When sophomore defensive end Luke Brubacher injured his shoulder during training camp and knew he would likely miss the start of the season, he apologized to Ticats General Manager Ted Goveia for not being able to help out the team early in Goveia’s first season on the job.
“But he said he wasn’t worried about me as a football player,” Brubacher was recalling this week. “That he was just worried about me as a person and making sure I’m all good. That meant a lot, especially in a business like this where it’s pretty intense and cut-throat. Having a GM say he’s thinking of you as a person speaks to how good a guy he is.”
You hear vignettes like this about Goveia all the time, even from players he’s been forced to cut over the years. He’s not afraid to make the hard decisions to help his teams win—and you’ll notice that the Ticats, who made a lot of changes in the off-season, are winning this year—but he tries to do it humanely and with compassion.
That’s the undercurrent of the Team Ted Game, Friday night at Hamilton Stadium. Tiger-Cats vs. Blue Bombers, with playoff implications all over the place. Goveia’s current team, the one he idolized as a football-mad kid in Burlington, against his former team, the one for whom he played a major role in stocking the players who would go to five (and counting), Grey Cup games with him as the assistant General Manager and director of player personnel.
On Friday the Cats will celebrate their General Manager’s five decades of contribution to Canadian football with the Team Ted Game, giving the community he grew up in, cherishes, and stays loyal to the opportunity to honour a leader and winner who has influenced the three-down game from coast to coast.
He has been a head coach at UBC in Vancouver, and at Mount Allison in New Brunswick, and was also a coach and recruitment director for McMaster. When he was still a teenager he coached in the Ontario Varsity Football League and Burlington minor football and went on to coaching and personnel roles with the Argos, including Scott Milanovich’s first year there when they won the 100th Grey Cup.
He was an undersized offensive lineman at Assumption Catholic Secondary School, and with the junior Burlington Braves. And he took time off school to work on the line at Ford Motor to save money for university. He helped coach the now-departed Braves to league finals and played senior football for Oakville.
He is as national as a Maple Leaf, as local as rolled steel.
“Team Ted” was first coined by Tiger-Cat players—before spreading across the CFL—after Goveia was diagnosed with a serious form of cancer during the spring.
Hamilton players and staff have been wearing Team Ted t-shirts all season, and so have players and coaches across the league.
Even as he undergoes treatment, Goveia has established a pair of annual scholarships, one each to McMaster University, where he has spent so much time, and Mount Allison, where he played for several years, then returned as a coach and led them to a league title. That’s part of several enduring initiatives which will eventually be launched in Goveia’s honour.
Fans can show their support for Goveia, and football in Canada, by attending Friday’s game, wearing the same Team Ted t-shirts the players do (available at ticats.ca/TeamTed, the Ticats Shop, and at the stadium), waving a Team Ted rally towel during the in-stadium tribute and sending a personal message of encouragement to Goveia, also at ticats.ca/TeamTed. All proceeds from the sale of Team Ted t-shirts will support the Ted Goveia scholarships.
“Few people have given more to Canadian football than Ted Goveia. From his time as a player, scout, coach, administrator and now General Manager, his influence has touched thousands across our game,” said Scott Mitchell, Managing Partner of Hamilton Sports Group. “Even through this difficult time, Ted’s strength and commitment continue to inspire all of us. This night is about saying thank you to Ted and letting him know that Hamilton, the league and our Canadian football community are behind him.”
Keenan Jeppesen, McMaster’s Athletic Director said Monday that “Ted has given so much to the game of football, here at McMaster, throughout Hamilton and across the country. His influence has touched countless Marauder football student-athletes, and his contributions to the sport will continue to inspire long into the future. We are grateful for all of Ted’s contributions to Marauder football; past, present and future.”
Mount Allison Director of Athletics and Recreation Neil MacEachern said the Goveia scholarship partnership, “is very much appreciated by us and we’re extremely pleased with a generous contribution of this nature. It’s certainly an honour for Mount A.”
Ticats defensive lineman Miles Fox, one of several players Goveia brought here from the Blue Bombers, and whom he backed for more playing time when both were in Winnipeg, says the scholarships “go to show what kind of person Ted is. He’s having a big fight right now and he’s still thinking of other people. That’s really special.”
Goveia often speaks of creating and contributing to a warm and accommodating working culture—the kind he says was already in place when he arrived in Hamilton, one of the attractions of the new job—and over his first couple of official days after he beat out about a dozen other candidates in December, toured every department in the stadium building, meeting all the staff, trying to understand how their responsibilities fit into the overall structure and offering his help with anything they needed. It was a massive off-season morale boost.
He said that as he prepared for the five separate interviews which winnowed the GM search down, “I started looking at the stuff I’ve done locally, from high school coaching, establishing summer camps here, coaching in the OVFL, the Burlington Braves. I’m so happy to be back and having the chance to contribute more. Not just with the Cats but trying to help grow the sport in our area. It can be life-changing stuff.”
He also says the chance to work again with Milanovich, “a high-level thinker who knows how to win and has presence”, was a motivating force in seeking the Ticat job, putting together a player personnel department with a variety of football experiences, and working so hard to provide Milanovich with a promising lineup, potential replacements and room for growth.
“My dad always said, like, ‘You’re working!’” Goveia jokes. “So I’ve been working since I was 11. I’m not afraid of working hard and neither is our staff.
“You bring really good people in and I don’t just mean really good athletes. It’s people who get how to win, who enjoy working hard and practicing, who like each other and want to hang out together. Once you establish that, it’s my job to make sure that anyone we add to that fits into it. That’s protecting the right people in the locker room. That’s part of the secret sauce.”
During the search process for a new GM, CFL legend Wally Buono was an adviser to Scott Mitchell, COO Matt Afinec, and team President Orlondo Steinauer, who made the ultimate decision to hire Goveia and knew him well from Toronto.
“Ted paid his dues,” Buono said. “What I hadn’t known about him was how passionate he is about his roots in Burlington, how much of a Hamilton Tiger-Cat fan he was when he was growing up. You could just sense the excitement in his voice when he talked about the potential of being the General Manager of the Tiger-Cats.
“So when you have someone like that, not only do you get a great evaluator of talent but you also get someone who has a tremendous knowledge of the fans, the environment, and the community. And he’s genuinely excited about helping their team become a champion.
“He knows what kind of team you have to build here. Hamilton is a tough town and the team has to be tough. You look at his building the Blue Bombers and they have that. His focus is always on building on both sides of the line. You have that and a quarterback and you give yourselves a pretty good chance in this league.”
Miles Fox, coming off the best game of his first Ticat season after a couple of years of being used sparingly in Winnipeg, says, “Teddy’s fiery, always so passionate about what he does. He really cares about the people in his life. He said he was excited about me getting a chance to play and he contacted me as soon as free agency started. He took that chance on me and for that I’ll always be grateful.
“He always tells me how great an attitude I have and what a joy I am to have in the building but he’s the one who’s the joy to have in the building. He’s a truly amazing person and it shows around the league with everyone wearing the t-shirts.
“Every one of us is on Team Ted.”
