“He would have loved this,” said the veteran Blue Bombers linebacker. “I think of him every day. And he really would have loved this.”

Finch Cadwallader, FYI, passed away on April 17th from bladder cancer. And last Friday — the same day his son made two critical plays in recovering a fumble on the opening kickoff and then blocking a punt early in the second half that led to a critical touchdown in the victory — would have been a special occasion.

“He would have been 75 last Friday, the day of our game,” began Cadwallader in a chat with bluebombers.com today. “He was a huge fan of the team and, obviously, me.

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“He didn’t come to the games, but he watched them all and we’d always recap them when I got home. So, last Friday started off as a weird one, being it was his first birthday without having him here and not being able to speak to him or celebrate the win with him.

“I stepped outside on my back deck where he used to hang out and had a small conversation with him. It was, ‘We’ve got a big one today. Keep watching us, be watching over us and if there’s anything you can do to help us through….’

“And then the opportunity came up to make a play and I didn’t mess up. It was pretty special. It was exciting. We got a win, which was important for us.

“Like I said before, he would have loved that one.”

Finch Cadwallader spent his career working in the steel fabrication in southern Ontario and watched his son play with Wilfrid Laurier University and the London Beefeaters of the Ontario Football Conference before being selected by the Blue Bombers in the 7th round, 64th overall, in the 2020 CFL Canadian Draft.

Some six years later Cadwallader hasn’t missed a single game, has a Grey Cup ring from 2021, and has become one of the most consistent and reliable special teams players in the entire league.

And both Finch and Delia, Cadwallader’s parents would be proud of every single part of that and, especially, his moments in a big win last Friday.

“After the game… it was just heavy,” Cadwallader said. “I mean, all I can say is that went well. It went exactly as I hoped it would. In speaking to my parents these moments, it seems like the moments like that are few and far between where I’ll speak out, but I know they’re with me and they’re watching over me wherever I am and with whatever I do.

“I’ve told a few of the guys this: when I would have a good game or we’d have a shootout or a big win, we’d be in the locker room well past midnight sometimes. And then I’d go home and he’d be in bed, but I’d wake him up and we’d take the time to recap the game and have a laugh about it.

“He always enjoyed so much when I’d show him clips of the small things on special teams, like my blocking assignments or me running through people. That’s part of the experience of being at this level that I really miss — being able to recap a big win like that with him.

“It’s still a great win. But it felt a bit different, too.”

It was suggested then that this is a part of the grieving — from the initial pain of losing someone to then remembering them fondly — Cadwallader nodded in agreement.

“Totally. Totally true. I felt it with my mom’s passing years ago,” he said. “That’s the last thing my mom saw me doing at that point in my life — I was in university and playing football — and I remember when I was growing up she asked me, ‘What do you want to do?’ And I’d say, ‘I want to be a pro football player.’ She would challenge that, but it was always like, this was what I was always doing and it’s the last thing she got to see me do.

“And my dad, he got to see me become a pro and it’s the last thing he got to see me doing. The last conversation we had that was real before things got really bad for him, he just said, ‘Just keep trying your hardest.’ I felt that in the immediate moment. And I always do and always will for him. There’s no choice or option in that because in this game you have to give it your all. There’s that famous Vince Lombardi quote that ‘a football player has to play from the soles of his feet up. He has to put everything into it.

“For my dad, to reassure to me that it was his expectation was, I’ll absolutely do that for him. That’s just something that will stick with me forever.”

OUCH REPORT: The first day of the Blue Bombers work week saw RB Brady Oliveira, SB Nic Demski, OT Stanley Bryant, DBs Redha Kramdi and Jonathan Moxey all playing the role of spectators.

FYI: Blue Bombers QB Zach Collaros was named one of the CFL’s Player of the Week for his handiwork against the Alouettes which saw him complete 26-of-32 passes for 324 yards and two touchdowns.

And when he was asked how that news made him feel, he offered this:

“Great,” he said.

Follow up, from CJOB’s Derek Taylor: “Do you take anything from those at this point (in your career)?”

“No,” he said.

Added head coach Mike O’Shea, jokingly:

“He was up and down the hall telling everybody today. He was saying something — I couldn’t quite make it out.

“His leadership throughout the week and the way he played, it certainly lifts guys around him for sure. It’s nice that he’s recognized. It’s easy money to say that he does not care.”