Football was not the road Kamau Peterson thought his athletic career would take.
He was a multi-sport standout at Sandwich high school, but he never really got into football until just before graduating.
“You know how it is, you see a couple of guys that play everything in high school,” Peterson said. “I played basketball, did track and field and football, but even volleyball, soccer and baseball.”
His ability to compete in multiple sports eventually led to an NCAA scholarship at the University of New Hampshire and paved the way to a 11-year pro football career in the Canadian Football League and now a spot in this year’s Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame induction class.
“Football was the last thing I got to,” the 48-year-old Peterson said. “I didn’t start until my last year in high school. I thought I was going to play basketball. Everything was just the next thing. Track I did because I was good at it (he still holds the OFSAA novice boys’ triple junior record at 14.17 metres set in 1994), but I was not willing to put in a lot of time. Probably was best at it, but not passionate like I was for basketball.”
New Hampshire gave Peterson the chance to play football, basketball and compete in track and field.
“(Then assistant coach) Chip Kelly, (who went on to be an NFL head coach) recruited me under the guise that Syracuse and Georgia would love you for a couple (sports), but (here) you can play all three,” Peterson said. “He sold me on the big fish in the small pond and ‘We don’t have an athlete like you. You OK being a cog or do you want to be someone very responsible for that program?’”
Kamau Peterson takes part in an Edmonton Eskimo team practice. DAVID BLOOM / SunMedia
But as time went on, Peterson began to realize that football was the athletic path that best suited him.
“Once I realized I wasn’t getting any taller, football grew on me once realized basketball wasn’t going to be a path,” the six-foot-one Peterson said.
“Football is not really a skill game, but a game of athletes. I didn’t realize why they recruited me when I had only played one year of football. It’s because they wanted athletes. They taught me everything and I had to learn on the job and was still learning when I got to pro.”
He played quarterback, cornerback and returned kicks in high school, but New Hampshire transformed him into a receiver that would go sixth overall in the 2001 CFL Draft to the Calgary Stampeders.
“It wasn’t until four years (in the CFL), I needed eight years (with university), before the game slowed down,” Peterson said. “I don’t know another sport you can do that in. I was fast and explosive and that was good enough.”
Peterson did bounce around with the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets in the NFL and that created another problem when he eventually returned to the CFL.
“From CFL time, I had a rough couple of years coming back from the NFL,” Peterson said. “It was a quick ascent and I went from 188 (pounds) to 230. The NFL, at that time, was bigger, faster, stronger and I bought in and that hurt my game.
“I came back to Canada, and it took time to realize what was limiting me until (former CFL standout) Milt Stegall pulled me aside. It could have been a premature end and he really helped out and then I ascended again.”
Kamau Peterson of the Edmonton Eskimos at the practice field west of Commonwealth Stadium during Eskimos practice Wednesday afternoon. SunMedia
Aside from Calgary, where he won a Grey Cup in his rookie season, Peterson also played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Edmonton Eskimos and British Columbia Lions. A two-time CFL West Division all-star, Peterson was also named the league’s Outstanding Canadian player in 2008 after hauling in 101 passes for 1,317 yards and four touchdowns for the Eskimos. He finished his pro career with 536 receptions, 6,902 receiving yards and 29 touchdowns.
He has coached in the OUA at Your University, as well as with Football Ontario and Team Canada while working to mentor young athletes.
Peterson will be one of seven people formally honoured at this year’s Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which is set for Saturday at the Caboto Club.
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