CHAMPIONS SPEAK - 2013 Hall of Fame Inductee Don Duncalfe - Athlete
by Colleen Grinde
Honored Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen:
Don Duncalfe is being honored
tonight for his impressive football career. It’s pretty
amazing that after contacting polio as a youngster, having
his legs paralized for over a year and then undergoing
extensive treatment in a clinic, Don was able to even play
football. It’s all the more incredible that he was able to
play football at the highest level as a lineman on the
Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League and to do
so for five seasons. It speaks volumes as to Don’s
determination, perseverance, work ethic and his innate
athletic ability.
Don is described by his former
high school team mates as being a good leader who led by
example. He was a guy who: never missed a practice, worked
hard to improve his skills, had confidence in his own
ability, was friends with everyone.....all attributes of an
outstanding leader and team player. Even with all of his
achievements, Don was a humble fellow. When he himself was
asked about his professional football career, he didn’t
expound on his own accomplishments but instead praised the
abilities of his high school team-mates.
These qualities that were
innate in Don or developed while playing football carried
over into his business career. During his tenure with the
Edmonton Eskimos, during the off season Don worked for the
Government of Alberta as a draftsman in civil engineering
and apprentice structural engineering designer. Once he
completed his football career, Don returned to school to
carry out further studies in civil and structural
engineering. He worked for various companies starting out
as a designer then working his way through positions as
project manager, vice president, manager of an engineering
office to eventually owning his own company. Don’s work
took him to the US, Africa, the Middle East, China, India,
Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. Don’s own ceramic
engineering company was based in the UK and when he retired
in 1990 he located in Christchurch, England.
During the 1950’s many
Albertans followed and cheered for the legendary Edmonton
Eskimo teams whose rosters included the likes of Jackie
Parker, Normie Kwong, Johnny Bright, Rollie Miles, Tommy Joe
Coffee, and Roger Nelson. These guys were our heroes.
Likely there were many young boys from Wetaskiwin who
dreamed of one day playing for the Eskimos. But how many
ended up “living that football dream”? Well, Don Duncalfe
is the one kid from Wetaskiwin that did just that.
Don retired from football
because of injuries. In later life those injuries came back
to haunt him and caused him to retire from his professional
career. In 2009, Don was able and honored to attend the
induction ceremony of his 1956 High School Sabre Football
team. However, today, extreme pain from arthritis prevents
Don from traveling long distances and he is regrettably
unable to attend our ceremony tonight.
It is indeed fitting that he
has chosen one of his high school Sabre team-mates, Bill
Gust, to accept this award on his behalf
