Calvillo shares message of hope and perseverance with local business leaders

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“When I come and speak and have somebody come up to me and say ‘you changed my life,’ to me it’s reassuring that I’m doing the right things. To have an impact on someone’s life who you haven’t met before, just because of how you’re conducting yourself, that’s pretty special.”

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Calvillo has experienced plenty of ups and downs throughout his personal and professional life.

The Los Angeles native grew up in a rough neighbourhood in a home with an abusive father. He says he quite often kept his emotions inside as his way of coping.

“I was always able to – I don’t want to say suppress – but just keep things in. That carried me all the way into my adulthood. When I got married that was one of my issues because I just kept everything in. As I started to gain trust with my wife, I started to open up with her about my true feelings. I get chills thinking about it because that allowed me to be a bit more free.”

His wife Alexia was diagnosed with cancer in 2007. In 2010, Anthony himself was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

He had a rocky start to his CFL career with unsuccessful stints with the Las Vegas Posse and Hamilton Tiger-Cats before landing with the Alouettes. He eventually won three Grey Cup championships with Montreal, but also suffered five losses in the big game.

“It was very hard,” he says about dealing with those Grey Cup losses. “I never worried about my legacy when I was playing. I was just doing the best I could year in and year out. But people always asked how it was going to affect my legacy, and I’d say ‘my legacy is not done yet.’

“But that’s part of the mental process of being a quarterback. You’re going to deal with the pressure of trying to be consistent week in and week out, and then deal with all the questions.”

Calgary Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell faces a similar situation as he seeks to avoid a third-straight Grey Cup loss Sunday versus Ottawa.

“I think he’s saying all the right things right now,” Calvillo says about Mitchell. “I’m sure he’s dealing with the same questions I dealt with. It’s how you’re going to handle it – coming in with the right attitude, like he is. He knows what to expect. You’ve just got to accept it, block it off and do the best you can to get ready for the game and see what happens from there.”

Calvillo was enshrined in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2017. He retired in 2014 as the league’s all-time leading passer with 79,816 yards. His 9,437 career pass attempts, 5,892 completions, 455 TD passes and 125 300-yard games are all CFL records.

This year he was the quarterbacks coach for the Toronto Argonauts.