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Cal Murphy managed a few laughs Sunday, all of them at the expense of his fallen friend, fiercest rival and the guy who gave him his first CFL head-coaching job, then fired him.
Oh, and let's not forget the time an enraged Murphy, still recovering from a second heart attack, tore a strip off his buddy Bob Ackles, calling him the worst thing he could think of, “a weasel.”
“Why would he do it?” Murphy was asked after Ackles used a CFL rule to get the best of his foe. “Because he's a weasel, that's why.”
It was a quote that made the rounds for years and never failed to get a laugh out of Murphy and Ackles, who repatched their relationship to the point where the two men would sit together at CFL games and confide – Ackles as the president and chief executive officer of the B.C. Lions and Murphy as the former CFL coach who scouted for the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.
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“I had just gotten off the treadmill when I got the call saying Bob had died,” Murphy said from his Regina home. “It's like, ‘Holy Moses' … it happens. You think everything's going great. He swam. He stayed in shape. And still it happens.”
Murphy is a CFL icon and Canadian Football Hall of Famer in his mid-70s. Working out on a treadmill has been part of his daily routine every since he underwent a heart transplant in 1992.
Ackles, 69, was a CFL icon and Canadian Football Hall of Famer who appeared fit and was gearing up for a new challenge – helping the CFL confront the eminent encroachment of the NFL into Toronto. It was a challenge he was going to give his heart to, until it gave out.
Across the country, news of Ackles's death produced a rush of condolences and praise, all of it deserved.
He was the consummate CFL success story; the 15-year-old kid who was the Lions' water boy in their first season, only to rise through the ranks and become general manager and faithful supporter.
Not only that, but Ackles earned a niche in football history by being the only man to hold executive positions in the CFL, NFL (Dallas Cowboys, Phoenix Cardinals, Philadelphia Eagles and Miami Dolphins) and XFL (Las Vegas Outlaws).
He was admired and respected, and when he returned to Vancouver in 2002, he sparked a rebirth in a franchise that was losing its touch with the city. Ackles gave things passion and purpose, and it was those traits that Murphy recalled in the wake of his friend's death.
“I remember the time Bob fired me,” said Murphy, who was hired by Ackles in 1975 to coach the Lions, then was canned midway through the 1976 season.
“A few months later, I was in Fort Lauderdale at the NCAA coaches' convention. Bob was there and asked me if I wanted a couple of tickets to the Canadian dinner. Then he said, ‘You want to have a drink?' I called my wife and said, ‘I'm in the bar having a drink and you'll never guess with who?' I told her it was Bob Ackles and he's buying.”
Murphy laughed at the memory of that story, then explained the infamous “weasel” dubbing. It happened during the 1985 Western final. Murphy's Winnipeg Blue Bombers were playing the Lions at B.C. Place. Watching the game from the press box, Murphy had a walkie-talkie with him so he could communicate with the coaching staff on the sidelines.
Ackles found out and made sure there was no extra contact from the box. He noted a CFL rule that ensured both teams had the equal number of headsets and nothing more. Murphy freaked out, especially after the Lions won 42-22.
“Were we rivals? Absolutely,” Murphy said. “I'd brought a walk-talkie with me. [The Lions] complained and Paul Robson [Winnipeg's GM] came over and said, ‘I've got to take it from you.' So he did.”
That was when Murphy called Ackles a weasel, much to the delight of the media. Within months, the two were carrying on as usual.
“If you can't compete with a guy and then talk to him afterwards, there's something the matter,” Murphy said.
Over the past two weeks, Murphy and Ackles had sat together during B.C. games and talked about football and the Buffalo Bills playing regular-season games in Toronto.
Ackles argued it was time for the CFL to stand tall and fight for its place in the country's culture. Murphy agreed. It was the last connection between the two old combatants and friends.
“I'm with him all the way about what the CFL means,” Murphy said. “The league loses a real advocate now.”
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