Scott Radley: Jim Young and four other local greats named to Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame
If you're a sports fan, you've surely heard all kinds of wild tales, crazy fables and fantastical lore about athletes and games from the past. Some which are true, some which are kind of true and some which have become' true over time.
But have you heard the one about the player who was traded from the NFL to the CFL?
You haven't?
You should. Not only because this one is absolutely legit but because he was a local guy. And we learned on Thursday that come October he's being inducted in the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame.
After graduating from Westdale High School roughly 60 years ago, Jim Young starred for Queen's University and then signed on with the Minnesota Vikings. Landing there was a big deal, even in the mid-1960s. There weren't many Canadians playing south of the border at the time.
There was just one down side for the talented and tough running back. He didn't get to play much. Special teams, mainly. With the odd carry thrown in.
I got some touchdowns in preseasons but they don't count," he says.
The Vikings weren't great back then. Six years after joining the league as an expansion team, they'd yet to make the playoffs. Those four Super Bowl appearances they'd eventually make were still a couple seasons away. And Fran Tarkenton hadn't developed into the hall of fame quarterback he'd become, so he was on the way out in a trade to the New York Giants.
That got the team's general manager thinking.
Jim Finks was that GM's name. For seven years he'd held the same position with the outstanding Calgary Stampeders after some time playing and coaching in red and white. Thanks to his time there, he knew the Canadian game and the players. In fact, one of the guys he'd lured north while running the Stamps was QB Joe Kapp.
The story goes that he knew Kapp was interested in returning to play in the States. He also knew Young was willing to come home to Canada. So with the idea that maybe this was the way to replace Tarkenton, Fink put the wheels in motion for a totally unique cross-league move.
There was just one catch. Young's CFL rights were held by the Toronto Argonauts but Kapp was now playing for the B.C. Lions.
Young says the Lions initially offered Willie Fleming (if you're an Angelo Mosca fan, you're understand the delicious irony of both Fleming and Kapp being in the middle of a story about a guy from Hamilton) for those rights but he didn't want to go. B.C. eventually sent Dick Fouts and Bill Symons to Toronto for the QB's rights. Then flipped Kapp to Minnesota.
It was unprecedented but Young wasn't complaining about the deal. He'd grown up watching the CFL, the move earned him a nice raise - at the time, that was a thing - and most of all, it got him on the field.
When I got (to B.C.) I got to play actual football," he says.
And do it really well.
Now spending most of his time at wide receiver, he became known as Dirty 30 - his uniform number - for his aggressive style that was trouble for defensive backs. In 12 seasons, he set club records for receiving yards, receptions and touchdowns that lasted for decades.
He eventually had that number retired by the Lions and was inducted into the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. And now here.
I was surprised," he says of the call he received recently telling him of this honour. I didn't know there was a Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame. It's wonderful."
He's not going in alone.
Also being inducted on Oct. 26 will be Gene Sutton whose career as a builder touched all levels of sport from high school to university to international competition, runner Johnny Miles who twice claimed the Boston Marathon, blind golfer Nick Genovese who was just inducted into the Ontario Golf Hall of Fame, and dragon boat legend Kathy Levy whose Knot-A-Breast team just won another world championship.
Each with their own incredible story.
Tickets for the induction at Michelangelo Banquet Centre are $60. They are available through United Trophy on Cannon Street or at hamiltonsportshalloffame.com.
Scott Radley is a Hamilton-based columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sradley@thespec.com