Pinball Named to Canadian Sports Hall of Fame

[jerrym]

Pinball did it all on so many levels: as a player, coach, motivational speaker, franchise saviour, and model athlete.


Michael "Pinball" Clemons, Bryan Trottier and Colleen Jones headline the class of seven inductees named Tuesday to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. Also named were Olympic short track speed skating champion Annie Perreault, Paralympic swimmer Stephanie Dixon, mutil-sport Olympian Sue Holloway, and Special Olympics leader Dr. Frank Hayden.The induction ceremony is set for Nov. 1 in Toronto.
Clemons starred for the CFL's Toronto Argonauts between 1989-2000, winning four Grey Cups along with the 1990 Most Outstanding Player award and becoming one of the most popular players in league history. The exciting Florida-born running back/receiver/kick returner went on to coach the Argos, was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2008 and became a Canadian citizen in 2015.

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/canadian-sports-hall-of-fame-1.3553206

[R.J]

video: http://www.tsn.ca/video/canada-s-sports-hall-of-fame-2016-class-announcement~856952

[jerrym]

video: http://www.tsn.ca/video/canada-s-sports-hall-of-fame-2016-class-announcement~856952

The most surprising thing in the video for me was the statement that Pinball was the second winningest coach in Argo history with 68 wins. Considering how short his coaching career was, relatively speaking, I thought that was remarkable. Below is the list of head coaches. If you click on W (for wins) it will list the head coaches in order from fewest victories to most, with Pinball second on the list, but the listing is confusing because there are two listings for separate coaching periods, one at 13 wins (2000-2001) and one at 55 wins (2002-2007). Incidentally, Bob O'Billovich is the winningest coach.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Toronto_Argonauts_head_coaches

[Neely2005]

The most surprising thing in the video for me was the statement that Pinball was the second winningest coach in Argo history with 68 wins. Considering how short his coaching career was, relatively speaking, I that was remarkable. Below is the list of head coaches. If you click on W (for wins) it will list the head coaches in order from fewest victories to most, with Pinball second on the list, but the listing is confusing because there are two listings for separate coaching periods, one at 13 wins (2000-2001) and one at 55 wins (2002-2007). Incidentally, Bob O'Billovich is the winningest coach.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Toronto_Argonauts_head_coaches

Yet somehow Pinball never won coach of the year. I never understood how he didn't win it at least once.

[jerrym]

Yet somehow Pinball never won coach of the year. I never understood how he didn't win it at least once.

I agree. As coach he saved the franchise when it was on the brink of financial collapse by convincing players to keep giving it their all even though they weren't being paid and won a Grey Cup as coach.



The years after their back-to-back championships saw a return to mediocrity for the Argos. Ticket sales remained flat, and there were changes in ownership. Gimmicks to attract fans were greeted with criticism.[59] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Argonauts#cite_note-62) The Argos seemingly bottomed out in July 2003 when the CFL stripped control over the team from owner Sherwood Schwarz (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherwood_Schwarz). The team had amassed debts of over $20 million, including $17.4 owed to Schwarz himself.[60] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Argonauts#cite_note-63)
New ownership under David Cynamon (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Cynamon) and Howard Sokolowski (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Sokolowski) brought immediate dividends with another Grey Cup win in 2004 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/92nd_Grey_Cup).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toronto_Argonauts

There's a detailed history of his coaching career from "Pinball Clemons: The Making of a Canadian Hero" by Perry Lefko at:

https://books.google.ca/books?id=9RKk5mu6dooC&pg=PT100&lpg=PT100&dq=sherwood+schwartz+Pinball+Clemons&source=bl&ots=i0XpCt8IEl&sig=r1laMaubfPEwRlE72_hYLGHE8og&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjgy9iP9azMAhVMx2MKHUGVCGIQ6AEIKjAD#v=on epage&q=sherwood schwartz Pinball Clemons&f=false

[ArgoGabe22]

Why did Pinball get out of coaching? I'm sure it's out there somewhere but I don't remember the circumstances of the time. I wonder if Pinball would still have success in 2016 if he still coached.

[jerrym]

Why did Pinball get out of coaching? I'm sure it's out there somewhere but I don't remember the circumstances of the time. I wonder if Pinball would still have success in 2016 if he still coached.

Coaching is a highly stressful job and he had the opportunity to move into senior management.


Sources suggest Clemons, who retired as an Argos player in 2000 before becoming head coach, will head up the club’s management team as either a chief executive officer or president. I t’s also being reported that defensive co-ordinator Rich Stubler will take over as head coach of the team, though that’s expected to be announced at a later date.
Keith Pelley served as Argos president for four years before leaving the team to become president of a CTV-Rogers consortium that will broadcast the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and 2012 Summer Olympics in London .
Retaining Clemons was the biggest off-season question facing the Argos , who bowed out of the CFL playoffs with an upset loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the East Division final. Clemons, had previously led the Argos to a Grey Cup in 2004.
His decision to step away from coaching is hardly a surprise. The overwhelming notion this season was that a big reason why Clemons stayed on through the 2007 campaign was the allure of trying to win a Grey Cup on home turf.


http://www.citynews.ca/2007/12/03/pinball-clemons-to-step-down-as-coach-but-stay-with-argos/

[ArgoGabe22]

it does make me wonder if Pinball was as much as the head coach as we was the CEO, which was more of a honourable title rather than his actual position. I really didn't start following Argos until after Pinball left. But it does seem like Pinball wasn't meant to coach long term.

[jerrym]

Some of his achievements are listed below.



In the 2004 CFL season, Clemons was the first black (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_(people)) head coach to ever appear in a Grey Cup (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Cup) game. He became the first black head coach to win a Grey Cup championship during that same Grey Cup game (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/92nd_Grey_Cup), while also being the second coach to ever guide his team to a pro football (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_football_(gridiron)) championship in North America. (Darren Arbet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_Arbet) of the San Jose SaberCats (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jose_SaberCats) was the first to do so in 2002 with an ArenaBowl XVI (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArenaBowl_XVI) victory.) Clemons downplayed this milestone achievement, saying, "To tell you the truth, I don't know what it means to the first Black coach in the (Grey) Cup and to win it. I know that I can't do anything by myself, and on my own strength I'm very little good. Anything I accomplish has to be with the aid of individuals, and this team became like a family and is a family, it had very little to do with the colour of my skin".[8]
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball_Clemons#cite_note-Perry_Lefko_2006_p._29-8)
Achievements[edit (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pinball_Clemons&action=edit&section=6&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro)]

CFL record for most all-purpose yards (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All-purpose_yards), All-Time Regular Season: 25,396 (1989 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_CFL_season)–2000 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_CFL_season))[1] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball_Clemons#cite_note-cfl_mcy-1)
Recorded over 5,000 career yards in rushing (5,232), pass receptions (7,015), kickoff returns (6,349), and punt returns (6,025)
Argonauts team records for career pass receptions (682), punt return yards (6,025), punt returns (610), punt return touchdowns (8), kickoff return yards (6,349), and kickoff returns (300)
Argonauts team records for single-season punt return yards (1,070 in 1997), punt returns (111 in 1997), and kickoff returns (49 in 1997)
Argonauts team record for single-game kickoff returns (8) on August 21, 1990, versus Edmonton Eskimos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton_Eskimos)
CFL most outstanding player (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFL%27s_Outstanding_Player_Award) (1990 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_CFL_season))
Three-time Grey Cup champion as a player (1991 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_CFL_season#Grey_Cup_Championship), 1996 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/84th_Grey_Cup), 1997 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_CFL_season#Grey_Cup_Championship))
One-time Grey Cup champion as a head coach (2004 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/92nd_Grey_Cup))
First black (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_African-American_firsts) head coach to reach & win a Grey Cup championship
Two-time CFL All-Star (1990 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_CFL_season#1990_CFL_All-Stars), 1997 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_CFL_season#1997_CFL_All-Stars))
Two-time Tom Pate Award (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Pate_Memorial_Award) winner (1993 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_CFL_season#1993_CFL_Awards), 1996 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_CFL_season#1996_CFL_Awards))
1995 John Candy Memorial Award[21] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball_Clemons#cite_note-Who_p.81-21)
One-time Eastern Division Most Outstanding Player Trophy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Russel_Memorial_Trophy) winner (1990 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1990_CFL_season))
Four-time Eastern Division All-Star (1990, 1993, 1994, 1997)
Order of Ontario (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Ontario) (2001)
Voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TSN_Top_50_CFL_Players) (#31) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sports_Network).
Was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Football_Hall_of_Fame) in 2008.
Was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Sports_Hall_of_Fame) in 2009.[22] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball_Clemons#cite_note-22)
Retired number by the Toronto Argonauts (#31)


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinball_Clemons

[AngeloV]

it does make me wonder if Pinball was as much as the head coach as we was the CEO, which was more of a honourable title rather than his actual position. I really didn't start following Argos until after Pinball left. But it does seem like Pinball wasn't meant to coach long term.

As someone that went to practice during his time, Pinball was more the face of the club rather than the head coach. He would often mingle with the people in attendance at practice and let the co-ordinators fully handle practice. His main role as coach was making game time decisions and motivating, and less x's and o's. Either way, he was successful.

[Golden Fleece]

Well deserved. One of the best ever to combine great athleticism and great humanitarianism.

[jerrym]

Argo President Michael Copeland's on Pinballs selection to the Hall of Fame.



“There is no one more deserving to receive this honour than Michael “Pinball” Clemons,” said Toronto Argonauts President and CEO Michael Copeland. “Forever grateful for the opportunity this country has provided him, Pinball has used sports for a greater purpose. His countless hours of leadership, mentorship and coaching of our youth far exceeds what this country has given him. We are proud that he is a Toronto Argonaut.”


http://www.argonauts.ca/2016/04/26/pinball-gets-call-hall/

[Will]

Could not think of a more deserving entry.