Neil James Lumsden (born December 19, 1952) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician and retired professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player. Lumsden was elected to the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Member of Provincial ...

in the 2022 provincial election, and was subsequently appointed as the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport in June 2022. Lumsden played his entire professional career in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

, mostly as a fullback and also as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Th ...

for the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the CFL East Division, East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based i ...

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fie ...

and

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Comm ...

from 1976 to 1985.

Early life

He played high school football at

Northern Secondary School Northern Secondary School (often referred to as Northern Secondary, Northern, or NSS) is a public high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It teaches grades 9 through 12. It is a part of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). Prior to Amal ...

and graduated from Crescent School in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Football career

Some of his career highlights include the

Vanier Cup The Vanier Cup (french: Coupe Vanier) is the championship of Canadian university football. It is organized by U Sports football and is currently played between the winners of the Uteck Bowl and the Mitchell Bowl. It is named after Georges Vanier ...

with the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...

Gee-Gees in 1975, being the eastern conference nominee for Most Outstanding Rookie in 1976, losing out to John Sciarra of the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

, and winning three

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

Championships with

from 1980 to 1982, and again being a Grey Cup winner in 1999 as General Manager of the

. In the 1981 Grey Cup game Lumsden with 8 receptions for 91 yards plus a carry for 2 yards was selected as the Outstanding Canadian being awarded with the

Dick Suderman Trophy The Dick Suderman Trophy (french: Trophée Dick Suderman) for the Grey Cup's Most Valuable Canadian (''Le Canadien le plus précieux de la Coupe Grey'') is awarded annually to the Canadian player deemed to have the best performance in the Grey Cup ...

. In ten seasons Lumsden played in 141 regular season games and carried the ball 767 times for 3755 yards and with 36 touchdowns. He also had 180 receptions for 1729 yards and 15 more touchdowns. Several times during his career he was called on to fill in as a placekicker and punter.

Post-CFL career

Lumsden worked briefly in cycling when he was appointed COO of the Hamilton, Ontario,

UCI Road World Championships The UCI Road World Championships are the annual world championships for bicycle road racing organized by the (UCI). The UCI Road World Championships consist of events for road race and individual time trial, and a mixed team relay. Events ...

in 2003. This was only the fourth time the road cycling world championships had taken place outside Europe. Lumsden now heads Drive Marketing, a sports marketing firm and a division of OK&D Marketing Group of

Burlington, Ontario Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton m ...

. Lumsden acted as Honorary Chairman of the 2008 Desjardins

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...

. In 2014, he was inducted into the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about ...

Political career

In 2022, he was nominated to run as a candidate for the

Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada ...

in the provincial electoral riding of

Hamilton East—Stoney Creek Hamilton East—Stoney Creek (french: Hamilton-Est—Stoney Creek) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. The riding was formed in 2003 from parts of the form ...

. He was then elected to the

in the 2022 provincial election.

Personal life

His son is

Jesse Lumsden Jesse Lumsden (born August 3, 1982) is a Canadian Olympic bobsledder and a retired Canadian football player, who played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders. Career Football Lumsden is the son of former CFL fullba ...

was also a

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

football player who played for the

, and

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-o ...

before retiring in 2011. He is now a member of the Canadian Olympic Bobsled Team. In 2015, he and his daughter, Kristin Lumsden, a makeup artist/skincare specialist living and working in

, competed in the third season of ''

The Amazing Race Canada ''The Amazing Race Canada'' is a Canadian adventure reality game show based on the international ''Amazing Race'' franchise. Following the premise of other versions of the format, the show follows teams of two as they race across Canada and ar ...

''. In the first six legs, they placed 10th, 6th, 1st, 6th, 7th, and 6th. In the seventh leg, they placed last in 7th place and were eliminated from the show.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lumsden, Neil 1952 births Living people Canadian football fullbacks Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian Football League announcers Canadian Football League Rookie of the Year Award winners Canadian football running backs Canadian television sportscasters Edmonton Elks players Hamilton Tiger-Cats general managers Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Ottawa Gee-Gees football players Politicians from Hamilton, Ontario Politicians from London, Ontario Sportspeople from Hamilton, Ontario Sportspeople from London, Ontario Toronto Argonauts players The Amazing Race Canada contestants University of Ottawa alumni Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario MPPs Canadian sportsperson-politicians