When they announce the list of all-time Argos later this week, you are not likely to find Nick Volpe’s name on that roster.
Which simply means they don’t have enough categories.
As anyone who is around the club or its practices at UTM for any length of time is sure to tell you, Volpe epitomizes the Argo organization. He probably bleeds double blue blood twice, just to be sure.
He has been everything to the team over a career that reaches back to 1949. He played for Coach Teddy Morris his first year in the league. Morris, a long-time Cooksville resident, won three Grey Cups as a player with the all-Canadian lineups he truly believed in. Both Morris and Volpe are deserved members of the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame.
Morris retired after Volpe’s first year as a player to be replaced by another Canadian coaching legend, Frank Clair.
Volpe’s name is forever linked to the famous 1950 Mud Bowl at Varsity Quagmire, where one player was saved by drowning by another alert player.
The backup quarterback and defensive back earned the game ball, not just for kicking two field goals in the 13-0 win, but also for making the saving tackle that preserved the shutout on the five-yard line. Two years later, Volpe ended his Argo career with another Grey Cup in the same stadium against the Eskimos, the last the Argos would win until 1983.
During a distinguished career at the Peel District School Board, Volpe coached the Warriors (blue and gold don’t ya know) to eight league championships and three all-Toronto championships.
He rose to become Superintendent of Special Education for the Peel Board before his retirement.
He has coached in the CFL with the Argos and Ottawa (how was that allowed?), been a spotter for CFRB radio broadcasts, was the isolation director on CTV broadcasts for 16 years, and since 1994 has been the team’s head of Canadian scouting.
Volpe has been around long enough not only to remember when the University of Toronto Blues (naturally) last won a game, but to remember when they were the powerhouse of the league. He won the Yates Cup with them the year before he turned pro.
He even wrote a book on coaching high school football, called Modern Canadian Football, which my grandfather gave to me a long time ago and which I have treasured ever since for its beloved Xs and Os. It’s a practical, down-in-the-trenches, nuts and bolts, here’s how to run a great practice kind of book. As workmanlike and reliable as its author.
So when they announce the all-time Argos’ list this weekend, there will be the usual deserving Jim Roundtrees, Dick Shattos, Pinball Clemons and Jim Stillwagons.
But don’t forget who donned the double blue in 1948 and is still with the organization.
In the heart and soul of the franchise category, there is no more deserving recipient than Nick Volpe.