He sits alone in a Toronto nursing home, living a day to day existence as he battles health concerns that threaten to strike down his vitality, an almost forgotten name of a different time. He is steeped in the tradition of the CFL, but lately has been stalked by human tragedy.
JI Albrecht, the architect of champion football teams. He was the keen eyed scout who brought many of the games best known names to the north and the man who first dreamed the dream of Atlantic expansion. In short, one of the leagues most colourful characters and for a while there he had become an after thought, one of those whatever happened to features,
That is until Earl McRae, the Ottawa Sun’s columnist at large took up the cause of one of the CFL’s most accomplished icons and a man who surely must have thousands of stories for the archives.
McRae recounted the recent history of JI, a man who has had to share too large a burden of personal pain than he should have had to. The first column from the Sun appeared on June 2nd, a heart wrenching tale of a once vital part of the CFL community laid low by health and family problems. It was a timely column, with just the right amount of information and emotion and it has provided a groundswell of support for the forgotten Albrecht that warms the heart.
Since that column appeared dozens of CFL alumni have made contact with JI, former college players, coaches, scouts and every day citizens have phoned, written or in some cases dropped in for a short visit, to pray, to share a laugh or maybe hear a tale.
McRae followed up his column of two weeks ago with an update, a turn around that seems to have brought much happiness to the former CFL mainstay and given him a lift when needed most. A most rewarding thing for a writer we would imagine.
We celebrate our game with pride, so it’s particularly disheartening to hear of the pillars of the sport feeling abandoned. Hopefully, McRae has provided a nudge to those in the CFL family to take better care of those that have built the game over the years. The old hands such as Albrecht made the CFL into the national institution that it is, they’re accomplishments of those days the foundation for our memories and history.
Thankfully Earl McRae stepped in before it was too late to make a difference. He should be commended for his interest and more importantly for his intervention.
The two articles can be found at the links below.
June 15-CFL icon buoyed by support
June 2-This isn't how a legend should end
JI Albrecht, the architect of champion football teams. He was the keen eyed scout who brought many of the games best known names to the north and the man who first dreamed the dream of Atlantic expansion. In short, one of the leagues most colourful characters and for a while there he had become an after thought, one of those whatever happened to features,
That is until Earl McRae, the Ottawa Sun’s columnist at large took up the cause of one of the CFL’s most accomplished icons and a man who surely must have thousands of stories for the archives.
McRae recounted the recent history of JI, a man who has had to share too large a burden of personal pain than he should have had to. The first column from the Sun appeared on June 2nd, a heart wrenching tale of a once vital part of the CFL community laid low by health and family problems. It was a timely column, with just the right amount of information and emotion and it has provided a groundswell of support for the forgotten Albrecht that warms the heart.
Since that column appeared dozens of CFL alumni have made contact with JI, former college players, coaches, scouts and every day citizens have phoned, written or in some cases dropped in for a short visit, to pray, to share a laugh or maybe hear a tale.
McRae followed up his column of two weeks ago with an update, a turn around that seems to have brought much happiness to the former CFL mainstay and given him a lift when needed most. A most rewarding thing for a writer we would imagine.
We celebrate our game with pride, so it’s particularly disheartening to hear of the pillars of the sport feeling abandoned. Hopefully, McRae has provided a nudge to those in the CFL family to take better care of those that have built the game over the years. The old hands such as Albrecht made the CFL into the national institution that it is, they’re accomplishments of those days the foundation for our memories and history.
Thankfully Earl McRae stepped in before it was too late to make a difference. He should be commended for his interest and more importantly for his intervention.
The two articles can be found at the links below.
June 15-CFL icon buoyed by support
June 2-This isn't how a legend should end
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