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North Bay football field to be dedicated to a local legend

North Bay will honour one of its favourite sons, Mike O’Shea, on Aug. 13. O’Shea is head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and a Canadian Football Hall of Famer. (File) North Bay will honour one of its favourite sons, Mike O’Shea, on Aug. 13. O’Shea is head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and a Canadian Football Hall of Famer. (File)
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North Bay will honour one of its favourite sons, Mike O’Shea, on Aug. 13.

O’Shea is head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and a Canadian Football Hall of Famer.

The city will officially dedicate the football field at Steve Omischl Sports Field Complex on Lakeshore Drive in honour of O’Shea, in recognition of his successful career as a player and coach.

The ceremony will take place at 2 p.m. Saturday and everyone is invited to attend and meet O’Shea, who will also be signing autographs following the ceremony.

O’Shea is a three-time Grey Cup champion as a player, winning in 1996, 1997 and 2004 with Toronto Argonauts. He played 16 seasons for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts from 1993 to 2008.

He is one of only three players to record more than 1,000 tackles and was the recipient of CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award in 1999 after that included three interceptions, 13 special teams tackles and 84 tackles. O’Shea was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2017.

"It's really hard in such a great team sport to accept these individual awards, so I think of everyone who helped me get here and thank them," O'Shea said of his hall of fame induction.

As a coach, O’Shea was hired in 2010 by the Toronto Argonauts as their special teams coordinator. He spent three years in this role and won his first Grey Cup as a coach in his final year at the 100th Grey Cup in 2013.

He has been head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers since 2014, winning his first Grey Cup as a head coach in 2019 against the Tiger-Cats and ending Winnipeg’s 29-year Grey Cup drought. He went on to win the Grey Cup again as a head coach in 2021 following a 9-5 season.

O’Shea remains on contract with the Blue Bombers through the 2022 CFL season. 

Correction

This story has been updated to correct Winnipag's 2021 season record.

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