SSHoF logoTerry Lehne

Athlete (2019)

Football

Terry LehneIt was situation critical for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. They trailed the CFL Eastern final in 1986 by 19 points with just over a half the game to play. Call it Terry Lehne time.

Lehne caused Toronto's punter to draw a penalty. The Ticats scored a touchdown two plays later. An interception by Lehne set up another touchdown. Hamilton added two more touchdowns and won the two-game, total point series 59-56.

In the Grey Cup Hamilton met the Edmonton Eskimos, a team the Ticats hadn't beaten in eight years. The Ticats rocked. The Ticats rolled. They won the championship.

Lehne played in the Grey Cup three times in his six years in the CFL. The title in 1986 came after runner-up finishes in 1984 and 1985.

Growing up in Saskatoon, he was a wrestler and a gymnast, a diver and a pole vaulter. He played basketball and hockey. He went to the Canada Games with Saskatchewan's team in water polo in 1977.

He made his biggest impact in football, first with the Holts in the Kinsmen League followed by four years with the Aden Bowman Bears high school team. Lehne was the first recipient of the Don Powell Scholarship, an annual award given to a first-year university student in memory of an assistant coach with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Lehne played five seasons as a starter with the University of Saskatchewan, scoring two touchdowns as a defensive back in his career with the Huskies.

Terry Lehne served as president of the Ticats alumni, helping to raise money for charitable events. Working as a teacher in Ontario, he has coached high school sports for 34 years, twice winning a provincial title in football.