Six Vanier Cups, four Atlantic Bowls, two Churchill Bowls, two Forest City Bowls and 16 Yates Cups, not bad for an uneducated slob...
Those, the words of Clay Warner, a man who has been a part of a lot of winning teams in his time. But his accolades don't make him who he is, it's more the memories during the 35 years spent with the Western Mustangs football team as their equipment manager.
Warner has seen it all and been with the team through all its highest points. Joining the Mustangs in 1967 after an accident at a construction site, Warner quickly became a favourite of all the coaches and players that made their way through the Mustangs football program.
Best known around the Western campus by the nickname of "Cue-Ball" for the lack of hair on his head, Warner would ride any and everyone's gears if you were apart of the football family.
"He gives it to anyone he's met," says Western Mustangs head athletic therapist Rob Walsh. "The more he ragged on you, the more he liked you."
Warner to this day tells it like it is, and if he likes or dislikes something he will surely let you know. Despite what may appear as a rough exterior, Warner's inside is one of kindness and warmth.
"He's deadly honest, but he's one of the kindest guy's you'd ever meet," says Walsh.
Being an inductee for on the Wall of Champions was never something that Warner ever considered happening, but he said he's glad it did.
"It's kinda cool, I thought maybe sometime I'd be up there but I'm not a coach or player so I didn't expect it," says Warner. "It's something that one day I can take the grandchildren up to see and say 'hey that's cool'."
Generations still to come will now know about Clay Warner when they see the Western Mustangs football Wall of Champions plaque just outside of Labatt Lounge on the main floor of the J.W. Little Buliding.
Warner will be officially inducted on April 16, 2010.
It won't mark the end of an era though, Warner will take to the field once again on Saturday May 8, at the upcoming East-West bowl being hosted at TD Waterhouse Stadium.
