Tony Proudfoot, a former CFL all-star and college professor who rushed into a hail of bullets to save a student from a rampaging gunman, has died after a long battle with Lou Gehrig's disease. He was 61.
The former defensive back with the Montreal Alouettes and B.C. Lions, who won two Grey Cups with Montreal, died Thursday of the terminal, degenerative illness -- formally known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
He had been diagnosed with the disease in 2007 but Proudfoot, a husband and father of three, refused to go down without a fight even as his health deteriorated and ability to breathe and speak faded.
Instead, the former sportscaster and professor at Montreal's Dawson College established the Tony Proudfoot Fund to raise funds for ALS research and to help patients' families.
He also wrote a series of columns in the Montreal Gazette, personal accounts of his struggle with the disease.
In the final article, published Dec. 15, Proudfoot spoke of his "imminent" death, sending out a goodbye message while admitting he hoped to make it to Christmas.
"Well, I am still here, hanging by my finger nails while my toes are touching rock bottom and I can feel them getting a foothold," he wrote.
"Goodbyes are never easy, in my case they have been the hardest. Do not worry about me."
He signed the column simply: "Please remember. Love, Tony."
In September 2006, Proudfoot proved he would go to great lengths to help others even at risk of his own life.
When a gunman opened fire at Dawson College, where he had taught for more than three decades, Proudfoot heard the first shots.
"I looked down and saw one of the victims lying in a pool of blood," he recalled last summer. "I thought I could help, so I ran outside and applied first aid for about 20 minutes. I didn't feel I was in danger, but by that time there were a lot of policemen around."
The student, who had been shot in the head, recovered and eventually returned to thank Proudfoot.
Dawson College announced this month that it will name the school's gymnasium in Proudfoot's honour, citing his long football and teaching career and "his life-saving heroics during the Dawson shooting."
On the football field, Proudfoot was an aggressive and intelligent player who refused to back down from a challenge -- whether it was a charging fullback or the slick, icy turf during the CFL's infamous "Ice Bowl" Grey Cup game of 1977.
Proudfoot helped his beloved Alouettes win the game by popping staples into the soles of his shoes to gain traction on the frozen turf of Montreal's Olympic Stadium.
"Me and a few teammates started using them and as the game went on, most of our team were using them," Proudfoot told The Canadian Press in an interview last August, conversing through a portable keyboard and artificial voice. "But I felt it was a big factor. I felt I had good traction, so I could play aggressively."
Former teammate Peter Dalla Riva, who caught a touchdown in the team's 41-6 Grey Cup win over the Edmonton Eskimos, said that was typical of Proudfoot.
"He was always trying to be an innovator," Dalla Riva said. "He was always trying to get better, trying to (make) everybody else better."
John (Tony) Proudfoot was born Sept. 10, 1949 in Winnipeg and later moved to Montreal, graduating from a suburban high school in the mid-1960s.
He left for the Maritimes to study physical education at the University of New Brunswick, where he was such a standout with the school's Red Bombers football team that he was drafted by the Alouettes.
He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in physical education and played 107 regular-season games for the Alouettes between 1971-79. He won two Grey Cups with Montreal, in 1974 and '79, and was named a CFL all-star twice.
Proudfoot concluded his 12-year CFL career by playing three seasons with the British Columbia Lions, beginning in 1980.
In retirement, he had a successful career as a teacher, coach, broadcaster, journalist and author, teaching physical education at Dawson College for 30 years as well as lecturing in Exercise Science both at Concordia and McGill.
He was an assistant coach for Concordia's Stingers football team for four years, including the 1998 team that reached the Vanier Cup, and also received a master's degree in Sports Science from McGill.
When the Alouettes franchise returned to the CFL in 1996, following a nine-year hiatus, Proudfoot became a full-time analyst with a Montreal radio station and later became an assistant coach with the team in 2001.
It was while lecturing at Concordia in the winter of 2007 that Proudfoot noticed his slurred speech and went in for tests that diagnosed him with ALS.
He raised more than $500,000 after establishing the Tony Proudfoot Fund for ALS research and remained active in the game he loved until the end.
He was a guest coach at the Alouettes' training camp in 2008 and served as a special consultant to head coach Marc Trestman the last two seasons.
In his final newspaper column, Proudfoot reveled in the team's Grey Cup victory, calling the Alouettes: "a hard habit to kick."
His last public appearance came in November, before the East Division final, when Proudfoot accepted the Hugh Campbell Award for Distinguished Leadership from CFL commissioner Mark Cohon.
Proudfoot is survived by his wife, Vicki, and three children -- Michael, Lindsay and Lauren.
With files from The Canadian Press
