What it Means to be a WIldman

Football provided Dave Hume with many important lessons that he would carry with him throughout his career. Hume, a University of Guelph emeritus professor in Plant Agriculture and a combination wide receiver/defensive back in his playing days, received the program’s highest honour as a graduating senior in 1961 – the Wildman Trophy.

Hume was a worthy recipient. In addition to playing both ways on the field, he was a team co-captain, the university’s College Royal President and a long-term continuing President of his class. He recalls how impressed he was that night  58 years ago when he received the award from the great Carlton Chester “Cookie” Gilchrist, a renowned player in the Canadian Football League and, later, in the American Football League, who was invited by Canada Packers Ltd, a major feed and meat company in Canada, to come to Guelph and present the Wildman Trophy.

“I really felt honoured that I was selected,” says Professor Hume, who has also been the longtime chair of the Wildman Selection Committee.

“It was about life skills. It still is. There was a lot that I learned on the field, in the locker room and what it’s like to belong to a league champion and a “Band of Brothers”.

Hume knows the history of the award well. The Ted Wildman Memorial Trophy goes to the senior or graduating Gryphon player who best exemplifies the traits of sportsmanship, leadership, gentlemanly conduct, and who has kept their scholarship in good standing. The name on the trophy is of great importance to both the program and the school.

Ted Wildman graduated from the Ontario Agricultural College in 1926. He was a popular figure on campus, showcasing his athleticism as both a champion wrestler and a star football player. About a year after graduating, the young man was tragically killed in a car accident while working for Canada Packers.

“That really shook the place up,” says Hume, whose mother was a student at Guelph at the same time as Ted Wildman.

It was important that this Gryphon great be remembered. The Wildman Trophy was established and first awarded in 1932 to a player named Sidney Henry. In the many decades since, the ceremony surrounding this prestigious piece of hardware has evolved into a memorable annual night for every player, coach, and staff member in attendance. The Wildman Dinner, with 75 total awards presented, is now the premier event for Gryphon Football.

The 2019 recipient remembers being in awe of the night during his rookie season. And when Luke Korol’s career came to an end five years later, he joined that special list of winners.

“When I received the Wildman award, I was in complete shock,” the former star linebacker and current CFLer says of last year’s banquet. “The Wildman was an award that I had wanted to receive my entire career, and in that moment when I started to hear my history and stats being mentioned, I remember getting goose bumps through my entire body. I looked at my parents, who were starting to tear up as they both started to realize it was me. To be put into that category of men is the biggest compliment I could ever receive, and I will forever be proud to call myself a Wildman winner.

Korol says he could not have gotten it without his teammates and coaches, who surrounded and supported him the entire season. They made football fun, for the linebacker.

“Going into battle with those guys is something I will remember for the rest of my life,” he says.

Hume had a similar recollection of his experience as a player – the brotherhood has been a constant. He was a rail-thin, 175-pound player from a farm near Milton. Hume had plenty of high school success winning three COSSA championships at Burlington Central but he wasn’t recruited like some his teammates so he had to work extra hard to impress legendary Gryphon head coach Tom Mooney. That meant doing whatever was necessary.

“Coach Mooney looked at me and said, ‘You’re and end, right?’” Hume says with a smile. “I answered, ‘Yes,’ even though I had never played end in my life.”

Hume would grow into the player who was looked up to by his fellow Gryphons and deserving of that Wildman honour in 1961. But the trophy presentation didn’t mark the end of his connection with the football program – it was more of a beginning. He went off to Iowa State University to do his PhD and while in the USA, got a call from the U of G with an offer to become a faculty member in his old department. He and his wife Jean, also a Guelph grad, came back to the city in 1966 to start their careers and a family.

Hume had coached on the team while completing his Masters and upon his return, he became the faculty advisor for the football program. He held that role for 17 years before taking on the Wildman Selection Committee chair position, while also helping establish a strong fundraising foundation that exists today. Through it all, Hume has maintained a connection with the players of his era, names like Robbie Keith, Don Taylor, and his friend Bill Sproule, who just passed away this year. Now in his 70s, Hume rarely misses a game at Alumni Stadium and still relishes the opportunity to gather with old teammates, especially at Homecoming.

“We are still a Band of Brothers,” Hume says.

As Wildman Selection Committee chair, he is impressed with the great men the program continues to produce.

“The good ones are really good,” Hume says. “And they get lots of opportunity to be involved. We didn’t think of things like ME to WE back then. Community involvement when I played was going to church.

“Now, they do great work with organizations like Big Brothers Big Sisters. And many of these guys are involved in coaching minor football. I like to see that.”

Korol was a great example of the men who are honoured at the Wildman Dinner. In addition to winning the prestigious trophy, he was also named Team MVP last year. But the difference between the two is distinct. Korol says an MVP is something to be very proud of because it represents a remarkable season. The Wildman goes beyond that.

“The Wildman is an award that I felt could not be worked toward, it just happened with how you carry yourself,” he says. “I tended to focus day in and day out on how I could be better for my teammates, coaches, and the community. I tried to be a good example for the younger guys in the hopes that my passion and love for the team would remain with them when I could no longer play along side them.”

Korol is honest about missing Guelph, especially the times on the field and in the locker room with the guys. He says there is a strength in the Gryphon Football family that was evident when he finally did get a chance to return. And that bond exists over the many decades that have passed since a star athlete named Ted Wildman lost his life.

Hume credits his five years as a Gryphon football player for helping shape who he is today, a respected U of G professor with a great legacy in his field and with the university’s football program. It dawned on him that when he got the call to come back to Guelph for a faculty position, his experience at the school, including winning the Wildman Trophy, helped secure the job.

“The five years I put in here were all an interview,” says Hume.

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Previous Wildman Trophy winners

Written By: Daviid DiCenzo