Jacques Dussault was the first francophone to break many barriers and his status as a pioneer will be recognized. On Thursday, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame announced that he will be inducted there.
Dussault learned it from the mouth of Wally Buono, legendary Quebec coach, who called Dussault to tell him.
And anyone who knows “the coach” will not be surprised by his reaction. “It’s the kind of thing that doesn’t turn me on more than that. What made me happy was talking to Wally because I coached with him for three years. My reaction is, “What am I doing here?” I did not expect that. It was not my goal, ”replied Dussault, in a conference call.
Dussault plays down what he accomplished, but at the time it was anything but trivial. After training as a coach in high schools and at the University of Trois-Rivières, he was hired in 1981 by Albany State, in the American university ranks.
“My goal was that if another coach came along with a weird name – because I didn’t often call myself Jacques Dussault! – let the door be open for him. For me, it was very, very important that if another wanted to have this kind of experience, that he didn’t start with a hold against him, because there had been one before him and he didn’t. didn’t impress anyone. »
Dussault would go on to become, in 1982, the very first French-speaking coach in CFL history when the Alouettes hired him as a defensive assistant.
“Of course it makes me a little velvet to have been the first francophone to reach different levels, like the CFL, because my English was not the most fantastic, he admits. I learned that at 20, 21 playing at McGill. It makes me a little velvet because football was not a sport for French speakers. It was hockey for a lot of reasons. Barriers have been broken down. »
Also in the field
Dussault will then pursue a busy career, which will take him, among other things, to the universities of the Maritimes (Acadia and Mount Allison), to the short-lived World Football League (the Machine), to the Canadian League (the Alouettes) and to the Quebec university, as the very first head coach in the history of the Carabins.
“I can’t speak for the others, but I wanted to be Jacques Dussault,” said Alouettes general manager Danny Maciocia on Wednesday. He had coached the Machine, the Concordes, the Alouettes. I was young, so I spent a lot of time with him to see how a young coach can make a living. »
In parallel with his career, all of Quebec football has taken off. Uncomfortable to talk about his own journey, Dussault gets carried away, moreover, when he describes this growth of football here.
“The Rouge et Or program is to be congratulated, because it brought enthusiasm for football in a part of Quebec where it was more or less popular,” he notes. I come from Sainte-Foy. In my day, when you talked about football, you made yourself look funny! »
It must be said that Dussault contributed to this by pushing for local talent. Danny Maciocia, for example, says that Dussault recruited him with Team Quebec in 1993 for the Canada Cup.
“Then, in 1996, when the Alouettes came back, it was he who called Bob Price [entraîneur-chef à l’époque] to tell him that a young person was interested in volunteering, to find out if he wanted to meet me. I got the interview and that’s where I started my CFL career. It’s all thanks to Jacques. »
Dussault was then able to follow the growth of Quebec football closely, at different levels of football. “I coached four years with the Estacades [NDLR : ai niveau juvénile AAA]. You can be two years without seeing a match at this level, and you come back and the players are bigger, stronger!
“When I started with the Alouettes, in the early 1980s, we drafted Canadian players, and after five or six names in the 1er turn, it stopped there. The caliber was not level. Then it exploded. There, we have three French-speaking universities that have football programs. In the past, there were none! »
Still passionate
Dussault has been officially retired since 2017, Dussault remains on the lookout. Maciocia says he speaks to Dussault “every 10 days”. “And during the season, it’s every week. We always talk to each other 24 or 48 hours before a match, ”reveals the DG.
Alouettes special teams coordinator Byron Archambault says he never “had the chance” to be coached by Dussault. But Quebec football is a small world, so they often interacted, especially when Archambault was part of the Carabins coaching staff, from 2017 to 2019.
“One time he calls me, ‘I saw you do something different with the placements, the way you place guys’ feet. Can you explain to me why you are doing this? It’s unconventional.”
“I’m here, a young coach, it took me a second or two. I went, “wow.”
“Every time you talk to him, it’s a pleasure. He is very bright. It is said that people who are “football smart” see the game in slow motion. Him, it’s like that, and he is able to explain his way of seeing football, how to slow it down. This is a very high quality in a coach. »
Larry Smith, the pioneer
Larry Smith has done and seen it all.
The native of Hudson, Quebec has touched everything in the CFL. Winner of two Gray Cup titles as a player with the Montreal Alouettes, he returned to the world of football 12 years after his retirement, this time as league commissioner. Under his reign, the CFL tried to establish itself in the United States, but the experiment lasted only a few seasons before returning to an all-Canadian format.
“The money from the five American teams went to the Canadian clubs. It was helpful for us,” notes Larry Smith to this day.
After resigning from his position as commissioner, Larry Smith immediately became president of the Alouettes from 1997 to 2001, then from 2004 to 2010. It was under his leadership that the club moved to Percival-Molson Stadium and then won its last two league titles. Gray Cup in 2009 and 2010.
“When we started in Montreal, it was a mess,” he recalls. We have to admit that he left the club in a much better place. The Alouettes went on a 100-game sell-out streak while he was in charge of the team. Since her departure, the club has not only been unable to win another Gray Cup, it hasn’t reached the final yet.
Since 2010, Larry Smith has been a senator enjoying life with his dog. He is admitted to the Hall of Fame for all of his work and obtains the title of “builder”. The 71-year-old is proud of all his accomplishments. However, the concussions, so frequent in his time, prevent him from remembering, in particular, his career as a player.
Larry Smith has done and seen it all. But if his memories no longer belong to him, they will be forever protected in the Hall of Fame.
The People’s Man, John Bowman
John Bowman did not play football when he was little like many. He certainly did not dream of making a career there like his friends. In fact, he started playing football with the goal of finding a prom companion. And now he’s inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The one who occupies the 7e echelon of the CFL ranking for the number of quarterback sacks has participated in 14 seasons in the league and they have all been in the uniform of the Alouettes. In reaction to his accession to the Temple in his first year of eligibility, Bowman simply replied that the voters were “irrational”.
There is only one reason why Bowman is now in this position today: his work ethic. He himself admits that he was never the most talented, the fastest, or even the strongest player. But he was “the most hardworking” and this ardor allowed, according to him, the partisans to attach themselves to his person. “I don’t run 40 yards in 4.4 seconds. People can’t relate to that. On the other hand, I have always worked very hard. And that, people can recognize themselves in that. »
It is also a story of resilience and longevity. “Some coaches wanted to cut me out of the team. But to have remained so long in the team shows how far we have come. I wouldn’t change that for the world, because it made me the man I am today. »
Although the American said he did not know where Canada was before arriving in Quebec, he claims to have fallen in love with the city. He added that he was disappointed to have won “only” two Gray Cup titles. He remains a proud representative of the Alouettes.
Justin Vezina, The Press