Sports

Leaside High alum calls it a CFL career

PHOTO COURTESY TORONTO ARGONAUTS  CALLING AN AUDIBLE: Toronto Argonaut wide receiver Mike Bradwell announced his retirement from football on May 14. The Leaside High School alum is pursuing a career in civil engineering, and has taken a job in sunny Los Angeles.
PHOTO COURTESY TORONTO ARGONAUTS
CALLING AN AUDIBLE: Toronto Argonaut wide receiver Mike Bradwell announced his retirement from football on May 14. The Leaside High School alum is pursuing a career in civil engineering, and has taken a job in sunny Los Angeles.

Argonauts wide receiver Mike Bradwell retires

The ship has sailed on Toronto Argonaut Mike Bradwell’s career.

A Leaside High School alumnus who first started playing football in Grade 12, Bradwell has decided to pack it in after six seasons and 92 games with the Double Blue, in which he registered 116 catches for 1,240 yards and scored six touchdowns. He made the announcement on May 14.

There’s no concern about feeling blue for the 28-year-old, however. He’s pursuing a career in civil engineering — the degree he earned from McMaster University — by accepting a position with Walsh Construction in Los Angeles.

Retiring was “not an easy decision,” Bradwell said in an interview while waiting for his plane to LAX airport.

“I think that I’m always going to question it somewhat, especially with the exciting announcements: the move to BMO Field and the new ownership,” he said. “You’re always going to miss the guys.”

He said he is “comfortable” with the decision, however, and wouldn’t have made it unless he was “doing what I’m doing.”

Among the most memorable moments in his CFL career, Bradwell said, was winning the 100th Grey Cup in 2012 and taking the trophy to Leaside High School. It was coach Jim Georgiadis, along with Csaba Vegh, who had encouraged him to take up football when he was in Grade 12.

“That’s sort of a Cinderella story: me being a hometown guy from Toronto,” he said. “We had a bunch of hometown guys on that team. I had my friends and family at that game.

“Being able to celebrate with everyone, and after we won being able to bring the Grey Cup to Leaside and North Lea — show coach Giorgiadis the Grey Cup — that was special to me.”

During his playing days Bradwell was also involved on the local charity circuit, once planning a swim with the sharks at Ripley’s Aquarium as well as a walk on the edge of the CN Tower for the Sian Bradwell Fund For Children With Cancer and the Canadian Cancer Foundation.

Joining him on the move to the City of Angels is girlfriend, and TV personality, Aliya-Jasmine Sovani, who has taken a job with NBC and Bravo.

Bradwell admitted Los Angeles is a huge change of scenery for him.

“I’m a Toronto kid, born and raised,” he said. “The farthest I [travelled] was to go to school in Hamilton, so it’s a big step, but I’m very excited.”

Comments are closed.