Golden Hawk alumni & friends of the football program,

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     Roan Kane played WR for the Golden Hawks from 1970 to 1973 under the legendary Dave ‘Tuffy’ Knight. Kane and Stacey Coray (Talks with Hawks Episode 7) became the first black players to wear the purple and gold, making them the ‘Jackie Robinsons’ of Laurier football history. Kane was a member of the 1972 provincial championship team, Eastern Championship team and the National Runner-up team. Kane graduated in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. Now residing just outside of New York City, Kane was recently kind enough talk to me in a recent phone interview.

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I have gone over the previous 30 episodes that I have completed so far and it seems like I have interviewed a disproportionate number of defensive backs. That trend continues with this latest feature. Courtney Stephen played for the Hawks in 2008 and 2009. During those two seasons, he had 7 interceptions and 5 fumble recoveries. In his rookie year, he was a 2^nd team OUA All Star and the following year he was a 1^st team OUA All Star and a 2^nd team All Canadian.  He was destined for greater things, transferring to Northern Illinois to play NCAA football. After sitting a year, Stephen contributed significantly during the 2011 and 2012 seasons. During his final season, Northern Illinois was 12-0 becoming the first MAC school to play in the Orange Bowl. Although they lost 31-17 to Florida State, his team finished 15th in the national rankings. In 2012, he was the 8^th overall selection in the CFL draft and played 6 years with Hamilton before moving on to Calgary for the 2019 season. He has now returned to Hamilton to continue his CFL career and it will be awesome to see a great Laurier football alum play locally in the GTA. Current Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator Ron VanMoerkerke had this to say about him: Courtney separated himself from his peers in two ways. The first was his physical approach to the game. He would not be intimidated by anyone and he set the tone for the defense from his first day on campus. The second way was his relentless drive. Everything he did on the field and for his teammates was on another level. Although he was only with us for two years, his performance and passion for the game of football make him a Laurier legend.

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     Austin Reusch played defensive back for Laurier from 2012 to 2015 (Earliest Editor’s Note ever: For some reason, by far, I have interviewed more defensive backs than any other position).  After graduating from Corpus Christi in Burlington, Austin was admitted to the Business program at Laurier and joined the team as an invited walk on. Austin may in fact be one of the nicest, happiest, kindest, most pleasant people anyone could ever meet. For the past couple of seasons, he helped coach DBs at WLU and he has also served as the defensive coordinator for the Cambridge Lions. He is also an amazing golfer and I have selfishly hitched my wagon to his in Gary Jefferies’ annual tournament so as to have a ringer in my foursome. It was a pleasure to have Austin as my subject for Episode 30.

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Golden Hawk alumni & friends of the football program,

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Levondre Gordon was a running back who played at my high school at STFXSS in MIssissauga. Although I have coached there many years, I took a few years off when I started doing recruiting for Laurier so I never actually coached him, but I did watch him play and have a ton of success including helping his team win a championship in his final year. It was certainly a priority of mine to encourage him to come to WLU. Starting at Laurier in 2015, he spent his rookie year mainly watching from the bench as Dillon Campbell was starting the final year of his amazing career. In his sophomore year, Gordon was part of a RB core (lead by Eric Guiltinan) that lead the nation in terms of most team rushing yards (other key RBs were Osayi Iginuan, Darian Waite, Tre Nicholson, & Eli Fera).  Gordon himself lead the nation in rushing average with 8.7 yards per carry.  In his third and fourth years, he rushed for over 800 yards both times (earning 2^nd team OUA All Star status in 2016), and in his final year(2017) he lead the nation in rushing with over a 1000 yards. He was a 1^st team OUA, 1^st team All Canadian, Team MVP, and an academic all Canadian.  Gordon finished 2nd all time in regular season career rushing yards (3348) at WLU and he added another 399 in the playoffs. In December of 2019, I made sure he was the first football player in STFXSS school history to have his jersey number retired.  One day, I am sure he will be inducted into the WLU Hall of Fame.

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     ‘Talks with Hawks’ returns in 2021 with a new set of interviews.  Episode 28 features members of the current coaching staff. We live in an era where civilized discourse seems to have disappeared. One of the many lessons that football can teach young men is respect. ‘Ballers’ are competitors. We all want to win. We want to dominate the man across from us. We want to beat him up physically.  But in my opinion, if we are doing it right, then after we knock that man on his ass, we help him up again. Then, we do it again. And after the game, knowing our opponent has had the same goal, we shake hands. With that in mind, today’s column is about respect for the opposition.

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Golden Hawk alumni & friends of the football program,

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     Jamie Lalonde was a much heralded recruit that had an extremely successful high school career at Sir Allan MacNab in Hamilton.  After spending his freshman year at another OUA school, Lalonde played and started at center for Laurier from 2014 to 2016.  He was part of an underrated offensive line that lead the way for Dillon Campbell to lead the nation in rushing in 2014 and 2015.  As well, he anchored the group that lead the nation in team rushing yards in 2016.  During that season, he was selected a 2^nd team OUA All Star. Most importantly, he won a Yates Cup. Since 2017, Lalonde has been the Offensive Coordinator at Clarkson Football North.

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     Kojo Millington played defensive end for Laurier from 1997 to 2000. In 1999, he was the OUA Lineman of the Year, a 1^st Team OUA All Star, and a 1^st Team All Canadian. He was also the Team MVP.  In 2000, he was a 1^st Team OUA All Star and a 2^nd Team All Canadian. He was a Laurier HOF inductee in 2007, and in 2011 he was selected as part of the Laurier Team of the Century.

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