Earlier this year, Jeffrey Orridge announced that he would be stepping down as the CFL commissioner nearly two years after he landed the job and now we know who his replacement will be.
On Wednesday, it was reported that Randy Ambrosie will be taking over for Orridge as CFL commissioner and will become the 14th commissioner in league history.
You probably don’t know much about the 54-year-old Ambrosie, but he’s a former CFL player himself who spent nine years in the league as an offensive guard.
Selected second overall by the Calgary Stampeders in the 1985 CFL Draft, the Winnipeg native played in 13 games as a rookie and was named the team’s nominee for rookie of the year.
Despite getting off to a hot start in his CFL career, Ambrosie was dealt to the Toronto Argonauts four games into the 1987 season in exchange for a second round draft pick.
Ambrosie and his fellow linemen received a lot of praise while he was in Toronto as they helped the Argonauts become one of the best running teams in the league.
Ahead of the 1989 season, Ambrosie was dealt once again, this time to the Edmonton Eskimos. He went on to play the final years of his career with the Eskimos, and was a member of the 81st Grey Cup champion squad.
He ended up retiring from the CFL following his Grey Cup victory and went on to become the secretary of the Canadian Football League Players’ Association in 1992, where he played a key role in monitoring the NHL strike in 1992 as the CFL and CFLPA ended up negotiating their collective bargaining agreement that same year.
The former first round pick also played a role in helping the league expand to the United States, and will now look to help the league expand throughout Canada.
The 54-year-old is expected to be introduced as the new CFL commissioner later this week.
