A GoFundMe campaign is raising money for a former coach of the Power Dodge Estevan Bruins.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers Alumni (WBBA) started the campaign to help Gerry James, 84, who played football with the Bombers and hockey with the Toronto Maple Leafs before venturing into a coaching career that included a successful stint with the Bruins.
The campaign, which started Oct. 20, had raised $5,430 of its $10,000 goal as of Tuesday afternoon.
James’ son is in a hospital suffering from a serious infection that will require skin replacement surgery. Currently James is living on Vancouver Island and is making the trip to be with his son several times each week.
This has placed a huge financial strain on James and his wife. In order to help offset the costs, he was looking to auction some of his most prized possessions, including his Bombers Ring of Honour jersey, his Toronto Maple Leafs jersey and Grey Cup ring.
In James’ words, “A jersey is just a jersey – my son’s life is a little more important than that.”
The WBBA wants to raise money to help offset the travel costs that James and his wife are incurring every week.
James was nicknamed “Kid Dynamite” when he debuted for the Bombers at the age of 17, as his father Eddie “Dynamite” James also played for Winnipeg. Four years later, he made his NHL debut as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
James played 11 years for the Bombers, and was a member of four Grey Cup championship teams in 1958, 1959, 1961 and 1962, and was the first winner of the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian Award in 1954. He won the award again in 1957, the year he set a CFL single-season record for rushing touchdowns with 18; the mark would stand for 42 years.
He is also the only player to appear in the Grey Cup and the Stanley Cup final in a 12-month span, as he competed for the Bombers in the CFL championship game in 1959 and the Leafs in the NHL championship series in 1960.
After retiring from football and hockey, he shifted his attention to coaching, and guided the Bruins to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League title in 1985.
To support the campaign, visit https://www.gofundme.com/wbba-gerry-james-support-fund.
