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Former Saskatchewan Roughriders slotback Ray Elgaard remembers John Gregory as “one of the good ones.”
“(Coaching) is not an easy job. There’s lots of guys who know how to do the jobs behind the scenes — the X’s and O’s, the organization and stuff like that — but the real good ones are the ones that can challenge you and can push you and still know they give a (crap) about you. And John was one of those guys,” Elgaard said Monday.
Gregory, who was the head coach of the Riders during their magical 1989 Grey Cup run, has died. He was 84.
https://twitter.com/sskroughriders/status/1602397174217805824
“He meant the world to us. He won us the Grey Cup in ’89 as our coach,” said former Riders guard Roger Aldag said. “I remember the first time ever meeting him was at an all-star game and he was our (offensive line) coach for an all-star game. He was just a great guy. It’s just so sad to hear.”
“There was a good bond relationship between John and I when he was here,” added Al Ford, the Roughriders’ general manager from 1989 to 1999. “Our kids played together, and he was a very emotional coach. That was, to his credit, something we really needed at that time.
“He got along very well with the players — he wasn’t buddy-buddy with them — but when he said something, they paid attention and that was important for the growth of the club at the time.”
After a successful college coaching career in the United States, Gregory joined the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers as their offensive line coach in 1983.
Saskatchewan named him head coach in 1987 and he led the Green and White to an 11-7-0 record and a playoff berth in 1988. The following season, the Roughriders posted a 9-9-0 regular-season record, but upset the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos in the West Division playoffs.
“He’s one of those coaches that everyone wanted to play for him. He would give us every opportunity to win. We beat Calgary in an upset and then upset Edmonton in Edmonton and then got to the big show in Toronto,” Aldag said.
“He just believed in all us players and we were going to win the game and stuff like that. He put a lot of confidence in us as players.”
There was a moment during that 1989 season that Elgaard can recall vividly.
“He was the guy who pushed the envelope,” Elgaard said. “He was the guy that brought the idea of halfway through the season, we started a new season.
“He brought in a sports psychologist and he printed off new schedules and he had this idea that we were a better team than we were showing but we have this baggage that we’ve been carrying around as a franchise. So he was like, ‘Let’s try this boys.’ We were all like, ‘That’s kind of weird,’ but he had the balls to think outside the box and to implement that psychological strategy. And whether you believed in it or not, we won the Grey Cup.
“He was cool. He knew what he was doing and he was a good coach. He will be missed.”
After beating Calgary and Edmonton, the Roughriders knocked off the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 43-40 in the Grey Cup game, giving Saskatchewan its second CFL championship in franchise history.
“It had been a while since we had won a Grey Cup and you’re always the team on the prairies that no one respects,” Ford said. “To go have a Grey Cup championship for Saskatchewan and our great fans, it was an experience people involved with the club will never forget.
“He was emotional when he believed in something and he wasn’t hesitant about putting his stamp on the agreement or else he would fight to maintain players or maintain coaches. He was fun to work with because he was his own man and we got along real well together.”
Gregory was fired by the Roughriders early in the 1991 season and replaced by Don Matthews. Gregory left Saskatchewan with a 35-43-1 regular-season record.
He subsequently was hired by the Tiger-Cats, with whom he spent three-plus seasons. His Hamilton teams went 21-31-0 in the regular season during his tenure.
In 1995, Gregory was named the first head coach of the arena league’s Iowa Barnstormers and the rest of his coaching career was spent in indoor leagues.
According to the Barnstormers, funeral services are to take place on Jan. 31 in Gastonia, N.C. The team said donations could be named in Gregory’s name to everykidsports.org or kidsportcanada.ca.
“I learned a lot from John and I was very pleased in 2014 when he agreed to attend the Stampeders’ training camp as a guest coach. On behalf of the entire Stampeders organization, I offer my deepest condolences to John’s family and friends.”
— Calgary Stampeders (@calstampeders) December 12, 2022
— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray
