The Ottawa Citizen from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada • 57

D.SC0REB0ARDD4 BUSINESSD8 N0TICEB0ARDD14 PAGES D1-D14 Tmmm HAIL TO THE PROF Prince Hal goof rarity for Clair a PL Hii7Ddl EARL McRAE By Ken Warren Citizen staff writer 'A I r'jj' presented Clair with a key to the city and declared May 4 "Frank Clair Day" in Ottawa. The 125-a-plate dinner was organized by the Rider Rooters and the club's board of directors to honor the man who took the team from bust to best in the late 1950's and early 1960's. An annuity will be set up with most of the proceeds from the evening, allowing Clair to visit the city from his home in Florida each summer to catch a few games. The Rooters also announced Thursday that the 71-year-old Clair will be the first inductee into the new WaU of Honor to be built at Lansdowne Park for former Rider greats. He was elected into the CFL Hall of Fame in 1981.

"I've never had more fun in my life than tonight," said Clair, 71. Clair's teams went to 12 Eastern Conference finals and six Grey Cups, five of which they won. Clair twice brought the Toronto Argonauts to the CFL title; in 1950 and 1952. In 1956 he inherited a brutal Riders team which was 5-22 over the two previous years and slowly transformed them into contenders. The team won a Grey Cup in 1960 and back-to-back championships in 1968 and 1969.

He was general manager when the club won the title under Jack Gotta in 1973 and in 1976. Clair was fired as GM following the 1978 season, but was subsequently kept on as a scout. He was unceremoniously dismissed from that position in late December. With 46 seconds remaining in the 1969 Grey Cup game, and Ottawa leading Saskatchewan 29-11, Frank Clair turned to his assistant coaches and said, "I think we have this one." Russ Jackson's fondest memory of Clair who spent, 25 years as a coach, general manager and scout in the Riders organization is an indication of the man's dedication to winning. A head table which included Jackson, fellow hall-of-famer Ron Stewart, former Rough Riders head coach George Brancato, former Citizen sports editor Eddie MacCabe and Mayor Jim Durrell paid tribute to Clair in front of 700 people at the Congress Centre Thursday night.

Behind the head table hung the nine pennants emblematic of the Riders Grey Cup championships; three while Clair was head coach and two while he acted as general manager of the team. Speaker after speaker cracked jokes at the Professor's expense, but they all concluded by commenting on Clair's lasting legacy to the Riders and the CFL. "When we look at all the memories, there is one man who tied it all together, through the highs and lows that man is Frank Clair," said Jackson, Riders quarterback for 12 of the 14 years Clair coached the club. "When you think about football in Ottawa, you think about nothing but Frank Clair," said Durrell, who also Mike Pinder, Citizen Soviets' Mogilny defects to join NHL Riders great Russ Jackson hugs Calgary Flames general manager Cliff Fletcher, who signed former Soviet national team member Sergei Priakin to a two-year contract in March, said it was unclear what effect the defection might have on relations between the NHL and the Soviets. "I can't answer for the Soviets," Fletcher said in Calgary.

"They have been known in the past to do things the way they choose. "I hope our relationship is stronger than one hockey player." Police here offered no immediate verification of Moligny's defection. Soviet sources indicated in an interview with FLT, a Swedish news agency, that Mogilny did not intend to seek political asylum in Sweden, but was heading to the 1988 entry draft. Spokesmen for the NHL and the Sabres said they knew nothing of the reports. Sabres spokesman Budd Bailey said Thursday night that general manager Gerry Meehan left the city 24 hours earlier for parts unknown.

A Gerry Meehan was registered at the Sergei Plaza Hotel in Stockholm, but a hotel spokesman said he had checked out on Wednesday. In reporting the defection, Soviet television said national team officials and the Soviet Hockey Federation asked the Soviet embassy to tell American and Canadian embassies that the "consequences of this situation for the NHL would be most serious." The Professor and his Lady are sitting close to each other in the sunlight streaming through the hotel room window. Pat Clair is listening to Frank say the Grey Cup ring on his finger is from the Rough Riders' 1968 victory, and the gold watch here is for Coach Of The Year in '69. But, what about that Grey Cup ring on Pat's finger? "The same year, 1968," she says. "It was the year of our 20th wedding anniversary and Frank had the ring made for me.

I wear it all the time on my wedding finger." Pat Clair shoots her husband a loving smile. "Frank's very sentimental. Isn't that right, Frank?" "Oh, I guess," says Frank. Frank Clair says he'll be 72 next week, but, on this particular afternoon, he looks 10 years younger. Frank is nicely tanned from the six months of the year he and Pat spend at their condo in Florida; and Frank's very fashionable in a blue sports shirt with pink stripes, cream-colored pants, and black stocking feet.

"Oh, I feel pretty good," he says. "I had that double bypass operation last September, you know. Had a small heart attack the previous April. Had to give up golf for a while. The only thing wrong with me now are my legs.

They're kind of weak, but that's from having my prostate out a month ago. They'll come around eventually." Frank's heart operation was the second; the first, a quadruple bypass in 1970, which Frank figures had a lot to do with his A type personality and almost two packs of cigarettes a day. "Yeah, I'd smoke one right after another. There was more smoking then than there is now. I smoked right up to the eve of my surgery.

I thought, well, if I'm gonna die, I might as well enjoy myself." Since Frank didn't die, he quit cold turkey right after the operation. "I thought it would be an insult to my doctors to keep on smoking." Frank, however, doesn't want to dwell on his health; he prefers talking football and, at the moment, he's looking through a scrapbook a visitor has brought of newspaper pictures and stories from the '50s. "Look, there's old Peahead Walker," he says pointing to the late coach of the Montreal Alouettes. "Boy, he was sure some recruiter. Bobby Judd he played for me in Ottawa.

A great little halfback." "What a terrible tragedy," says Pat Clair. "Bobby and his wife were killed in a car accident in the States. She had her little baby on her knee and, just before the crash, she threw the baby in the back seat with their two other small children. The children survived." Frank nods solemnly. He flips over a page.

"Gosh, there's Kaye Vaughan. And with a moustache. I don't remember Kaye with a moustache. Frankie Fil-chock. Frankie and I went to school together.

He used to line up girls for me." Frank looks quickly at Pat. "Before I was married." "Gee, Frank," says Pat, "look how young you are in that picture." Frank smiles softly. Pat hugs him gently. Frank turns the page. "Avatus Stone.

What a character he was. And a great player, but he sure liked the girls. There's Hal Ledyard. And, Tom Lewis. Isn't this something.

Ron Quillan. He was a good player for us. Very tough. Pat Abbruzzi. Now, there was a tough ball carrier for Montreal." Frank turns the page.

His eyes light up. "There he is. He was the greatest player I ever saw. My God, that guy was something." Frank grins mischievously. "Did you know I could have had him playing for the Argonauts? I've never told this story." He does now.

The year was 1953 and Frank was coaching the Argos. "We needed some wide receivers and I had two in mind a kid in Oklahoma and a kid in Kansas. The kid in Tulsa had been drafted in the third round by the NFL; the kid in Kansas, 14th or something. "Anyway, my old high school football coach in Hamilton, Ohio Charlie Mather he'd just become head coach at the University of Kansas. Now, I'd already talked to this kid on the phone a couple of times and he was interested in coming to Toronto.

"But, first, I called Charlie and asked him to check the kid out for me. Charlie calls back and says, Frank, I don't think the kid's impressive at all, he looks kind of ordinary. So, I took Charlie's word and went after the other kid. But, I wasn't able to sign him. "When I get back to Toronto, there's a letter for me from the kid in Kansas.

It says, 'Dear Coach Clair: Just to let you know I've signed a contract with Mr. Peahead Walker to play with the Montreal Alouettes. Yours truly Hal Frank Clair learned his lesson: He did all his own scouting after that and as, history shows, became one of the best. Frank Clair the United States to join an NHL team. Mogilny, a member of the Soviet Cen tral Red Army team, served a 10-game suspension earlier this season after a fight in a Soviet league game against Spartak Moscow.

A Swedish newspaper reported last week that Moligny had his monthly salary withdrawn after the incident and that he lost his Masters of Sports order. But he was given permission to play in the world championships by the Soviet Sports Committee. "This incident soured our joyful homecoming after winning the championships," Soviet coach Viktor Tikhonov told Tass, the Soviet news agency, add ing that he believed Mogilny was lured' by the promise of a big NHL contract. Blackhawks bump, grind to victory Blackhawks 4, Flames 2 (Series tied 1-1) CALGARY (CP) The Chicago Blackhawks were written off and worse laughed at. But it took them just six minutes and three quick goals to regain the Calgary Flames' respect as they scored a well-deserved victory Thursday to even the NHL Campbell Conference final 1-1.

"We have a lot of pride on this hockey team," said Trent Yawney, who notched his third goal of the playoffs as Chicago won its first game in Calgary in more than four years. "We weren't satisfied with how we played the first game. We know we had to play above our heads tonight to steal the game. It's hard work and dedication that got us this far. It's going to take that and even more to win this series." The Blackhawks were pitiful in losing Tuesday's series opener 3-0.

They mustered just 19 shots on goal and played without emotion or spark. The Calgary media raked Chicago over the coals, questioning why the Norris Division even bothered sending a representative to the Campbell final. Blackhawk coach Mike Keenan suppressed a grin when asked if he was looking forward to reading today's papers. "That was a helpful assistance by the media here," said the coach. "I'm sure our players were sensitive to it.

They are proud hockey players." Steve Larmer, Denis Savard and Steve Thomas, on the power play, made It 3-0 with just 6:02 gone in the game. Then the Blackhawks used their bump-and-grind style to stifle the Flames offence. "When we had the puck in their end we weren't having enough good shots, which is the key to beating any goalie," said Calgary defenceman Jamie Ma-coun. The Flames finally managed to kindle a fire late in the third period, but Chicago's Alain Chevrier stood his ground, blocking 22 shots in the STOCKHOLM (CP) Alexander Mogilny, described by one NHL general manager as the best young player in the Soviet Union, apparently has defected. The Swedish national news agency, TT, reported that Mogilny had left this morning on a Scandinavian Airlines plane bound for New York.

Mogilny, a 20-year-old forward regarded as a future star on the Soviet national team, did not show up for the team's flight back to Moscow on Thursday after the Soviets won the world hockey championships. Swedish and Soviet media reported Mogilny had defected and planned to travel to North America. His rights are owned by the Buffalo Sabres, who selected him 89th overall in Chicago's Adam Crfcighton (22) (it CD vS kJ CP Photo and Flarfies' Brian MacLellan chasepuck in first-period action.