Steve Milton: Friday, the Hall of Fame, Saturday, it’s the game
This is a very important weekend at Tim Hortons Field for Orlondo Steinauer, on two vastly different fronts.
One in the present, one in the forever.
On Saturday night, as a head coach, he must find a way to help his Hamilton Tiger-Cats win against the visiting Calgary Stampeders. On Friday night, as one of the best defensive backs in the history of the CFL, he must find a way to articulate what it means to be inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
It's an interesting situation, because you are playing a game, too," Steinauer said Monday. But, this is an opportunity to recognize all the people who have supported me and believed in me all the way through."
Among those in the special section for guests of the pandemic-delayed inductions of the 2020 and 2021 (Steinauer's) classes of 13 players will be, of course, Steinauer's immediate family - his wife Gina and their three daughters Kiana 23, Rheyna 17, and Taeya, 16 - some close friends from Western Washington University where they were both selected to the all-Century team, Gina as a basketball star, her husband as both a cornerback and punt returner, and even the university's Director and the Assistant Director of Sports Information.
I'm humbled by that," he said.
Steinauer, who turned 49 last week, was a CFL all-star five times, at three different positions; cornerback, halfback, and safety. Wherever his team needed him, he moved there and finished with the second-most interception yards in history behind fellow Hall of Famer Less Browne.
He played with the Ticats from 1997-2000 and the next eight years with the Toronto Argonauts, winning a Grey Cup with each. He also was an assistant coach and defensive co-ordinator with the Argos, came to Hamilton as defensive co-ordinator in 2013, spent a year with Fresno State, then returned as assistant head coach to June Jones whom he ultimately replaced at the helm.
Steinauer came north to play for the 1996 Ottawa Rough Riders, who folded that off-season, sending him into the dispersal draft which delivered him to Hamilton and head coach Don Sutherin. The team went only 2-16 and Sudsie" was fired partway through the season.
But Sutherin had immediately liked what he saw in Steinauer, started him at cornerback on the other side of the field from all-star Eric Carter and told The Spectator, Orlondo's a big surprise. He's got good speed, great intelligence and is a big hitter. And he is also very coachable."
Steinauer, who wore Sutherin's old No. 22, rewarded his coach's perception with an Eastern all-star season in which he tied for the league lead in interceptions with Kavis Reed, who picked off two against inexperienced Hamilton quarterbacks Jason McCullough and Marquel Fleetwood in the final game of that dismal season. The Spectator headlined Steinauer, The Cat Burglar."
Ron Lancaster arrived as head coach for 1998, brought in Danny McManus, Darren Flutie, Carl Coulter and Ron Williams for the offence, and presciently, lured Sutherin back to handle the defence which was mostly intact. They lost on Calgary's last-play field goal in the Grey Cup that year, losing on a last-minute field then beat the Stampeders handily in 1999 for the franchise's most recent Cup win.
The defence and special teams were mostly the same and it taught me what a difference a little bit of offence, and we got a lot of offence, plus a different culture can make," Steinauer says. There were strong lessons that you can go from worst to first."
Steinauer had three interceptions in a game twice in his career and in a romp over Edmonton in August 1998, scored touchdowns on both a punt return and an interception, but says he reflects mostly on the positive feeling he had playing both southern Ontario cities and the lessons he learned.
When pressed, he'll mention the special togetherness of the 2004 Argo Cup champions and that the Ticats' 1999 Grey Cup win made him extremely happy" because of the team's obsessive internal drive to get back to the big game after coming so close to winning it.
One of the top five memories was probably just making a team because that's what gave me an opportunity. When I came up here unknown in 1996 and Ottawa put me on the practice roster, I didn't know where that was going to lead. I didn't even know if I'd get picked up in the dispersal draft. So, if you want to bullet-point it: making a team; then winning a couple of Grey Cups; and then ultimately having an impact on other people and helping them become great are some of the things I'll always remember."
And, above it all, the warmth and sense of belonging he and his family felt in Hamilton and Toronto. All five of them are now dual citizens, which he characterizes with a line borrowed from his former teammate and coach, Michael Pinball" Clemons."
He said that he's American by birth and Canadian by choice. And that's the choice we made. To make Canada home."
Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: smilton@thespec.com