Montreal Alouettes‘ long snapper Martin Bédard is the 2019 recipient of the Jake Gaudaur Veteran’s Award. He accepted the trophy on Thursday night during the CFL awards in Calgary.
The honour has been awarded every year since 2010 to a Canadian CFL player who best demonstrates the attributes of Canada’s veterans: strength, perseverance, courage, comradeship and contribution to Canadian communities. The award recognizes Jake Gaudaur for embodying these attributes both as the CFL’s longest-standing Commissioner and as a distinguished veteran of the Second World War.
“I am extremely honoured to receive this unique and prestigious award. After visiting our troups in Afghanistan, I have the utmost respect for what our military does, which makes this trophy even more special for me,” declared Bédard. “I have lived through some hard times but I never have had to put my life on the line to defend values that are so precious to us all. I consider myself lucky to do a job that I love, which has allowed me to experience camaraderie with my teammates, my coaches and the Alouettes employees.”
Over the years, Bédard has faced many challenges and tragedies, including losing his father to an unforgiving cancer a few years after that disease had already claimed his mother from him. His brother Mathieu also had to fight cancer and as a result, he will spend the rest of his days in a wheelchair. Even while dealing with all of these tragedies, Bédard, who just completed his 11th season with the Alouettes, was always there for his teammates. What is even more remarkable is that he could have taken some time off to deal with all of this, as well as take some time to heal certain injuries.
Always willing to help, the former University of Connecticut Huskie visits elderly and handicapped people at the Manoir Perron on a regular basis. Conscious about the importance of staying in school and how his studies have helped him over the years, Martin is a great ambassador for the Together at School with the Alouettes program, where he encourages kids to stay in school and make the right life decisions.
“When we were trying to identify the Alouettes true identity over the course of the last two years, we were in search of the true DNA of our organization and Martin represents exactly what an Alouettes should be, as he is totally dedicated to the team on and off the field, he gives back to the community, as well as to the youth, all with pride and humility,” said Alouettes President and CEO Patrick Boivin. “It is even more remarkable that he did so while going through very difficult moments in his personal life. We are very proud that Martin is the recipient of this trophy, as it couldn’t have happened to a better person.”
The former Cégep du Vieux-Montréal Spartiate played 179 career games in the CFL. On top his long snapper duties, he managed to amass 68 special teams tackles during his career. The 35-year-old helped the Alouettes win the Grey Cup in 2009 and 2010.
The Quebec City, QC native becomes the fourth Alouettes‘ player in ten years to earn this award, as his former teammates Luc Brodeur-Jourdain (2017), Jeff Perrett (2015) and Shea Emry (2013) also saw their names engraved on the trophy.
