was really enjoying playing there and we were winning and we were on the verge of getting that championship and then I caused what happened to make the trade," he says. "I don't know, maybe in '83 we might have got it. We were playing so well." But he started another chapter of his life – and soon fans will be able to do the same. ❚ A HERO REMEMBERED Manitoba football and war hero Lt.-Col. Jeff Nicklin helped the Winnipeg football club win two Grey Cup championships — in 1935 and 1939 — before joining the Royal Winnipeg Rifles during the Second World War. Nicklin, who helped establish the first Canadian parachute camp at what is now Canadian Forces Base Shilo, was born in Winnipeg around 1915. He commanded the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion and was among the first Canadians to make a jump on D-Day. He was killed in action on March 24, 1945, but his name lives on. On June 30 — the 70th anniversary of the day Nicklin was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire — the Canadian Army Advanced Warfare Centre officially opened the LCol J.A. Nicklin Building in Trenton, Ont. The new state-of-the-art training facility for all parachutist-related skills will be home to about 200 personnel starting this fall. MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS The Manitoba Major Junior Football League season kicks off Aug. 8. Sponsored by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the three-down tackle football league for players ages 18 - 22 holds its championship game in late October at Investors Group Field. See mmjfla.ca for teams and schedules. ANOTHER CUP FOR WINNIPEG The 2016 Football Canada Cup will be held at Investors Group Field next July, and planning is already underway for the national under-18 football championship. Football Manitoba is inviting skilled volunteers to join the host committee. If you have professional experience — in marketing, communications, event planning, fundraising, volunteer management, sponsorships, finance and accounting — you may be able to help. For details, visit footballmanitoba. com/call-for-canada-cup-committee- members. FOOTBALL PAST, PRESENT & FUTURE Book will tell story of former Bombers QB Dieter Brock's life (from A to Zoo) By Judy Owen for the Winnipeg Free Press Above: Winnipeg Blue Bomber QB Dieter Brock played 10 seasons with the Bombers from 1974-83. Photo by Ken Gigliotti. Left: Nicknamed The Birmingham Rifle for his explosive throws, Brock and wife Jamie attended the team's 80th anniversary in 2010. Supplied photo. Position: Quarterback Date of birth: Feb. 12, 1951 Birthplace: Birmingham, Ala. College: Auburn University; Jacksonville State CFL career: Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1974-83); Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1983-84) NFL career: Los Angeles Rams (1985, injured in '86 and released) CFL awards: West Division all-star (1980-82); West Division Most Outstanding Player (1980-81); CFL all-star and Most Outstanding Player (1980 and '81) Hall of Fame: Inducted into Winnipeg Football Hall of Fame (1990) and Canadian Football Hall of Fame (1995) Coaching career: Offensive co-ordinator at University of Alabama at Birmingham (1994); CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats OC (1995); CFL Ottawa Rough Riders OC (1996); Alabama State OC (1997); OC Meadowview Christian High School in Alabama (1998); CFL Edmonton Eskimos co-OC/QB coach (1999); OC Tusculum College in Tennessee (2000-04); OC Cumberland University in Tennessee (2005); OC Smiths Station High School in Alabama (2006) VITAL STATISTICS DIE TER BROCK

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