THE GIL SCOTT BOWL?
BY: Gary Lawless
Winnipeg Free Press
REGINA — Gil Scott has been working in the shadows of professional sports for over 30 years. In Sunday’s Grey Cup, his work will, as always, go unnoticed by fans, but it will have a huge impact on the game.
Scott and partner Tim Fleiszer of Gil Scott Sports Management represent 15 Hamilton Tiger-Cats and nine Saskatchewan Roughriders, the combatants in the 101st Grey Cup.
Hamilton Management and coaches: Kent Austin, Orlondo Steinauer, Dennis McPhee, Jeff Reinebold, Eric Tillman.
Players: Brian Bulcke, Simoni Lawrence, Andy Fantuz, Sam Giguere, Greg Wojt, Tim O’Neill, Mike Filer, Joel Reinders, Tavoy Moore, Luca Congi.
Saskatchewan Management and coaches: Brendan Taman, Corey Chamblin, Khari Jones.
Players: Darian Durant, Chris Getzlaf, John Chick, Domenic Picard, Brendon LaBatte, Jordan Sisco.
“This is the most conflicted I’ve ever been before a game. I really don’t know what to do,” said Scott, who calls former quarterback Dieter Brock his first high-profile client.
“I know at the end of the night I’ll have to visit the victory party and the not-so victory party. I can make a case for wanting both sides to win. But in the end, I don’t want either side to lose.”
Scott is a big, soft spoken man. Go to a CFL event and you’ll see him at the back of the room. He’s the guy without any credentials hanging around his neck, yet he’s never stopped by league security.
Scott can call CFL luminaries such as Don Matthews and Wally Buono former clients. He’s also spread into the NHL, representing coaches and GMs including Randy Carlyle, Scott Arniel, Peter Chiarelli, Todd Richards and Adam Oates.
In the NFL, Scott has clients such as Seattle Seahawks punter Jon Ryan and Minnesota Vikings linebacker coach Mike Singletary.
“Gil’s not just an agent. He’s a great friend. If he says he’s conflicted about Sunday that’s authentic,” said Austin. “He’s done a great job for me and I trust him implicitly. He’s got a tremendous amount of character and he’s very honest and bright. He’s really good at what he does.”
Scott tells the story of how he got into the agent business with a smile on his face.
“I was in the insurance business and there was a tax deferral scheme for professional athletes called Income Averaging Annuities. I was selling a lot of them to pro athletes. I did a presentation in the Argos locker-room and the Tiger-Cats locker-room and started to work with a lot of the guys.
“One day Nick Bastaja asked me to negotiate his contract and on a lark, I did it. Nick gets traded to Winnipeg along with Mark Bragagnolo and I go to see him in the hotel in Hamilton. Dieter Brock is in the room. I meet Dieter and the rest is history. Taking Dieter to the NFL and the (L.A.) Rams put me on the map. I could have rested on my laurels after working with Dieter, or I could use it to get other guys. I kept going.”
Scott hooked up with Randy Carlyle after the coach was fired by the Anaheim Ducks. They had a few discussions, but didn’t establish a formal relationship.
“I was at the CFL coach of the year luncheon in Edmonton, where we had two clients, Kavis Reed and Paul LaPolice, up for the award, and my phone starts to buzz,” Scott recalled. “I look at it and it says Randy Carlyle. I scurry out of the ballroom and take the call. He says the Leafs have fired Ron Wilson and they want him to fly to Montreal that night, but he’s not going until I do the deal,” tells Scott.
“My partner Tim had a room in the hotel, so I go upstairs and get Brian Burke and Dave Nonis on the phone and we work out the deal. Then I realize I’ve got to get to Montreal, so I run to the airport and get a flight. That’s this business. You start out the day at a CFL awards luncheon and end it in Montreal signing a coach to a contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.”
Austin was comfortable in a lucrative position as head coach at Cornell University when Tiger-Cats president Scott Mitchell decided his organization needed a revamp — and Austin was the man to do it.
Mitchell, a former agent, had partnered with Scott back in the day. A call to Scott was the first move he made in his pursuit of Austin, who proceeded to take the Cats from worst to the Grey Cup in one year.
“Gil is connected, period. It doesn’t matter what league you are talking about,” said Mitchell. “He’s a well-respected guy who builds loyal relationships with his friends and clients.”
Scott is the king of the hotel lobby. A big part of his job is to shake hands and pat backs, but he does it without the oily countenance of a game-show host. Maybe it’s his stature, maybe his personality, but in any case Scott retains the respect of players and power brokers while not stooping to sniff jocks.
“That’s not Gil. Gil is a deal maker. The best deals are the ones that benefit both sides and that’s what Gil tries to do,” said Mitchell. “When Gil phones, you should pick up. He finds solutions for teams. It’s well known that the people who have regrets are the ones that didn’t listen to his advice along the line.
“At the end of the day Gil represents his clients and he’s transparent about that. But if you look around this league and the NHL, Gil has some pretty darn good clients. There’s a reason for that.”
Gil Scott won’t be a winner Sunday. He won’t catch a pass or throw a block. But when they hand the Grey Cup to one team or another after the game, his fingerprints will already be all over the coveted mug.
