Stamps equipment manager George Hopkins marks 1,000 games on 50th anniversary with team
Right around 1972, when the starting quarterback was Jerry Keeling, the star defensive end John Helton, and the middle linebacker Wayne Harris, 13-year-old George Hopkins snagged a dream job for a Calgary kid: Stampeders ball boy.
Little did George, or 'Geo' as he's known in the dressing room, know, but that was the end of his job search - forever.
That's because Hopkins would eventually work his way up to become the team's equipment manager, and this weekend in Ottawa, Geo and the Stampeders will mark the occasion of his 1000th game with the team.
He's worked with 13 different head coaches, hundreds of players and watched CFL games in 26 different stadiums.
He's watched everyone from Keeling to Flutie to Dickenson to Henry Burris, from Jeff Garcia to Drew Tate to Kevin Glenn to Bo Levi Mitchell play quarterback.
Along the way, Geo appeared at 12 Grey Cup games, with the Stamps winning six of them.
The 2022 season marks Hopkins' 50th with the team.
It's a far cry for someone whose original plan was to become an academic.
"My firm intention was that I was going to be a history professor," he said. "So right now, I'd be tenured and sitting at home in my den, with my pipe and smoking jacket, so not this kind of totally different field completely."
The Stampeders take on the Ottawa Redblacks Friday at 5:30 p.m. MST.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.