The B.C. Lions plan to commemorate their 50th season in the Canadian Football League by honouring many of their former players and personalities at the opening game of the regular season tomorrow at B.C. Place Stadium.
The festivities include a halftime parade around the field saluting the stars of the game, including several members of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and one player with a park named after him.
That would be Alan Wilson, a 15-year centre from the Vancouver Island community of Duncan that recognized their Lions star by putting his name on a local park.
Wilson and five other former Lions players recalled some of their finer moments yesterday at a press conference chaired by Lui Passaglia, the CFL's all-time leading scorer and now the team's community relations director.
Norm Fieldgate, a linebacker with the first B.C. team in 1954, remembered the good old days by recalling some of the changes in the Canadian game.
Helmets have improved so much, Fieldgate noted, that players now sit on them while resting on the sidelines, something that couldn't have happened in his early days when the flimsy head protection didn't even include a face mask.
There's downfield blocking now, blocking on punt returns and more passing than when the Regina-born Fieldgate broke into the CFL under coach Annis Stukus.
"Fifty years seem to have gone by very quickly and I'm thankful I'm able to enjoy the moment," said Fieldgate, who played from 1954 to 1967 and became a successful businessman before retiring.
"Many of my teammates aren't as fortunate."
Wilson, a project manager for a Vancouver energy company, still gets goose bumps when he thinks about his CFL career and being introduced before games when huge crowds were the norm in many CFL stadiums.
"The CFL was on a real upswing towards the end of my career," Wilson said. "The noise in places like B.C. Place was ear-splitting at times and I hope we can get back to that.
"I had such a good time and I enjoyed playing. I came in as a nobody and managed to have some personal and team accomplishments. I have not done anything in my life, outside of things with my family, that I've got so much satisfaction from than the CFL."
As a teenager, Wilson attended a prospects camp sponsored by the Lions and earned a scholarship to Montana State. He joined the Lions in 1972 and became the starting centre when coach Eagle Keys shipped lineman Bob Howes to the Edmonton Eskimos.
Wilson credits his high school coach, Tom Yano, for launching a career that included playing in two Grey Cups and earning a CFL championship ring in 1985. Wilson, a hustling player called Dirt by teammates, said Yano gave him the opportunity to come to Vancouver for the development camp that led to university and then the Lions.
"We're all in our 50s now, but we remember what it meant to play for that team," Wilson said. "I think when we all look back, it warms your heart that we we part of something we all felt very good about.
"I just hope people have fond memories and remember me as a player that came to play. It wasn't a job -- I loved playing for the B.C. Lions."
Fieldgate played on the first B.C. championship team in 1964 and Wilson on the second in 1985. The Lions won their other Grey Cups in 1994 and 2000.
Many players from the title years are listed on the B.C. all-star ballot that will be distributed at the stadium tomorrow when the Lions play the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Ballots are also available at the team's web site at .
Also tomorrow, nine people will be added to the B.C. Lions Wall of fame at B.C. Place. They are: Don Mackenzie, first team president in 1954; Allan McEachern (former chief justice of the B.C. Supreme Court), team president 1967-69; defensive tackle Mike Cacic, 1957-67; safety Neal Beaumont, 1960-67; linebacker Glen Jackson, 1976-87; running back John Henry White, 1978-87; quarterback Roy Dewalt, 1980-87; coach Dave Skrien, 1961-67; team doctor Ken Appleby, 1955-94.