Blue & Gold legends Cameron, Kennerd recall glory days

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This article was published 24/11/2019 (1858 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SATURDAY Blue Bombers Hall of Fame punter Bob Cameron reached out to the team’s current punter and kicker, Justin Medlock.

Cameron, a three-time Grey Cup champion during his 23-year career in the Blue and Gold, sent Medlock a picture of himself, Rod Hill and Trevor Kennerd celebrating with the silver mug in 1988.

“I said, ‘This is what you have to look forward to. So, put the hammer down.’ He texted me back saying, ‘Thanks, we will.’ That was pretty neat,” said Cameron, who made the trip to Calgary for Sunday’s Grey Cup.

Less than 24 hours later, Medlock would have an opportunity to take a similar picture and send it back to Cameron as the Bombers dominated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33-12 to end the team’s 28-year Grey Cup drought.

“I know what they’re going through right now. All that hard work you put in all year, and really, for the last how many years here, to culminate in this, I know how excited they are and how well-deserving,” Cameron said. “What they’ve done in these last three games is absolutely phenomenal. You’re always expecting Hamilton to mount a comeback against us, but look at what we did. We shut them down the whole game and it was well deserved. I couldn’t be happier as an alumni.”

Cameron, obviously, wasn’t the only former player thrilled to see the team hoist the CFL’s top prize once again. Legendary Bombers kicker Kennerd, who was on those three championship teams with Cameron, watched the game from home and said he was “loving every minute” of Sunday’s contest.

“Isn’t this incredible? It’s amazing,” Kennerd said in a phone interview. “What we were saying pretty much all game is (we) don’t remember a Grey Cup game where one team was dominant from the opening kickoff to the final whistle. Everywhere you look it was a dominant performance by the Blue Bombers.”

This year’s group, which survived a rollercoaster season, will go down as one of the most memorable teams in franchise history says Kennerd.

“This team will be talked about for years. The Zach Collaros story, the Chris Streveler story, the story of Nic Demski, Andrew Harris and Thomas Miles having played Winnipeg high school football. The number of stories that have come out of this game and this team, they will last for many, many years,” Kennerd said.

Now, after nearly three decades, it’s time for everyone in Bomberland to party. Cameron said if it’s anything like the ‘84 championship team that ended a 22-year drought, this city is going to be electric.

“When we won the first one in ‘84, we came back and it was bedlam at the airport,” Cameron said. “I mean, there were thousands of people. We had to run through a gauntlet and then when we got to the bus, there were people jumping on top of it. So, yeah, this city is going to go crazy. This is long overdue and it’s fantastic.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31