Stoney Creek resident John Bonk has certainly come a long way since his early days of selling hotdogs at Ivor Wynne Stadium.

Last Friday, the former Hamilton Tiger-Cats linebacker was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame during halftime of the Ticats game with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Other inductees included builder Tom Shepherd and players Michael "Pinball" Clemons, Doug Flutie and Mike Pringle.

"When I worked at the stadium, I got to watch the players and sort of daydream about what it might be like someday to play as a Ticat, so everything past that point has just been such an incredible addition. This is just way beyond what I've ever imagined," said Bonk. "It's an incredible honour."

Bonk grew up just a few blocks from the stadium and attended Delta Secondary School.

Though he was on both the basketball and track team in high school, Bonk says there was just "something" about the game of football.

"It was a game I loved to play, but it was also my football coach Fred Jazvac's ability to inspire people," he said. "He was a great mentor. He taught us how to enjoy the game and be serious about it. He also taught us how to get something from the game and the importance of putting something back into the game."

Such mentorship paid off.

The Ticats invited Bonk to their training camp in 1972, while he was playing junior football with the Burlington Braves and attending Mohawk College.

Bonk spent most of the season on the Ticats' development team in Kitchener.

But he played every game for the Ticats at linebacker in the 1973 season, until he was traded to the Blue Bombers in October of that year.

Bonk started at linebacker in Winnipeg, but was moved to centre - a position he played the next 12 seasons.

Bonk didn't miss a regular season game between 1973 and 1985, some 202 games, when a neck injury sidelined him and eventually led him to retire following the 1985 season.

Bonk was a four-time Canadian Football League All-Star.

He won the Schenley award for Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman in 1984 and was awarded the DeMarco-Becket Memorial Trophy for Outstanding Lineman in the West in 1983 and 1984.

Bonk also led the Blue Bombers to a Grey Cup in 1984.

Following his retirement, Bonk stayed in Winnipeg, where he worked as a broadcaster for the Blue Bombers for six years.

Bonk later returned to Hamilton, where he acted as an offensive line coach for the Ticats for two years and worked as a broadcaster with CHML for one year.

Today, Bonk simply calls himself a "great fan."

"My family and I go to the Ticat games and it's hard when Hamilton and Winnipeg play because they're the two teams I've played for, so I never know who to cheer for," he laughed.

Bonk says the one thing he knows for sure is how much he misses the game.

"When I was at the stadium last Friday, standing on those sidelines again, all I kept thinking was, 'Boy, was that ever a great thing to do - to be a part of a team, working towards a common goal' and that's probably what I miss most about the game of football," he said.

Bonk says the Ticats introduced him to the CFL and that's something he will never forget.

"To me, the honour was when the Ticats invited me to try out for the team," he said. "I thought if I ever had that, that would be the most I could ever hope and wish for."