PLAYER #115 - BOB O'BILLOVICH (1982-89, 93-95)

There was a Carling O'Keefe beer commercial in the 1980's whose slogan was the following: "You just say O.V.!"

The brewery was the owner of the Argonauts during that time, and when promoting the football team, it's slogan could easily have been: "You just say O.B.!"

That's O.B. as in Obie, as in O'Billovich, as in Bob O'Billovich, who first joined the Argos in 1982, and after a total of 10 years at the helm, became the winningest coach in Argo history.

"Toronto had been such a perennially losing franchise for so long," said O'Billovich, who took over a team that was a brutal 2-14 in 1981, and hadn't had a winning season in nine years. Along with general manager Ralph Sazio, the Boatmen of 1982 made one of the most dramatic turnarounds in CFL history, going from a last-place team to a Grey Cup finalist.

"Between the two of us, it was a good combination," said O'Billovich. "He took care of the business end of things and I took care of the coaching."

And he did a heck of a job, winning 107 total regular season games, fifth best in CFL history. He also won the Annis Stukus Trophy as CFL coach-of-the-year in 1982 and 1987 and appeared in three Grey Cups, winning the championship in 1983.

"I've been associated with the CFL in some shape or form since 1963," said O'Billovich, who first came up to the Ottawa Rough Riders as a defensive back out of the University of Montana. While playing and after retiring in 1967, O'Billovich taught and coached sports at Algonquin College in Ottawa, and then coached basketball and football at Carleton and the University of Ottawa in the early 1970's.

"You could hold a full-time job and still play, and that's one of the things that made it enticing (to come to the CFL)," said O'Billovich, who met his wife Judy in Ottawa, where their three kids (Tracy, 25, Jodi, 24, and Coy, 21) were also born.

O'Billovich came back to the Rough Riders as an assistant coach in 1976, where he won a Grey Cup in his first year. He stayed there until the opportunity arose in Toronto. A strong sense of the fundamentals, a solid work ethic, and a clear grasp of the special teams were trademarks of Obie's teams, one of whom set the team record for wins in 1988 with 14, since tied by this year's squad with a 25-21 win over B.C. on October 27th.

"In 1988, when we got upset in the Eastern final (by Winnipeg), that was probably the most disappointing moment," said O'Billovich, who stayed with the Argos for one more year after that, and then joined the B.C. Lions for three years in 1990. He returned for a second stint in Double Blue in 1993, but the second time around was a little less successful.

"One of the problems is everybody thinks you can win overnight," said O'Billovich, who was let go of his coach and GM duties last season. Since then, he has been busy as a guest analyst on TSN's CFL broadcasts, sort of a football version of his friend and former close neighbour in Mississauga, Don Cherry.

"I don't think there's room for both of us," laughed O'Billovich.


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