PLAYER #124 - LEW HAYMAN (1933-41, 57-81)

If there was anybody in the history of the Toronto Argonaut franchise who could be called "Mr. Argo", it would be Lew Hayman. Like King Clancy with the Maple Leafs, Hayman's involvement with the Argonauts spanned a half-century, from the time of his youth to the day he died. He truly bled Double Blue, as a coach, general manager, president and finally, honourary chairman.

"He was my mentor," confessed another ex-Argo president, Ron Baarbaro. "He had wonderful insight, and he never interfered openly in the management end of things."

Hayman's Argo career started way back in 1933, when as a bright 25 year-old, he guided the Double Blue to their first Grey Cup victory in 12 years, a 4-3 win over Sarnia. A graduate of Syracuse, who first came to the University of Toronto in 1932, Hayman went on to win a couple more Grey Cups with the Argos in 1937 and 1938. That 1938 team was voted the squad of the half-century, and as they say, the strength comes from the top.

"I always say that to bring the best out of a player, he's got to have a fear of the coach," said Red Storey, Argo halfback in the late '30's, and later better known as an NHL referee. "I was actually in fear of (former high school coach) Alex Cockburn). Not a fear that he was going to beat the hell out of me, but I respected him. He was a tough guy and he taught you the fundamentals, and with the Argonauts, I really had the same type of fear of Lew Hayman. To the day I quit, I had that same fear, but it was a fear born of respect. I respected Lew. I loved the man. He was a real tough taskmaster, and he would run you into the ground if he thought you were misbehaving."

During the war, Hayman enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force, and was put in charge of the RCAF football squad, which went on to win the Grey Cup in 1942. After the war ended, Hayman set forth to build another Grey Cup team, but this time it was in Montreal with the Alouettes, whom he turned into champions by 1949. This was his fifth trip to the Grey Cup game without a loss, a number that is still unprecedented in league history.

Having accomplished all he could as a head coach, Hayman turned to the general manager's position with the Als from 1951 until 1954, when he decided to get out of football for a while to enter the stock market game.

But the gridiron kept calling him back, and he returned to his true home, Toronto, in 1957. He stayed for the next three decades, either in upper management as a general manager or president, or as an honourary chairman when Ralph Sazio took over the team in 1981.

While not as successful in the second half of the 1900's as he was in the first, Hayman was still an invaluable member of the Argo community, in terms of his leadership skills, wealth of experience and keen eye for spotting talent.

"Lew Hayman forgot more about football than most people ever knew," was how former employee Doug Philpott remembered him.

Hayman's contributions to the Argos and the CFL will always be remembered in the hearts of fans, and by his induction into the Hall-of-Fame in 1975.