Legends part 1 Wally Buono

Countless Journeys

Wally Buono is the winningest coach in CFL history who led the teams he coached to a remarkable five Grey Cup wins. And that’s on top of the two Grey cups he won as a player. Wally, along with his older brother and his mother arrived at Pier 21 in Halifax from Southern Italy in the early 1950s, on their way to Montreal to join their father. In a wide-ranging conversation with host Paolo Pietropaolo Wally shares the early challenges his family faced after the tragic loss of his father, and the mentors Wally was helped along by in those tough years in the aftermath of that loss. Mentors who, along with his incredible mother, taught Wally a lot about the value of a supportive community, and how that influenced his approach to coaching. “You know, what you're trying to do with a football team is build a family structure, build a family atmosphere, you know, obviously if you show love and respect to your children and to your wife, the players see that. They see that your words aren't idle or they're not empty, and a lot of them don't necessarily always come from that.”