Despite his voice damaged by cancer, Jacques Dussault maintains his openness. The man nicknamed “The Coach” refused to say much about his upcoming induction into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, admitting in passing that he was afraid of dying.
“It’s intense, this illness,” he says. I’m feeling a little better these days, but I’m slowly recovering from this tonsil cancer.”
The 73-year-old couldn’t imagine a better picture of him, who was at times confined to a wheelchair to get around.
“The worst thing is the side effects,” says Dussault. I also had a reaction to chemotherapy, this treatment did not help me. I felt connected everywhere, I looked like a computer.”
A representative introduction
The trainer talks about life’s trials or his successful career, always maintaining a touch of humor.
Dussault explains that he now lives “in the woods” in Val-David and will be in Montreal starting Friday evening for a cocktail organized by the Alouettes to pay tribute to five future recruits who have left their mark on the organization. Larry Smith, a builder like Dussault, will be there, as will former players John Bowman, Josh Bourke and Lloyd Fairbanks. On Saturday evening, these football greats will be featured at halftime during the game between the Alouettes and the British Columbia Lions.
In Dussault’s case, his entry into the pantheon is particularly significant for football in Quebec, as he remains a true pioneer. He also became the first French Canadian to be included in the contractor category.
“It’s not something that excites me, these things,” Dussault remarked about the honor bestowed on him. I’m far from presumptuous when I say this, but being the first Quebecer to achieve something in the world of football is nothing new for me.
Tear down doors
The coach, originally from the Quebec region, was not yet 30 years old when, despite his poor English skills, he found himself on the coaching staff at the University of Albany in New York State.
“At that time it was very important for me to be up to the task so as not to close the door in case another Francophone wanted to follow later,” he says.
This experience in the United States then served to lead him to becoming a coach with the Alouettes and Concordes in the early 1990s and eventually becoming head coach of the Montreal Machine in the World League of American Football.
“I am not a careerist, I have always made instinctive decisions,” explained Dussault, who preferred to work intensively with young people in various educational institutions.
From 2002 to 2005, he laid the foundation for the Université de Montréal Carabins football program.
Jacques Dussault was honored by the Carabins on October 28, 2017, shortly after announcing his retirement as a coach in the world of football. Dominick Gravel/QMI Agency
“It was a good challenge and I didn’t plan on letting go of the Carabins during these years,” said Dussault. “I could have gotten a managerial job in the NFL during that time and I wouldn’t have even been there.”
In his way
Integrity, “The Coach” always did things his way. Last Saturday he was again at the Carabins’ opening game at CEPSUM. Due to health concerns, Dussault had left the door open to possibly leaving at halftime, but he stayed to watch the University of Montreal beat the McGill Redmen 43-11. Once again it was his great passion for football that prevailed.
“When we’re young, sometimes we think it only happens to other people,” he adds, reflecting on his battle with cancer. But that is not true.”
The official inauguration of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame will take place on Friday, September 15th in Hamilton. Dussault plans to be there and, as he specifies, to begin his speech in French.
“It will be my pleasure to remind the rest of Canada that football is doing well in Quebec,” he concludes with humor.