Leo Cahill has passed away

[R.J]

My condolences to his family. Leo is one of the greats.
http://torontosun.com/sports/football/cfl/toronto-argonauts/simmons-former-argos-coach-leo-cahill-dies-at-89

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Very sad news today in the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CFL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CFL</a>..<br><br>Leo Cahill has passed away.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Argos?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Argos</a> <a href="https://t.co/xiNUoOzowi">pic.twitter.com/xiNUoOzowi</a></p>&mdash; CFL News (@CFL_News) <a href="https://twitter.com/CFL_News/status/964565227017789440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 16, 2018</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[paulwoods13]

Not unexpected, but sad nonetheless. The greatest promoter Cdn football ever saw, and a superb talent scout as well.

[gilthethrill]

Very thankful to have met such a huge piece of Argo history.

[argolio]

A unique character to be sure.

RIP

[Argo]

Goodbye, Leo, we're sad to see you go.

RIP.

[Topshelf]

An all time Argo for sure, they should have coaches on that banner, not including Pinball, Leo must have been the most famous coach we've had.

[Shatto]

Being lucky (and old) enough, to have lived through the Cahill era, I can't really do justice to how much he enthused Toronto for the Argos and the CFL. Reporters loved his colourful manner, outrageous quips and his controversial statements. In the warm up before a game, he would go to centre field and stare at the other team, as it went through its drills. It was almost as if he was making a statement, that he was there and you wont be able to ignore him. Even with all the high profile teams existing in Toronto today, Cahill in his prime, would have demanded attention from the media.

The Argo players loved him and the fans of other teams couldn't stand him---but they couldn't ignore him. As time has elapsed, even fans from other teams now remember him fondly and respect what he brought to the league. I hope over the next couple of days, we will see some clips of his more memorable moments, especially those in front of the cameras.

Hopefully there will be a tribute by the team either before the start of the first home game or during halftime. He was unique and I doubt if we will see his like again.

[doubleblue]

Goodbye, Leo, we're sad to see you go.

RIP.

Good one. Good Bye Leo. I have that book. He was one of a kind. So glad I was able to do my small part in helping him out last year.

[Argo57]

Sad news, Leo Cahill a great Argo who should be in the HOF.
I’m glad last years Go Fund Me response to his health situation showed him that Argonaut fans hadn’t forgotten him and still cared about his well being.

[gilthethrill]

Anyone on the forum ever get the privalalege to see Leo coach the Rifles before he joined the Argos? OV...Shatto perhaps?

[jerrym]

He turned a team that had been losing for more than a decade into a winner with a flare and a sense of humour that was entertaining in itself.

[doubleblue]

Anyone on the forum ever get the privilege to see Leo coach the Rifles before he joined the Argos? OV...Shatto perhaps?

Yeah at Old Maple Leaf Stadium. Held about 15,000. Not the best place to watch a Football game, but it was American rules so they could fit the field in easier than a CFL field. It was made more for day baseball. Lighting not what we have now.
Leo brought some of his Rifles to the Argos. Ed Harrinton, Tom Wilkinson, Allen Aldridge come to mind. Maybe Charlie Bray and Don Jonas.

Steve Simmons had some Leo stories in the Sun today. I remember another one. Leo had cut a import DE named Mario Mariani but was keeping him around in case of injury. In the meantime J. I. Albreict the GM in Montreal got a hold of Mario and brought him to Montreal and had him in his office working out a contract. Leo had found that he suddenly needed Mario because an injury had cropped up, so when he found out where he was, he called J. I. But he disguised his voice and pretended to be Mario's father. Told J. I. there was a family emergency and he needed to talk to Mario. J. I. says he's sitting in my office right now and I will let you talk to him. Mario gets on the phone and Leo says, get your a.. back to Toronto I'm putting you on the roster. Don't remember just how he got out of Montreal, but Mario turned down J.I.'s offer returned to Toronto and played for the Argos for several years if I recall. But that was Leo and just one story of probably many.

[OV Argo]

Anyone on the forum ever get the privalalege to see Leo coach the Rifles before he joined the Argos? OV...Shatto perhaps?


Nope; i wasn't living in Toronto, and the Rifles and the Continental League were nowhere in the National sports media at the time (when the CFL was HUGE - as big as the NHL in terms of attention then);

but Leo led the Argos out of the desert to being a powerful team that was challenging for the GC - and got there in 71 - so probably my first fond memory of an Argo skipper involves him.

RIP - an all-time Argo, and all-time CFL personality !

[Al&Kat]

Leo the Lip RIP. We Argo die-hards of course love to remember his many Argo stories, but don't forget the years when
he brought that flamboyant style to TV, as a commentator for "The CFL on CBC".
CBC teamed Leo with Ronnie Lancaster, and it was a great match, I can remember many times seeing
Ronnie look at Leo and the look on Ronnie's face was like "Leo did you really just say that?!?"

For example, one great Leo quote from TV "he was as open as a white goat on a mountain"
the guy was just the best. thanks again from all us old Argo fans, Leo will live on in our hearts

[argos1873]

I wasn't around during his prime in Toronto, but the fact that his legendary stories are known by "younger" fans such as myself, says a lot about his impact on the team, the city and the league. RIP Leo "The Lip" Cahill, there will probably never be another like you.

[jerrym]

The following article is titled "The Saga of Leon McQuay" but much of it deals with Leo Cahill and the Argos in the 1970s, so I have excerpted those parts.



Leon was enticed to fly north by Toronto Argonaut coach Leo Cahill, who showed the 19 year old “a briefcase full of cash.
“Was it legal?” says [his widow] Ethel, “Hell no! ....

“Those were crazy times,” says former Argo “Tricky” Dick Thornton, “and we were all wearing weird clothes and there were protests and massive demonstrations. It was all those crazy things happening around us. I had to think outside the box and keep doing things differently in order to keep my own sanity.” The ‘71 Argos were a squad of dope-smoking, free-loving, longhaired lunatics. UCLA’s Mel Profit had played in the NFL but then disappeared for a year to backpack around Europe. He came back railing against “the cult of the athlete” before signing a pro contract in Toronto. Thornton gave gold pendants etched with his uniform number to every girl he slept with. ...

Mel had a store called the First Asylum – he sold the long robes like they wear in Morocco. Shirts that Africans wear. He was the number one guy that was dancing to his own drummer.” ...

“The city was so proud of those guys,” says Leo Cahill, who is now 83 and lives in Sarnia. “The thing that impressed me most is that people around the city couldn’t get enough of the players. They identified with them – they knew who they were. Even today, you could ask the normal person on the street, who’s playing the left guard? They wouldn’t have a clue. In those days, people on the street could name every player.” ...
“In all honesty, we smoked a bit. But we had young guys who’d do this on game day. Game day. I got upset with them about this. I wanted to win. I wanted to win. I’ve seen guys think they have a ball in their hand and the ball goes down to the ground – because they thought they had the ball.” [says Dave Raimey]
Cahill, an American who had played in the Rose Bowl and fought in Korea, hauled in his most precious catch with McQuay. ...

“I feel like I know Leo Cahill. I only met him once, when I was 2. My dad didn’t like many people, but he loved Leo Cahill.”
Cahill was shameless in rebuilding the Argos. They hadn’t been in the Grey Cup for 20 years. Media Mogul John Bassett owned the team and he was willing to open is bankbook in order to get the Argos back on top. The dollar was high and the CFL owners could compete with the salaries in the American and National Football Leagues in the US. Other franchises in Canada, like BC and Calgary, had built stable, winning teams. Now Toronto was going to crash their party. ...

The brazenness of the whole ’71 Argos spectacle infuriated the rest of Canada—rarely has everyone else hated Toronto with such intensity. “We went from nobody talking about the Argonauts to everyone talking about the Argonauts,” says Coach Leo Cahill. “It was a sensational time, up until that Grey Cup.”...

“One of the games,” says Raimey, “Leon didn’t even catch the plane. It was in Montreal. When he got there, Leo wanted everyone to stand up and clap. He missed the damn plane, you know. If that had been anyone else than Leon, Leo would have been livid. Any other team in the league would have benched him or traded him.”
“He kind of felt out of place,” says Cahill, “and he was getting his feet on the ground. He didn’t really have any friends on the football team. He was kind of a loner.
“He never really had an opportunity to express his talents. It went before him that he didn’t have the greatest attitude and all that. There was times during practice that he’d say, ‘I don’t feel too well.’ I said, go sit down. The other players thought I was (favouring him). They implied in their get-togethers and that that Leon was treated very special.” ...

Coach Leo Cahill was in heaven. Sure he babied his star player, but he was getting results. The team was winning and they were the hottest ticket in town.
“We went from modest season ticket holders from somewhere in the 20s to up to 40-thousand seats.
“As a coach you see great players like that once in a while. Leon could run faster sideways than most people could forwards ...

“I saw him get the ball,” says Raimey, “he made contact with the ball – he didn’t pull it in. He kept fumbling trying to catch it because someone was trying to tackle him, but he just let it go. This is what I remember – someone was closing in on him and he just let it go. He was more concerned about getting hit.
“The field was all wet,” says Cahill. “We were down inside the 10 yard line, and gave the ball to Leon, and unfortunately…I always said, when Leon slipped, I fell. Leon slipped the ballgame went out of control, I fell because I wanted so badly to win that game.”
Pete Martin: “The coach complained the ground caused the fumble – they said it was a bad call.” ...

“I went over to Leon after he fumbled on the sidelines,” says Cahill. “I put my arm around him and said, don’t you worry about that – it happens in football. He said something to me – I wish I could remember. I’m 83 now. I was kind of a father figure to him. He was really worried about living in the big city. He wasn’t friendly with the players. But they didn’t know what his feelings were–about how he’d be treated. If the players would have known his inner feelings, there would have been more sympathy. Then when he didn’t open up to them, go out and have a beer with them, they probably had the wrong impression.
“It was such a disappointment – that’s why people talk about it. They talk about it because they love the players, they loved the characters. You can’t go to a city now where the city identified with the players the way the people identified with that team." ...

After that season the team essentially disbanded. Theismann went on to have a hall-of–fame career in the NFL. And Leon McQuay was traded to Calgary—the very team he fumbled against the year before.


http://www.andrewgregg.ca/2012/11/19/the-saga-of-leon-mcquay/

[Argo]

Like I've said before, to me Leo will always be the Head Coach of the Toronto Argonauts and Leon McQuay the supremely talented running back. Respect. Gentlemen, RIP.

[ArgofanIan]

I was a kid when Leo was around... back then the ARGO's were bigger than life to me ... and Leo was the largest of all... I am not the best with words .... but Leo to me was the ultimate ARGO...only Pinball can compare IMO.... Think I am an ARGO fan all these years because of Leo and those Argo teams back then.


heard him kid the Hamilton fans... something like .... " at night they sit on the Hamilton mountain to look at the city lights of Toronto .... and wish they lived in There " ... always thought that was a funny jab... he always seem to have some funny quote.


Leo was really the heart of ARGOs in those days ... Think I remember him saying he bleeds double blue ... wish they would put his name up with the retired players...


Thank you and rest in peace Coach ... you are sadly missed

[Shatto]

One of Leo's great strengths was his ability to spot talent. A good example of that, was when he brought a relatively short and somewhat chubby QB from the minor league Toronto Rifles to the Argos. Wilkinson didn't look like the typical QB. Wilkinson didn't have the strongest arm and wasn't particularly quick, in fact the only really strong attribute he had was "he could win". And a win he did! CFL All Star QB for 3 years, CFL MOP one year.

Cahill saw something in Wilkinson that others had missed but that was one of Cahill's strengths--to spot and motivate talent. Just another reason he should be in the HOF.

[Jon Gonzo]

A childhood hero and his name was mentioned often in my household. I had the honour of meeting him once (gobsmacked) and of interviewing him another time. His energy, passion and personality were all top drawer.

[jerrym]

His family's description of Leo:" He was still razor sharp, sarcastic and hilarious - in other words, still Leo". In other words, the Leo we all love.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A statement on behalf of Leo Cahill’s family 💙<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ArgosFootball?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ArgosFootball</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CFL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#CFL</a> <a href="https://t.co/gLgKPR6G8V">pic.twitter.com/gLgKPR6G8V</a></p>&mdash; Toronto Argonauts (@TorontoArgos) <a href="https://twitter.com/TorontoArgos/status/965297873507225601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 18, 2018</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[jerrym]

Argofans' Paul Woods, who has an upcoming book on the 1991 Argos, and Joe Theismann comment on Leo. Any idea on when the book is coming out, Paul?



“One of the most memorable moments I had in sports was during the 100th Grey Cup in Toronto,” former Argos QB Joe Theismann said, taking a break on the 15th hole of a round of golf at a country club in Florida.
“We were all together. We were looking at film, studying the Grey Cup game and Leo came in and surprised us. All of a sudden, boom, there he was, talking to us with that grin on his face. He should be in the hall of fame for his smile, if for nothing else.
“If you look at pictures of Leo, imagine that Cheshire Cat with that grin. That’s Leo. There was always something going on behind those eyes. He was always thinking about something, that next move, that next acquisition. He was a great ambassador for the CFL.” ...

“He’s the greatest promoter Canadian football has ever seen,” said Paul Woods, an Argos historian who is currently working on a book about the Grey Cup-winning 1991 Argos squad. “I don’t think there’s anyone else that’s come even close to being able to sell the game and build up buzz and excitement for the team, the league and so on.
“He was just a master at getting attention and really arguably the peak periods of the Argonauts being in the sporting consciousness were both with Leo there.”
Cahill was a master recruiter and at a time in football when the CFL could offer comparable contracts to the NFL, he lured some major U.S. talent to Canada to come play for him. Theismann, running back Leon McQuay, safety Tim Anderson and defensive lineman Jim Stillwagon, to name a few, were All-Americans as college players and suited up for the Argos, thanks to Cahill. ....

“He trusted us to be men. We never had a lot of rules; not that they would have mattered to this group, but Leo knew that right away,” Theismann said. “I think Leo felt more like the ringmaster of a circus at times than he did the coach of a football team.
“We did have a group of characters. It was at a time when society was changing. You had the bell bottoms and the big lapels and the seersucker suits. You had the draft dodgers, everything that was going on at the time. A lot of guys went to Canada to avoid the draft.
“So you had all the signs, the love children and everything else. It wasn’t just a time in football. It was a time in society that was very unique. Leo was the perfect coach in that period of time.”
“One of the reasons I became a fan, partly was because my dad was an Argos fan, but they were a cool team,” Woods said.
“I once described them as the first adult males that I ever saw that had long hair. I grew up watching the Beatles and Ed Sullivan. I wanted long hair from the time I was seven years old, but adults weren’t wearing long hair. Then all of sudden the Argos had Mel Profit and all of these guys with hair sticking out of the back of their helmets and they just looked so goddamn cool.
“I just loved the look of the team and the feel. They had a swagger about them and I think that was because of the way that Leo was. Leo had that impish grin. Sometimes he could look sarcastic and he could be smoking a cigarette on the sidelines.
“He seemed to embrace the notion that he wanted iconoclasts, he wanted guys that wore turtlenecks instead of ties and wore big mustaches and had long hair and partied and all that stuff.
“It was the first sports team that I was aware of that being a rebel and being a wild person was not only allowed but encouraged in a way. Later we saw Charlie Findlay and the Oakland A’s and all that but I think the Argos were three or four years ahead of that stuff.”


https://www.cfl.ca/2018/02/22/theismann-leo-cahill-things-cool/

[paulwoods13]

Argofans' Paul Woods, who has an upcoming book on the 1991 Argos, and Joe Theismann comment on Leo. Any idea on when the book is coming out, Paul?



Thanks for asking. Likely won't be done for another 18 months, maybe longer. I have done more than 50 interviews but might need to do another 40 or 50. Likely won't begin writing before late this year, maybe early 2019. I just did a great interview with a close friend and associate of John Candy, and have another 10, including some really important ones, scheduled over the next week. But still some big ones that have not been done or scheduled. This project is taking a lot longer than the first one, which went from conception to publication in just 14 months. Partly because that involved fewer interviews (about four dozen), less travel and was generally not as big a story as this one. Also I had more time available for the project then than I do now.

[Al&Kat]

I also recall an event, a tribute dinner, to Leo in I think in 98 or 99, when he was presented with an "Honorary" Grey Cup ring.
It was in Etobicoke, I think, anyways many of his players were there, Symons, and even Thornton, who flew in all the way from
Thailand for the dinner. I recall the Head Table included Pat Marsden and Jim Hunt. Pinball was there also.
And I believe Angelo Mosca was also at the Head Table. What a great event...