Canadian football hall adds Ham, 4 others

Bob Cameron's path to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame was a long, twisting and most improbable one.

He had been cut by seven different teams over a four-year span before making the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as their punter in 1980. Even then, he was released by the CFL club during his rookie campaign, only to be re-signed shortly afterwards.

After a rather inauspicious return, Cameron went on to become a fixture with Winnipeg until his retirement in 2002.

On Tuesday, the affable 55-year-old received the ultimate career achievement, being among five individuals named for induction into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

"I tried out for eight different teams four years in a row before I finally made it with Winnipeg," Cameron said. "So, I mean I was hanging by the skin of my teeth for a number of years just even to be on the team.

"To finally have that [induction] phone call was pretty exciting. It really was."

Joining Cameron in the player category are former CFL stars Tracy Ham, Elfrid Payton and Donald Narcisse. Joe Pistilli, a longtime Quebec junior football official, was named as a builder.

The date of this year's induction ceremony has not yet been confirmed.

Cameron had a stellar collegiate stint as a quarterback with Acadia. In 1976, he captured the Hec Creighton Trophy as Canadian university football's outstanding player.

But that was hardly a ticket into pro football. Cameron tried out for both the Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles of the NFL as well as Ottawa, Hamilton, Toronto, Calgary and Edmonton of the CFL before catching on in Winnipeg. And while he finally made it as a punter, Cameron said he always hoped he would be given a shot at playing quarterback in his native land.

"I thought if I could just punt and get my foot into the door I could play quarterback in the CFL," he said. "That was always my goal.

"I tried out for Ottawa in 1978 and they were so confident in the two quartebacks that they had and I couldn't understand why because they were only Tom Clements and Condredge Holloway. So there was Tom Clements, Condredge Holloway and me.

"I had a regular shift with them all the way through training camp and in an intra-squad game and thought I had done pretty good but as soon as the exhibition games started they just told me to work on my punting. So I just worked on my punting and didn't make it, but it was one of the best experiences of my life."

Cameron remains the CFL's all-time leading punter with 134,301 regular-season yards and sports a 42.9-yard career average. He was a league all-star four times and part of three Grey Cup-winning teams, earning top Canadian honours in the '88 contest.

Cameron also proved to be an ironman, appearing in a league-record 353 straight games before missing time in the 2000 season with a herniated disc in his back.

"I probably took it to the extreme then," Cameron said. "But you never want to get injured and I think a lot of players can attest to if you get injured and a guy comes in and does the job and you'll never get your job back."

A strength of Cameron's game was his ability to kick effectively into a brisk wind, an important factor considering he played half of his regular-season games at breezy Canad Inns Stadium. But it's a lesson Cameron learned the hard way at Regina's Mosaic Stadium in September 1980, his first contest back with Winnipeg after being released the week before.

"I've never seen winds as strong as that," Cameron said. "We were on our 20-yard line, I punted it and they came with a big rush.

"It went off the side of my foot and landed about 10 yards downfield. I was trying to draw a roughing the kicker penalty and am on my back watching and I see the ball bouncing backwards and it goes out of bounds at our eight-yard line.

"Now, try coming to the bench after that after being cut the week before? To [then Bombers coach] Ray Jauch's credit, he stuck with me and after that I said if I was going to have a long career I was going to have to learn how to punt into the wind."

These days, Cameron lives in Winnipeg and operates a business renovating houses for sale or rent. Cameron said he will always consider Hamilton home and feels tremendous pride knowing with his induction he will forever be entrenched in his home town.

"It's just unbelievable," he said. "I can't believe with all that I've gone through to be in the Hall of Fame."

'You go speechless at first'

Ham echoed those sentiments.

"It was, 'Wow,' " Ham said when asked what his initial reaction was. "You go speechless at first.

"And then you realize you've just been put into an elite group of guys that have for a long time been very special in a league that's very exciting. To be a part of that is amazing to me."

Ham spent 13 seasons in the CFL with Edmonton, Toronto, Baltimore and Montreal. In 1989, he became the first quarterback in CFL history to rush over 1,000 yards in a season and was named the league's outstanding player that year.

Ham led the Baltimore Stallions to consecutive Grey Cup appearances, winning in 1995 when he was also named the game's outstanding player. He signed with Montreal the following season and spent four years there, leading the Als to the '97 East final against Toronto.

Ham still holds the single-season record for most rushing yards by a quarterback with 1,096 and is second all-time with 8,043.

But Ham says his proudest accomplishment was serving as a mentor to Anthony Calvillo in Montreal. Calvillo signed with the Alouettes after a dismal tenure in Hamilton prompted questions about whether he could ever be an effective CFL starter.

Since 2000, Calvillo has silenced his critics by being named the CFL's outstanding player three times, including the last two seasons, and guiding Montreal to a pair of Grey Cup titles.

"I think you always have to continue to pass on the knowledge you have to the next incoming generation, Ham said. "Anthony has certainly earned himself a spot among the great players in the history of the league, but he still has plenty of playing left in him so we'll let him finish out."

Narcisse, a receiver, spent his entire 13-year CFL career with Saskatchewan. He had seven 1,000-yard seasons and was part of a Grey Cup-winning squad in 1989. He was a four-time CFL all-star and went 216 straight games with at least one catch.

He was inducted to the Saskatchewan Roughriders' Plaza of Honour in 2003.

Payton played for six teams during his 14-year CFL career. A relentless pass rusher, he led the league in sacks three times and is second in league history with 154, just three behind all-time leader Grover Covington.

Payton was named the CFL's outstanding defensive player in 2002 while with Edmonton and played on two Grey Cup-winning teams ('95 with Baltimore, 2003 with the Eskimos). He was a five-time all-star.

Pistilli was involved with all levels of junior football in Quebec for 42 years, and spent 29 years with Football Canada. In 1986, Pistilli received a National Award of Merit from the CFL/Football Canada for his service to amateur football and was the president of Football Canada from 1992 to 1998.