'More than just an athlete,' Pointe-Claire honours Tony Proudfoot by naming new park after late CFLer

The City of Pointe-Claire will pay tribute to the late Tony Proudfoot by naming a new park after the longtime resident.

For Proudfoot's daughter, Lauren, the designation is a fitting way to honour her father, a former Canadian professional football player who died in 2010 after battling ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease.

"My entire childhood was spent kicking around a soccer ball in the local park or playing hockey at the community rink. We were always encouraged to be outside," she told CBC News.

Mayor John Belvedere said the decision "is a perfect way to [memorialize] the life and career of an extraordinary man."

Proudfoot "was a man whose social commitment and professional career reflected the values of our community," Belvedere said, and who showed "remarkable determination, dedication and generosity."

The park is being built as part of Pointe-Claire's Quartier Greenwich, a new housing development in the West Island suburb.​

It will be unveiled in 2019, Belvedere said, and will include hiking trails, playgrounds and rest areas.

Proudfoot was 'more than just an athlete'

Proudfoot first made a name for himself as a professional football player.

A two-time Grey Cup champion, he played in the CFL from 1971 to 1982, with both the Montreal Alouettes and the BC Lions.

Born in Winnipeg, Proudfoot moved to Pointe-Claire as a child, later attending John Rennie High School. 

Pointe-Claire is also where he and his wife, Vicki, chose to raise their three children: Lauren, Lindsay and Michael.

He also worked as a radio broadcaster, calling Montreal Alouettes games. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame for his work as a reporter in 2008.

A year earlier, in 2007, Proudfoot had announced he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, an incurable and deadly neurological disorder.

Another Pointe-Claire resident, Norm Horner, spearheaded the initiative to have the park named after Proudfoot, after he saw a posting on a local bulletin board asking residents to suggest a name for the new park.

"I immediately thought of Tony. He had such a strong presence in Pointe-Claire — and in all of Montreal," Horner said.

Horner's suggestion was one of some 60 proposals the city received for the new park's name.

After submitting his idea, Horner then posted it on Facebook, where he said the support was overwhelming.

"He was someone who was more than just an athlete, similar to Jean Béliveau," Horner said.

Making new family memories

Lauren said it was especially touching to see someone who knew her father only casually go out of his way to nominate him.

"For everyone else to see what we've always saw in him is really special," she said.

Lauren said she is looking forward to making new family memories in the park, especially now that she has a daughter of her own, Riley, who is four-and-a-half months old.

"It will be nice to take her to the park named after her grandfather."