A Canadian Football League fan in Calgary took it upon himself to make historic games available online..Tom Elder’s Calgary Stampeders Classics channels on YouTube and Instagram are the latest expression of his lifelong love of football..“I've been a Stamps fan since I was a kid and some former players, I've known for pretty much all my life,” Elder said in an interview with the Western Standard..“I've been collecting CFL games, specifically Calgary Stampeders games, since about 2014. I started recording them back then. And then I started trading with other people and acquiring other older games to add to my empire of games, if you will.”.Elder attended his first Stampeders game in 1986, but says he got hooked as a fan in 1991 during the West Final..A “bomb” from Danny Barrett to Pee Wee Smith seized victory and a Grey Cup berth. Almost two years ago, Elder decided to give other fans a chance to watch these memorable moments online. .“The one leading thing that motivated me to get started was to have a way to show other Stampeder fans, other CFL fans, the history of the league,” Elder said..“You look at the NFL, like they have NFL films, and it's easy to watch online. Because the CFL doesn't have the money, they just don't have the same ability to do that.”.The 41-year-old junior high teacher likely has more classic games than the Stampeders themselves. He says they “turfed” all but the most important of old tapes in 2005 when they were doing renovations. .“The games I have from the late 50s and early 60s I got from Daryl Slade, who was a long-time statistician for the Calgary Stampeders. He had acquired these 16-mm films some time ago..“I've been, over the last seven or eight months, converting them to digital through a guy I found and I've just been pooling money together with other people to lower the costs. One game is four reels of film. It's about 130, 140 bucks. And the guys that go in with me on the games, I'll give them a DVD copy.”.Elder says he has no rights to the games and doesn’t sell them for money. He’s doing it for the love and some in the game have returned it..“This channel was recognized back in April at the annual general meeting of Stampeder alumni. I've been able to connect with a lot of former players of the Stampeders as well as other CFL teams, as they've been appreciative. Current players, even, have been very thankful.”.In a game earlier this year, Elder overheard a child asking his father what Doug Flutie was like as a Stampeder quarterback. Elder said he was glad he could point them to his channel for an opportunity to watch..“Bo Levi Mitchell's one of my followers on my Instagram account. I have Doug Flutie and Jeff Garcia for followers as well. I've been able to talk to Jeff Garcia fairly often, as well as players like Bo and former players like Darren Flutie.”.Elder posts as many as three videos a day on his channel, which by now has extended to CFL games without Calgary. With most exceptions the original ads are edited out, though for older broadcasts he sometimes keeps some ads for entertainment value. He also has another YouTube channel called Canadian Amateur Football Classics..“I have all five of the Calgary Dinos’ Vanier Cup wins on there. I have a few University of Saskatchewan games on there too I found online. But a lot of the Dinos games I have on there from the 90s, I acquired from former Dinos players,” Elder said..“There's nothing like nostalgia to shake off all the doom and gloom in the world these days. So, it's a fun hobby for myself to work on these games.”.Links:.Calgary Stampeders Classics (Instagram)Calgary Stampeders Classics (YouTube)Canadian Amateur Football Classics (YouTube)Lee Harding’s Saskatchewan Roughriders Games (YouTube playlist)
