Racine, Lumsden, Okeke named to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame!

I admit that I did not know that the Hall of Fame inductions were last night.  If I had, I would have paid greater attention.

There's a fair amount of Ottawa (or Ottawa-based, at least) content in the 2014 class.  The following is copied from TSN's recap of the event:

(Neil) Lumsden, 60, of London, Ont., enjoyed a stellar college career at Ottawa and in '75 helped the Gee-Gees go 11-0 and capture the Vanier Cup. Lumsden ended his collegiate tenure as the Vanier Cup MVP. He left school first in all-time CIS scoring (410 points) and his 148 points in '75 was second all-time. That season, Lumsden scored 37 points -- including five TDs -- in a single game.

Lumsden played in the CFL from '76 to '85 with Toronto, Hamilton and Edmonton, winning three Grey Cups with the Eskimos (1980-'82) and being named the top Canadian in the '81 contest. Lumsden was also in the Ticats' front office when they won their last league title in '99.

(Moe) Racine, 76, a native of Cornwall, Ont., was an offensive lineman and kicker with Ottawa from 1958-'74, appearing in five Grey Cup games and winning four times. He played 201 career games with the Rough Riders and was an East all-star three times. The franchise retired his No. 62 jersey upon his retirement.

The picture of Racine above was lifted from the cflapedia website and is probably originally from Scott Grant's extensive portfolio.

Can't claim too much "Ottawa-ness" to former offensive lineman Uzooma Okeke, but he did play with the last Rough Riders team in 1996.  He started gathering all-star status fairly regularly the following year (of course...) with Montreal and was with them until 2006.  Played with the Shreveport Pirates prior to joining the Rough Riders so he might be the poster boy for what a quality work environment can do for one's career.

As an aside, I love that the Canadian Hall of Fame is a football Hall of Fame and not a pro football Hall of Fame. If you impact the game significantly at the amateur level, that accomplishment should be recognised.

The OSEG Media Newsroom blog has far more detailed articles on both men.  Give that a look over here.