Skating in to Katy Perry’s ‘Roar’, TSN’s Rod Black awkwardly made his way around the tables and to the podium.
Barely able to stay upright — sporting a Hamilton Tiger-Cat football helmet and Team Canada jersey while carrying a hockey stick and basketball — his goofy athlete for all seasons persona sparked the desired raucous round of laughter.
The introduction wasn’t only amusing but symbolically-fitting, given the variety of athletic standouts assembled for Tuesday’s 13th annual Milton Chamber of Commerce Sports Celebrity Dinner and Auction at Rattlesnake Point Golf Club.
Headlined by former Maple Leafs great Darcy Tucker and figure skating legend Kurt Browning, this year’s lineup represented six different sports, and a wide array of championship accolades.
Their collective resumé was highlighted by three Olympic medals, a Stanley Cup triumph, three Memorial Cup wins, nearly two dozen world titles and a pair of Grey Cup victories.
Those last two championships belonged to long-time CFL quarterback Henry Burris, who recalled eating Fruit Loops out of the Grey Cup with his eldest son following his second win with the Calgary Stampeders.
Now leading the Ottawa Redblacks, Burris said for him, ‘winning wasn’t about me. It was about others who had supported me.”
With that in mind, he praised event organizers and supporters for creating a fundraiser that’s now amassed roughly $260,000 for high school scholarships.
“When we’re called to the cause, we should not pause,” he stressed.
On a lighter note, Burris was put on the spot about the Seahawks’ questionable last-minute play in Sunday’s Super Bowl — essentially called upon to share the feeling of all in attendance during the evening-ending hot-stove chat.
“Yeah, I would have given it to the ‘Beast’ (Marshawn Lynch).”
Asked about the ongoing woes of their former team, Tucker and fellow Maple Leafs alumnus Ric Nattress both agreed that poor drafting has factored heavily into Toronto’s lack of success.
“How many guys have you picked that are playing in your system?” questioned Nattress, a Stanley Cup champ with the 1989 Calgary Flames.
A three-time Memorial Cup winner with the Kamloops Blazers, Tucker said he doesn’t feel the Leafs need to ‘blow it up’ in order to turn the corner, but that fundamental changes are likely required.
“I just don’t know (the answer)… I guess I’d be the coach or GM if I did,” said the hard-nosed winger, who upped the ante on his live auction autographed jersey just a day before the dinner — agreeing to throw a case of his new craft beer and a visit to his home rink into the bidding mix.
A third-generation Olympian, 2012 bronze medal canoeist Mark Oldershaw recalled how a reporter’s simple question in London offered newfound appreciation about his family’s athletic accomplishments.
“He asked how it felt to medal in the place where it had all started with my grandfather back in 1948. At that moment it clicked… ‘Wow, this is really something’.”
While a two-time Olympic gold medalist with the Olympic women’s hockey team in 2002 and ‘06, Cheryl Pounder chose to talk about Canada’s most recent triumph in Sochi — and how her broadcasting composure (calling game for TSN) went out the window during that epic overtime comeback.
“I said ‘If they (Canadians) get one (goal), watch out,” she recalled. “When they won I had to leave the room. I was a babbling mess.”
A two-time world driving champion who’ll now vie for a third title later this month in Australia, Milton’s own Jody Jamieson said he’s been blessed when it comes to his harness racing career, something he “truly cherishes.”
“I’ve often been called the Wayne Gretzky of harness racing… hey, I’m cool with that. I know it’s a sport a lot of people don’t know much about, but like Darcy and Ric said about the Leafs, once you’re in it a while you bleed it.”
Offering a similarly-emotional sentiment about basketball while recounting Canada’s journey to reach the world championships was national team coach turned Raptors’ commentator Leo Rautins.
He said that while expectations may have needed to be tempered somewhat after the Raptors’ stellar start, this year’s squad is one to get truly excited about.
“They can really play.”
Asked about his sensational skating career, Browning — a four-time world champ — offered a response that was equal parts blunt and succinct.
“I’d go into competition just thinking, ‘If I don’t win, someone else is going to… and that would just suck.”
Admitting that when he first start competing, figure skating was considered by many to be a ‘girl’s sport’, Browning said he was “too busy having fun to notice.”
“It (skating) chose me, I didn’t choose it.”
Along with the always-spirited live auction, the event included a silent auction and autograph session.
Also featured was a pre-dinner TSN Sports Centre-style video of this year’s celebrity lineup at the event put together by Black.
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