Milt Stegall in Winnipeg to hand out scholarships to young athletes

Milt Stegall helped hand out $25,000 in scholarships to some of Manitoba’s best and brightest athletes and coaches Tuesday morning.

“I love coming back to Winnipeg but I more so love coming back to Winnipeg when I can go to an event like this,” said Stegall, who played football for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for 14 years between 1995 and 2008 and is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

The former slotback helped Sport Manitoba dole out funds to 22 students and four student coaches at the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. Scholarships ranged from $500 to $3,000 and came from a variety of organizations.

Stegall's scholarships rang in at $1,000 and $2,000. Taylor Pischke took the top prize of $2,000 for her work in volleyball and Chad Enns took the $1,000 award for his work in track and volleyball. 

“It’s more gratifying than what I did on the football field,” Stegall said. “The only thing I don’t like about this is I wish my sons could be here. My sons always think about me when I go up to Canada as being a football player, but I always try to tell them I was more than just a football player.”

Winners came from across the province, from small-town Balmoral north of Winnipeg to Swan Lake, a central-Manitoba town.

Kerry Friesen won a $500 rural coaching scholarship for his work coaching basketball and football with students in Steinbach.

“This last summer I saved up for schooling … and I spent my summer working construction for my dad,” he said. “And I was looking at it [and] I’m like, ‘I don’t have enough money for school this next year!’”

Friesen was about $300 short and wasn't sure how he was going to come up with the extra cash quickly.

“All of a sudden this came in the mail, and I had totally forgotten about it and the exact amount of money — and a little bit more I needed for books was the perfect amount I needed for school,” said Friesen, who is working to become a phys-ed teacher.

Stegall said that’s exactly the reason he does this.

“He didn’t know how it was going to happen and if you have faith and if you keep believing and if you keep working hard and you keep sacrificing, things will always work out – they won’t work out when you want them to, but they’ll always work out,” said Stegall. 

For a full list of winners, check out the Sport Manitoba website.