The 2025 CFLOAA Coaches Luncheon was held on April 26. The event was at the Cedarhill Golf and Country Club in the Dining Hall again this year which provided plenty of space for the record turnout!
Registration and raffle sales began at 11am and were handled by Dick Dinelle and his daughter Lisa, and Dan Dever. The early start gave everyone a chance to mingle before the luncheon kicked off at 12 noon.
Lunch was served and once everyone was settled Jeff Avery called the audience to order and introduced his head table guests, Head Coach Bob Dyce and GM Shawn Burke. Also in attendance was RedBlack President Adrian Sciarra.
Bob and Shawn handled questions from Jeff covering a range of topics including Shawn’s huge task of resigning so many free agents plus signing many new free agents in key positions (running back, receiver, and defensive back). Shawn, Bob, and Adrian provided lots of information to every question.
The raffle was a great success with 37 items. Shawn Burke again provided the top prize, lunch for two with him! The prize was won by Dr Don McDougall who will be joined by his friend and CFLOAA Board member Dick Dinelle. They will lunch with Shawn in Kingston at the Redblack training camp. Other prizes included game tickets, gift certificates for Local Heroes, gift certificates for Lansdowne Sports, 11 miscellaneous items, plus many other Redblacks items. These prizes were donated by the Redblacks, Local Heroes, Stu Cameron, Tammy Laverty-Hall and Board members Dick Dinelle, Jeff Avery, and Jim Cain. Jeff also purchased some ‘women type’ clothing items from Lansdowne Sports.
Funds from the Raffle go to support the football programs at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University and to the Support Fund of the CFL Alumni Association. The Support Fund offers financial support to CFL alumni who are experiencing financial hardship due to a medical condition or the sudden loss of income.
Once again, alumnus Gord Weber photographed the event, including the pictures accompanying this article.
Lunch with so many old friends (with many wearing their game jerseys), and insiders’ views of the upcoming Redblacks season made the 2025 Coaches Luncheon a fun event!
All photos credited to Gord Weber
