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Two grads go flat-out
for Grey Cup
Take three years of planning, mix in more than 3,000 volunteers,
throw in five days of flat-out fun and finish it off with an exciting
championship game and you have all the ingredients of one of the
best football bashes Canada has ever seen.
Last November, Canadian Football League (CFL) fans and
partygoers from across the country descended on Regina to join
"Flat-Out in Saskatchewan" celebrations at the 2003 Grey Cup.
And at the helm of the 94th Grey Cup were two U of R graduates:
Marty Klyne BAdmin’86 and Mark Stefan BAdmin’84.
"By all definitions this was the best Grey Cup in CFL history,"
says Klyne, who served as 2003 Grey Cup president. "What made it
so successful was the volunteers. This community has the best
volunteers, by far, in the country. The way they step forward and
come together is truly unbelievable. They were so positive. It just
The following U of R alumni
also went flat-out as Grey
Cup 2003 staff members or
members of the Executive
Organizing Committee:
Randy Beattie BAdmin'82, Wayne
Bernakevitch BAdmin'73, Denise
Black BAdmin'84, Elaine Bourassa
BAdmin'84, Tracy Fahlman CA'93,
Sandra Fiffe BAdmin'84, Gerry
Fischer BAdmin'88, Christa Grad
BAdmin'99, Kevin Lang BAdmin'86,
Laureen Larson BVTed'95, David
Luterbach BAdmin'86, Jeff
MacPherson BAdmin'91, Moe
Martin BA'72, Corey Patrick
BAdmin'95, Russ Peterson
BAdmin'74, Dean Reeve
BAdmin'84, Murray Skulmoski
BAdmin'91, Jeff Torgrimson
CCE'91, Cheryl Zankl DAA'84.
made me so proud to be
from this community."
From the early stages of
planning in January 2001
until the final seconds ticked
off the game clock on a cool
mid-November evening,
Klyne and Stefan and some
3,300 volunteers spent
thousands of hours organizing,
co-ordinating, checking and
re-checking details to ensure
the entire event went off
without a hitch.
Working alongside of
each other is nothing new
for Klyne and Stefan who
met while taking a strategic
marketing class at the U of
R in the early1980s. The
duo served together on the
Alumni Association board.
Stefan, whose tenure with
the board lasted from1995
until 2001 and included a one-year stint as president, recruited
Klyne who served as a director from 1998 to 2001.
"Our time together on the board was really a precursor to what
happened with Grey Cup," says Stefan. "One of the big reasons for
bringing Marty on to the Alumni Association board was his
strategic viewpoint. He has an ability to see the big picture, to
understand it, and to get people focused on what they have to do
to get things done."
Klyne says his selection of Stefan as vice-president came easy. It
was prompted by the two-pronged approach he employed to
accomplish the goal of mounting the finest Grey Cup in CFL
history: First, he surrounded himself with the best people available
and second, he created an environment where people could excel.
"I knew I had to find someone who would complement my skills
and the only guy who came to mind was Mark," explains Klyne.
"He's very detailed, highly organized and results orientated. He's
also an ambassador. That was exactly the kind of person I needed."
For both Klyne and Stefan, one of the defining moments of their
three-year labour of love came just prior to game time when, as the
Grey Cup crowd of close to 50,000 was just settling into the seats,
the Canadian Force's precision aerobatic team, the Snowbirds,
thundered over Regina's Taylor Field.
"I got a little emotional," admits Klyne. "I had a little tear in my
eye. I was just so proud of everybody and what we had done. It was
that pinnacle moment where it all just came rushing home to me
and I said 'Hey we did it.'"
"Quite honestly I remember getting a little teary-eyed when they
flew over," adds Stefan. I remember having to remove my glasses
because of the rush it gave me. It was something that I was a part
of that I'll never forget in my entire life."
Another moment the pair will not soon forget came when they
presented a $2.1 million cheque to Saskatchewan Roughriders
president Tom Robinson BAdmin’75. The cheque represented Grey
Cup profits and essentially wiped out the accumulated debt of the
team.
With Regina's legacy of success hosting Grey Cups firmly
established, both Klyne and Stefan think the CFL would do well to
put the city on the top of the list for hosting the game's centenary
in 2009. And while they might politely decline executive roles,
they could certainly see themselves in some capacity should a
future Grey Cup present itself.
"The Grey Cup was my opportunity to give back to the
community," says Klyne. "That's one of the reasons I enjoyed it."
"Marty and I are very committed to Regina and Saskatchewan,"
adds Stefan. "We would certainly be there if they [organizers] need
us in any way."
Calling the plays behind the scenes at the 2003 Grey Cup
were U of R alumni Marty Klyne (R) and Mark Stefan.
Spring 2004 THE THIRD DEGREE 19