I've read a lot in here about CFUN but have not seen anything about one of the nicest people that filled and I mean filled the hallway at 1900. Annis Stukus.
Stuke was a great man and truly a Radio, TV, Sports legend. He played football in the CFL in the 30's and 40's and had some of the best sports stories I have ever heard. He helped found the Edmonton Eskimos and The Winnipeg Jets.
I really liked and got to know Stuke well. He liked that I was a wiseguy but never really let on that he got a chuckle out of me until one day which I will get too when he saved my smart-ass. Is that called a hook?
I remember working the morning show for Jim Hault and Stuke did sports. I always got a kick out of the way he prounounced Edmonton. It came out Ed-in-ton. Of course I had to mention it on air. After the sports cast the studio door bursts open and in walks Stuke. I said, "Hey Coach what's up?" He walks up to me and gets right in my face (with a small smile on his face) and says, "If you played the game (Football) when I did with 200 lbs guys walking on your throat with their cleats you'd pronounce Ed-in-ton like I do you little smart-ass." And he left. What a character.
Stuke's deal with CHUM/CFUN was that every few years he got a new car. It was always a blue Impala with the CFUN Logo and Annis Stukas - CFUN Sports on the side. One day, I was pulling in the back parking lot from a shift (which I hated) in the FUNSticker Van. Or as I affectionatley called it "The Truck." Stuke corners me and says, " Hey Rookie, got any crap left over?" I said, "Sure Coach" and gave him a bunch of T-Shirts, albums and other stuff we were handing out then. Stuke opens the trunk of The Stukemobile and it's full of stuff like I had just given him. I said, "Coach, what are doing...opening a store?" He looks at me and says, "Rich, there are a lot of kids out there who never get anything in life, so I like to give them things when I can." I just about cried. He was a giant with a huge, gentle heart.
I played golf many times with Stuke mostly at Gleneagles in West Van because he had comp rounds there. One day I'm in the clubhouse with him and the young guy behind the counter says, "Hey Stuke we got those golf shoes that your ordered." Stuke looks at them and says, "Jez, these are 14 triple D's...I wear a 15 triple E. Ah, don't worry about it; I just won't wear socks." I howled.
In 87 and I emceed the Curt Fraser Diabetes Golf Tourament. (I'll digress just long enought to say that Curt Fraser is a class act, a great guy and a fantastic hockey player). At the lunch banquet I was doing some material and Tiger Williams heckles me. So, I respond and verbally execute the knob. The crowd is howling. Tiger has no sense of humour about himself. It was getting a bit tense. So I push. Just then totally out of nowhere Stuke decides he's going to break the tense moment with this classic comment. He stands up and invites the late, great Football star and wonderful man Walter Payton to join him. Then Stuke says, "Hey Rch, it's great that you're having fun with these ladies (hockey players) but how about taking on a couple guys that played a MAN"S game!!"
The whole crowd breaks up including me. Tiger didn't get it. Stuke...what a classic.
Does anybody else have any great Stuke memories to share? He was a prince among men and didn't suffer fools. He also had a great insight into all sports that the so-called "sports greats" of the era including that slob at NW didn't.
Rich Elwood