WINNIPEG -- Oak Park High School football coach Stu Nixon has been hearing the word congratulations a lot lately.
He says people he doesn’t even know have been wishing him well now that three of his former players will have their names engraved on the Grey Cup.
Oak Park High School alumni Andrew Harris, Nick Demski and Brady Oliveira are all members of this year’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, who won Sunday’s107th Grey Cup 33-12 over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Nixon accepts the compliments graciously, but he’s realistic about who the real heroes are.
“It’s like I played or coached in the game and I’m like, I don’t know nothing…I was eating hot dogs,” Nixon told CTV News.
Nixon credits the success of all his players to the support they get year in and year out from the wider Oak Park High School community.
He acknowledges what the players who’ve gone through the football program at his school, especially the three Grey Cup champs, have given to Oak Park and to Winnipeg. He hopes Bomber players who aren’t from Winnipeg also understand their impact.
“The amount of pride they’ve injected into the hearts of the people here is real. What they’ve accomplished for the community is beyond words,” Nixon said.
He says the success of Harris, Demski and Oliveira will also serve as an inspiration to more than just the school’s athletes.
“We’ve got some mentors now within our immediate community and kids in whatever field they’re interested in can look up and realize that if you work hard, that can happen. It’s probably the best value of this whole thing, ” Nixon said.
Nixon was quick to point out that the three Blue Bombers were not the only players with roots in Oak Park football to achieve national success this past weekend.
He says the kicker for the Vanier Cup-winning Calgary Dinosaurs, Niko Difonte, also played for Oak Park.
