Some residents of Pointe-Claire are hoping the city will name a brand new park after Tony Proudfoot, the late former Alouette star and CJAD 800 football commentator.
When Norm Horner saw that the city was asking for name suggestions for its new park development, Tony Proudfoot immediately jumped to mind.
"We people in Pointe Claire hold him in high esteem, and I think that park would be a fitting way to honour his memory," Horner said.
The Winnipeg-born, West Island-raised Proudfoot joined the Alouettes in 1971, and won two Grey Cups with the team in his nine seasons. In 1977, while he was still starring for the Alouettes, he became a physical education teacher at Dawson College, where he spent the next 30 years. During the Dawson College shooting on Sept. 13, 2006, he earned praise for rushing to the aid of a student who had been shot in the head. The student survived.
Proudfoot also served as color commentator on Alouettes broadcasts on CJAD 800 from the teams rebirth in 1996 until he stepped down in 2007 after being diagnosed with ALS.
His longtime broadcast partner, Rick Moffat, remembers a man who was committed to both his family and his community, and to getting people interested in physical activity.
He also how even after his ALS diagnosis, Proudfoot tried to stay as active as he could before the disease eventually claimed his life in 2010.
"Tony rose above all of that, and reminded us that we need to strive every day to be better," Moffat said. "For him, it really meant a life or death issue to stay active."
The park is expected to open next year in the new Greenwich neighborhood, near the corner of Des Frenes and Gendron Aves., a few blocks south of the Trans-Canada Highway.
-CJAD 800's Matthew Gilmour contributed to this report.