Edmonton Elks | |||||||||
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Position: | President and CEO | ||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||
Born: | Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | 25 August 1948||||||||
Height: | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||||||||
Weight: | 185 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||
Career history | |||||||||
As an executive: | |||||||||
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Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
As an executive: | |||||||||
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Rick LeLacheur (born 25 August 1948) is a Canadian football executive and former ice hockey player who is the president and chief executive officer (CEO) for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
An Edmonton native, LeLacheur was born on 25 August 1948. [1] [2] Playing at the right wing position, he was on the roster for the Edmonton Western Movers of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) for the 1966–67 season. [2] LeLacheur then played two seasons for the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Canada Junior Hockey League (WCJHL), later renamed the Western Canada Hockey League (WCHL). He was the captain for the Oil Kings. [3] LeLacheur's final season playing ice hockey was for the Edmonton Monarchs of the Alberta Senior Hockey League (ASHL) in 1969–70. [2]
Following his hockey career, LeLacheur pursued a business career path, working for his family's Western Moving and Storage business for 25 years. [3] He became Western's president in 1982, serving in the position until the company was sold in 1992. [4]
In 1984, before becoming involved with any Canadian Football League (CFL) team, he was the chairman of the Grey Cup festival. [3] He was a board member of the CFL's Edmonton Eskimos in the 1980s. [5] From 1992 to 1998, LeLacheur served as the head of Economic Development Edmonton (EDE), also known as the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC). [6] [7] [8] In 1994, LeLacheur brokered a deal that gave Peter Pocklington full control over the Northlands Coliseum. [9]
LeLacheur became the president and CEO of the 2001 World Championships in Athletics, hosted in Edmonton. [3]
LeLacheur then served as the team president and CEO of the Eskimos from 2002 to 2011. [1] He began his tenure with the team as the chief operating officer (COO) of the franchise. [3] Edmonton hosted the 90th Grey Cup in 2002, with LeLacheur serving as the game's managing director. [10] During his tenure with the Eskimos, he oversaw new building additions to the team's Commonwealth Stadium. [10] LeLacheur won two Grey Cup championships with the Eskimos, in 2003 and 2005. [7] In 2010, he publicly criticized the team as they started the season 0–4. [11] Edmonton would again host Grey Cup festivities in 2010. [8] LeLacheur was named the winner of the Hugh Campbell Distinguished Leadership Award for the 2011 CFL season. [8] He left the team due to health concerns, after experiencing complications stemming from surgery for prostate cancer. [3]
In December 2011, he was appointed as the chairman for a three-year term for Horce Racing Alberta (HRA), a private, not-for-profit organization. [10] In December 2017, LeLacheur was named the President and CEO of the CFL's BC Lions. [1] At the time, he was still serving as HRA's chairman of the board. [1] His tenure with the Lions began in January 2018 and ended following the 2022 season. [1] During his tenure with the team, he was tasked with finding new ownership. [7] He was named the Hugh Campbell Distinguished Leadership Award winner for a second time for the 2022 CFL season. [12]
Though he retired following his Lions tenure, he was lured out of retirement and named the interim president and CEO of the Edmonton Elks on 22 August 2023. [5] This marked his second tenure in those positions with the franchise. [13] During this second tenure, the Elks reviewed their ownership structure; the team has been notably community-owned since 1949, though the Elks have been discussed in Canadian football media as potentially moving toward private ownership. [14] [15] [16] LeLacheur mentioned the team's financial struggles over the few previous seasons as a factor that "can't be overlooked". [15]
Regular season | Playoffs | |||||||||||||
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Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | GP | G | A | Pts | PIM | ||
1966–67 | Edmonton Western Movers | AJHL | Statistics unavailable | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
1967–68 | Edmonton Oil Kings | WCJHL | 50 | 18 | 19 | 37 | 33 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
1968–69 | Edmonton Oil Kings | WCHL | 52 | 9 | 17 | 26 | 58 | — | — | — | — | — | ||
1969–70 | Edmonton Monarchs | ASHL | Statistics unavailable | — | — | — | — | — |
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 Commonwealth Stadium. The Elks were founded in 1949 as the Edmonton Eskimos and have won the Grey Cup championship fourteen times, most recently in 2015 and the most of any CFL club based in Western Canada. The team has a rivalry with the Calgary Stampeders and is one of the three community-owned teams in the CFL. The team discontinued using the Eskimos name in 2020, with the new name Elks formally announced on June 1, 2021.
The Battle of Alberta is a term applied to the intense rivalry between the Canadian cities of Calgary, the province's most populous city, and Edmonton, the capital of the province of Alberta. Most often it is used to describe sporting events between the two cities, although this is not exclusive as the rivalry predates organized sports in Alberta.
Hugh Campbell is a former American football and Canadian football player, coach, and executive. He served as a head coach in three different professional gridiron football leagues: the Canadian Football League (CFL), the United States Football League (USFL) and the National Football League (NFL). Campbell retired as the CEO of the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL in 2006. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
Jarious K. Jackson is an American professional football coach and former player who is the interim head coach, offensive coordinator, and quarterbacks coach for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He has also been a coach for the Toronto Argonauts, Saskatchewan Roughriders, and BC Lions. Jackson played professionally as a quarterback in the CFL for eight seasons with the Lions and one year with the Argonauts where he won three Grey Cup championships in 2006, 2011, and 2012. He has also been a member of the Denver Broncos (NFL), to whom he was drafted 214th overall in the 2000 NFL Draft, and the Barcelona Dragons. Jackson played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Eric Tillman is an American-born Canadian football executive who is the vice president of football operations for the Atlantic Schooners. He was previously the general manager of the BC Lions (1993–94), Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Renegades (2002–04), Saskatchewan Roughriders (2006–2010), Edmonton Eskimos (2010–2012), and Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2016–2018). As a general manager, Tillman has won the Grey Cup three times. In addition to his career as an executive, Tillman has also worked as a CFL analyst for TSN, the CBC, and Rogers Sportsnet in 1998, 2000, and 2005.
Don Warrington was a running back who played ten seasons in the Canadian Football League for the Edmonton Eskimos. In his career, Warrington was a part of four Grey Cup championship teams. He was nicknamed "Jeep". He played college football for the Simon Fraser Clan.
Sean Whyte is a professional Canadian football placekicker for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL).
Trevor Harris is an American professional Canadian football quarterback for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent in 2010. Harris has also played in the Arena Football League (AFL) and United Football League (UFL). He played college football at Edinboro University. As Edinboro's starting quarterback, he broke "every career passing record in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference" and was a two-time finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy, awarded each year to the individual selected as the most valuable player in NCAA Division II.
Kavis Reed is a former Canadian Football League (CFL) defensive back, head coach and general manager. He was most recently the GM of the Montreal Alouettes from December 2016 until July 2019. He also served three years as the head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos, leading them to one West Final game. He played professionally as a defensive back for the Eskimos from 1995 to 1999.
Chris Jones is an American gridiron football coach who was most recently the head coach and general manager of the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was previously the head coach and general manager of the Saskatchewan Roughriders for three seasons, after serving as the head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos for two seasons. Jones previously served as the defensive coordinator for the Montreal Alouettes, Calgary Stampeders and Toronto Argonauts before becoming a head coach. Jones won four Grey Cup rings with four teams between 2002 and 2015.
Rick Campbell is an American-Canadian professional football head coach and co-general manager for the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was the Calgary Stampeders' defensive coordinator from 2012 to 2013 and was also an assistant coach with the Edmonton Eskimos and Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He then served as the head coach for the Ottawa Redblacks for six seasons. He is a three-time Grey Cup champion, once as the special teams coordinator with the Eskimos in 2003, again with the Eskimos as the defensive coordinator in 2005, and once as the head coach of the Redblacks in 2016. He attended Washington State University.
Almondo Sewell is an American former gridiron football defensive tackle and is the defensive line coach for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at the University of Akron and attended Hargrave Military Academy before transferring to Trenton Central High School in Trenton, New Jersey. He has also been a member of the Edmonton Eskimos and Montreal Alouettes of the CFL and Cleveland Gladiators of the Arena Football League (AFL).
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