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Keeper of the Cup takes responsibility seriously

Jul 20, 2016 | 7:22 AM

When it comes to football, people remember the good times – and the bad.

Many Saskatchewan fans still remember where they were during “lucky” 2013; the Riders’ last Grey Cup win. Others remember begrudgingly the 2009 fiasco that was the “13th man,” and the team’s subsequent loss to the Alouettes.

To Jeff McWhinney losses like those are summed up very simply: “that’s football,” he said.

McWhinney has been given the responsibility of “Keeper of the Cup” by the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. He and the Grey Cup made a stop in North Battleford during its tour of the country Tuesday, July 19.

He considers it his duty to keep the memories alive, and give a voice to the 3,641 names engraved on the cup.

“Sixty-five per cent of these guys are gone now and it’s pretty important to me, because my dad’s on this Grey Cup,” McWhinney said adding his father Glenn McWhinney earned a Grey Cup ring with the 1956 Edmonton Eskimos.

“…we have this responsibility to take care of this. They no longer have a voice and we’ve got to bring this to our new generation,” he said, pointing to the young people enjoying the festivities while decked out in Rider green.

Fans posed for photos with McWhinney took great care in giving a tour of the trophy to a visually impaired fan, guiding his hand around the historic etchings.

“It’s very important to someone that has been challenged that way to be able to read and feel, and experience it like we would do if we were in the stadium,” McWhinney said.

He said only two placards remain on the Grey Cup’s current barrel; the lower portion on which every championship team is immortalized. The current barrel was added in 1987.

“One hundred fifty years (for Canada) in 2017, and we’ll be 109-years-old as the Grey Cup. You’ll see some changes there,” McWhinney said. “The barrel will likely be decommissioned and you’ll likely see something come up. Something I think you’ll like.”

 

Geoff Smith is battlefordsNOW’s News Director, business and agriculture reporter. He can be reached at gsmith@jpbg.ca or tweet him @smithco.