Today is a great news day, here at Saultsports.com. Tony Boniferro is joining our expanding his sports resume with writing a weekly article for us here at Saultsports.com. Tony has done some work as a play by play announcer and on-air personality, let Tony know that you are excited about him expanding his duties on our team.

As Rajesh Koothrappali famously said about his new friend Stuart: “It’s like we both had these holes in our lives, but now we fill each other’s holes”.

If you’re not a fan of the Big Bang Theory, then I assume you probably do not get the reference.

There’s a big hole in our city right now.

Let me explain. I was recently texting with a Sault native, who works in the OHL, and he was dumbfounded the Sault Star had not a single article about local sports since June 29th.

There has been an NHL draft that saw numerous players with ties to the Sault drafted, an NHL a prospect has come out, the Olympics have started, NFL training camp is about to start, the Bucks just won one of the most unlikely championships in NBA history and we don’t hear anything about it. Crickets.

I realize times have changed and reading the daily newspaper is a thing of the past, for the most part. Anyone and everyone can post their opinions or thoughts on a variety of social media platforms or websites. I’m a prime example, to a degree. I have no university or college diploma in journalism, yet here I am hosting numerous sports shows locally and now trying my hand in writing articles. I just love sports and I’m thankful for the opportunities presented to me by Jay Houslander and Saultsports.

However, I miss the days of waiting for the paperboy to come so I could read Peter Ruicci’s thoughts on the Hounds game last night. I miss Tuesdays, when Bill Montague would stir up controversy with his “Tuesday’s with Montague”. I still wait for Wednesday’s to read what Randy Russon has to say about the NOJHL or the Tigers. Sure, Randy is currently writing, but I worry he may consider hanging up the pen in the near further as well.

With Peter Ruicci announcing his retirement last month, there’s a massive hole left in the community. 15 years ago, the Sault had a group of active, amazing writers who covered sports in this city at a level that would rival any other city in Canada. I’d like to take a quick minute to discuss three of them.

Peter Ruicci

Peter Ruicci is a legend. There were some weekends where he would cover 5 or 6 sports on his own.

Peter was always great to me. He was professional, articulate, funny and has a real wit to him.

One thing I’ll always remember about Peter was on my 21st birthday, I suffered a compound fracture in my leg playing for Steelers. It was a devastating injury. The Steelers were undefeated and it was a semi final game against Mississauga. I caught, what turned out to be, the game winning touchdown on a beautiful throw from Seth Cond three minutes before my injury. (Had to throw that in there for obvious reasons)

While I was laying in the hospital the next day, I could not wait for the Sault Star to come in so I could read about the game. I open the paper, and there’s a picture of me laying in the middle of the field, tears running down my face, on my stomach with my toes pointing to the sky. Despite the humiliating picture, Peter told the story of the game, and my injury, with a sense of responsibility and compassion. It was clear he cared and that meant the world to me. It still does.

The realism and sensitivity in which Peter wrote his articles is something we don’t see very often. It will be greatly missed.

Randy Russon

Randy Russon is another legend in this city. Love him or hate him, everyone reads his articles on Wednesday’s. Randy was never afraid to speak his mind, and because of that, he would stir up some great conversations at many local watering holes.

Randy and I have had an up and down relationship over the years, but I will always been grateful to Randy. When I was in high school, Randy Russon would write about me quite often. I struggled with self esteem all my life, but especially in high school. Randy’s articles gave me confidence, pride and motivated me to do better. This is the power of a good sports writer, and Randy has that.

Randy is still writing today and we are lucky to have him. I love Randy’s honesty when he writes. He doesn’t hide his feelings.

I look forward to seeing him at a Lions game in the near future and sharing a pre game pint with him at Elwood.

Bill Montague

Despite his lack of poker skills, Bill Montague is missed in the community. Bill was a premiere sports writer and editor for the Sault Star.

Bill was never afraid to speak his mind. And that’s what made him special. Today, people hide behind keyboards and fake names. Bill never did that.

I’ll forever be grateful to Bill. After my injury, I was told I’d likely never play football again. I was lucky enough to be able to come back for a couple seasons, but that was after two years of rehab. In my first game back, I caught a touchdown pass against Sudbury that proved to be the difference.

Bill interviewed me after the game and wrote the best article I’ve ever read. Sure, I’m ridiculously biased, but he covered my thoughts, feelings, emotions and overall mood after the game. People think of Bill as an “in your face” type guy who will tell you what he thinks. Sure, that’s him to a degree, but I know the other side of the man. He’s compassionate, loyal, fair and cares for the athletes he covered. His intent is real.

I still hope he comes back in some capacity, but he has a successful career in real estate and is a proud father and it seems as though life has taken him in a different direction.

Bill has a presence about him. Intimidating, yet inviting. I’m proud to call him a friend today and I’ll keep harassing him to come back, in some capacity.

I share these personal stories not to reminisce about myself, but to show that guys like these seem to be a dying bread and it, to put it elegantly, it sucks.

So, that leads to me. There is no possible way I could ever do the job these guys do or have done. I’m not even going to pretend to have the education, training or writing abilities that they possess.

Sure, I took a couple English classes in university but I’m certainly no Hemingway. You’ll find grammatical errors, probably a spelling error here or there and I might have to use a thesauruses on occasion, but I’m going to try and do my part to give back.

I plan on writing articles for Saultsports that will be a combination of the three men I grew up admiring in this town. Peter Ruicci’s professionalism, mixed with Randy Russon’s honesty and Bill Montague‘s passion.

There’s been a massive hole left in the community. A hole I hope to have a small part in filling.

Tony Boniferro