As Rob Ford prepared for the polls to open on election day, he phoned the coach in his corner for a pep talk.
“He called just because he said I was a good luck charm on the campaign,” Don Cherry said. “I said: 'You're gonna kill em.'“
Mr. Ford went on to a resounding win later that night. Now, Mr. Cherry is aiming to bring the same good fortune to Toronto's new mayor at his inauguration next week.
The Hockey Night In Canada legend will introduce Mr. Ford at his ceremonial first council meeting Dec. 7.
In an interview Friday, Mr. Cherry said he and Mr. Ford are a lot alike. They're both ordinary guys who say what's on their minds no matter the criticism, according to Mr. Cherry.
That's one of the reasons the hockey personality threw his support to the underdog from Etobicoke early in the campaign season.
“He just seems to talk the language of the people,” Mr. Cherry said. “ He doesn't shoot the bull, you know what I mean? I think he's terrific. There aren't a lot of politicians like Rob Ford.”
That's the jist of what Mr. Cherry plans to say at Mr. Ford's inauguration, where he's promised to keep his remarks short and sweet.
“I'm not going to say much. I didn't know I was going to speak until I read it in the papers. I thought I was just going to put the chain around his neck.”
(According to the agenda for next week's meeting, the city clerk will actually slip the chain of office over Mr. Ford's head.) Mr. Ford is the second politician to receive Mr. Cherry's public endorsement recently. He also supported former OPP commissioner and Conservative candidate Julian Fantino in his successful federal by-election bid in Vaughan last Monday.
But Mr. Cherry, who lives in Mississauga, has no plans to enter the political arena himself.
“I'm too great on television,” he quipped.
