Hall of Fame

Ed Laverty led the Ottawa Nepean Touch Football League for fifty years, growing it from four men’s teams into a multi-division league that has welcomed thousands of athletes, including CFL veterans. He also presided over Touch Football Ontario, helped launch Touch Football Canada, and made touch football a staple of Ottawa school sports. His honours include the Mayor’s Cup Award (2013), induction into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame (2014), and the naming of Ed Laverty Fields at McCarthy Park (2018). His legacy lives on through the Ed Laverty Sports Legacy Fund, which supports youth in sport.

Born in Toronto in 1967, Dave “The Sponge” Sapunjis starred at the University of Western Ontario, winning the 1989 Vanier Cup, before the Calgary Stampeders selected him fifth overall in the 1990 CFL Draft. In 1993 he led the CFL in catches, yards, and touchdowns for a receiving “triple crown,” and in 1995 he set career highs with 111 receptions for 1,655 yards. A two-time CFL Most Outstanding Canadian, he won the Grey Cup in 1992 and was named the game’s top Canadian, and he remains the only player to earn Grey Cup Most Valuable Canadian honours in back-to-back years. He finished his seven-season career, all with Calgary, with 460 receptions for 6,586 yards and 46 touchdowns. After retiring, he became part of the ownership group that purchased the Stampeders in 2005 and went on to serve as president of Reliance Metals Canada.

A native of Sault Ste. Marie and former University of Ottawa Gee-Gee, Rocky DiPietro helped Ottawa win the 1975 Vanier Cup before signing with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1978. Over a 14-year career spent entirely in Hamilton, he became the CFL’s all-time pass reception leader in 1989 and finished with 706 receptions for 9,762 yards and 45 touchdowns. A two-time CFL Most Outstanding Canadian (1982, 1989) and three-time Lew Hayman Trophy winner, he played in four Grey Cup games and won the championship in 1986. After football, he became a high school teacher and coached multiple championship teams at Lakeshore Catholic High School in Port Colborne. He was named to the Tiger-Cats Wall of Honour in 1994 and inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1997.

Dan Feraday quarterbacked the University of Toronto Varsity Blues for five seasons, setting school, league, and national passing records that stood for more than 15 years. In 1981, he won the Hec Crighton Trophy as Canada’s outstanding university player after earning back-to-back CIAU All-Canadian honours. The following year, the Cincinnati Bengals made him the first Canadian university quarterback ever selected in the NFL Draft. He later coached the Blues to the 1983 Yates Cup and earned a Medal of Merit for bravery with the Metropolitan Toronto Police Emergency Task Force.

Hamilton native Frank Cosentino quarterbacked Western to two Yates Cups and a national title before a 10-year CFL career that included Grey Cup championships with the Tiger-Cats in 1963 and 1965. As head coach at Western, he led the Mustangs to Vanier Cup wins in 1971 and 1974, then rebuilt York University’s program, earning the inaugural OUAA Coach of the Year award in 1978. A respected historian, he authored 17 books on Canadian sport and is a member of the Western, York, and OUA Halls of Fame.

Born in 1983 in Chatham, Ontario, Andy Fantuz spent four years at Western University, where he established himself as one of the best receivers in CIS history. In 2005, he won the Hec Crighton Trophy as the top player in Canadian university football. Fantuz was drafted third overall by the Saskatchewan Roughriders. During his CFL career, he won the Grey Cup in 2007 along with the Dick Suderman Trophy, and in 2010 he was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian.

Born in 1966 in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Leroy Blugh immigrated to Ontario with his family and grew up in Napanee. He played 15 seasons in the CFL with two teams and won the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player award in 1996. A two-time All-Star, he won the Grey Cup in 1993 and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2015. Blugh went on to a successful coaching career, including as part of the Grey Cup champion Ottawa Redblacks.

Born in 1952 in London, Ontario, Neil Lumsden had a storied nine-season CFL career. He won two Grey Cup championships as a player and another in 1999 as general manager of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. After football, Lumsden served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, and in 2022 he was appointed Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport. He retired from the position on August 4, 2026.

Born in 1955 in Edmonton, Alberta, Miles Gorrell played 18 CFL seasons with five teams. He was a five-time divisional All-Star and a two-time Outstanding Lineman finalist, and won the Grey Cup with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1986. After his playing career, Gorrell served as Player Personnel Assistant and Director of Canadian Scouting with the Toronto Argonauts. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2013.

Born in 1971 in London, Ontario, Tim Tindale dominated CIS football at Western from 1990 to 1994 while earning a degree in kinesiology. He won two Hec Crighton Trophies, and many believe he would have won a third if not for a broken leg in 1992. Tindale went on to play in the NFL from 1994 to 1998 with the Buffalo Bills and Chicago Bears. In 2022, he was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame for his university career.

Born in 1943 in Hamilton, Ontario, Jim Young starred at Queen’s University and was selected first overall in the 1965 CFL Draft. He spent two seasons with the Minnesota Vikings before joining the BC Lions, where he played 13 seasons. Young was a CFL All-Star at wide receiver, a two-time Western Conference All-Star, and won the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian award in 1970 and 1972. He set BC Lions records for receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, had his jersey retired by the club, and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1991.

Born in 1931 in Sault Ste. Marie, Doug Hargreaves was a Canadian Air Force officer, coach and educator. Over a 19-year tenure as head coach at Queen’s, he led the team to 16 consecutive OQIFC playoff appearances, winning nine of 13 league championships, with two undefeated seasons. Hargreaves won Vanier Cup championships in 1978 and 1992, and in 1983 received the Frank Tindall Trophy as Canada’s top university football coach. When he retired in 1994, he had coached more games than any coach in CIS history.

Born in 1909 in Berrien County, Michigan, John P. Metras coached the Western Mustangs from 1940 to 1969, winning 110 games, eight Yates Cups and three Churchill Bowls. He also served as Western’s athletic director from 1945 to 1972. Metras was the first university coach inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, entering in 1980, and is honoured each year through the J.P. Metras Trophy, awarded to the outstanding U SPORTS lineman.

Born in 1909 in Solvay, New York, Frank Tindall played one season with the Toronto Argonauts before beginning his coaching career. He coached at Queen’s University from 1939 to 1975, and the Frank Tindall Trophy is presented each year to the U SPORTS football coach of the year.

Born in 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Bernie Custis starred at quarterback for Syracuse from 1948 to 1950. In 1951, he started for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, becoming the first Black quarterback in modern professional football, and he won the Grey Cup with Hamilton in 1953. Custis later turned to coaching and became head coach at McMaster University, where he was named OUAA Coach of the Year in 1982 and 1984 and CIAU Coach of the Year in 1982. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

Ken Green was one of the most influential figures in Canadian football officiating, with a career spanning six decades from 1956 to 2016. After answering a newspaper ad for officials while studying at the University of Toronto, he went on to work more than 3,500 games, including eight U SPORTS national championships and the 1979 Can-Am Bowl. He served as OUA Football Referee-in-Chief for over 25 years, supervised CFL officials for 12 years, and chaired the Football Canada Rules Committee for more than two decades. His honours include the Tom Cheney Award (1990), the Football Canada Diamond Award (2022), and induction into the inaugural class of the Football Ontario Hall of Fame (2023). Remembered for his humility, wit, and fairness, Ken’s legacy lives on in the many officials he mentored.