Elvis Presley and his unusual buddy.

I watched "Elvis" the recently-released Baz Lurmann film about The King of Rock n Roll.

The lead, played by Austin Butler gives an outstanding performance.

You should see it.

Butler has the moves, the voice, the look ... but this guy really, really has the moves.

As a teenager, I never liked Elvis or his music (I was Motown). I didn't get the hair or the wiggles. I watched his performance on the Ed Sullivan TV show - I didn't understand -- especially the screaming girls.

And, even though I didn't really care for Beatles music, I understood their appeal as they played for the first time on a later Sullivan's Sunday night show. Perhaps Elvis set the table for his music competition with those screaming girls. "The Fab Four" and the rest of the British Invasion owe much of their fan success to Elvis.

But, enough about "The King" for a moment.

In the 1960s, in Toronto, the Argonaut football team of the Canadian Football League and its coach were like Elvis and his carnival barker manager, "Colonel" Tom Parker. The team was made up of "free spirits" and coached by a guy you'd love to hate, Leo Cahill.

Leo and I somehow became friends in the 1980s when he was one of Canada's most recognizable sports figures even though he had never played a sport. As a coach, he was opinionated, belligerent, demanding, noisy and a superior talent evaluator. And, he was very charming.

In the '60s, Toronto Argo CNE stadium held 42,000 and 45,000 showed up for every game (I was one of them). Leo was a marketing/promotion genius and got his football team on the front page of the sports section in the middle of Toronto Maple Leaf hockey winters - no other team or sport was able to do that.

But, like everything else, times change, interest changes and loyalty changes and coach Cahill would move on to be the GM of the newly formed World Football League and the Memphis Southmen -- the locals didn't like the term "Southmen", so they changed the unofficial name to the "Grizzlies".

Cahill rocked the NFL world when he stole the Super Bowl-winning Miami Dolphin superstars, Paul Warfield, Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick and signed them to Memphis Southmen (Grizzlies) contracts. 

And, if you're old enough, you'd remember Cahill also snatched Notre Dame superstar, Joe Theismann for his Argo team in 1971-- for the unheard-of sum of $50,000 a season before the Miami Dolphins had a chance to draft him.

Remember, I said he was charming.

Elvis Presley attended the very first Memphis "Southmen" game at the new stadium in 1975. Before the game, the sellout crowd was introduced to Elvis as he waved to them from his perch in the press box ... they gave him a 5-minute ovation.

At the end of each quarter, a runner in the press box would give mimeographed copies of the play summary to each member of the working press -- Elvis was in the press box so he got a copy just like the working writers. At the end of the game, the team owner introduced Elvis to Cahill. Elvis apologized for getting copies of the game summaries, thinking it was confidential information. He handed over the worthless paperwork to the Cahill. A simple but meaningful gesture that caught Leo off guard. That's when their friendship began.

Long story short, whenever he was available, Leo would include Elvis in team meetings and strategies and The King attended every game. Leo made Elvis part of the team.

Cahill told me, that one day while conducting a meeting in his office, his secretary rushed in to tell him that Elvis's "men" were outside looking to meet with him. Leo was uncertain what they wanted but motioned them into his office while the others in the room settled back to watch what was about to happen.

Leo told me, "Joe Esposito, the head guy in the Memphis Mob and Elvis's closest confidant plus three companions dressed in dark suits entered the room and asked him to stand. Then he asked Cahill to remove his jacket as he produced a beautiful oak box. He asked him to lower his head as he removed a necklace from the box". Leo said, "I thought I was being knighted". He was presented with a medallion - from the King. It displayed the letters T C B through a stroke of lightning - the piece was made of platinum.

Leo said, "Espositio conducted the ceremony as if it was a solemn religious event."

The TCB Lightning Bolt would become Elvis's motto ...

"Taking Care of Business".

Due to their close football connection, Cahill soon became part of The King's entourage and was personally invited by The King to stand backstage during two of his Las Vegas performances.

Leo Cahill, the former Toronto Argo coach and 

The King of Rock n Roll were tight.

When Leo and I became friends in the 80s, I always noticed the

T C B necklace that he was never, ever without. He told me that similar priceless pieces were also given to the Memphis football team owner, John Bassett Jr. and his girlfriend, actor Susan Anton. I wondered how many others were similarly "knighted".

Elvis was notorious for giving away Cadillacs to regular people he came in contact with. The T C B medallion would be worth thousands more than a car if someone like Leo had received theirs directly from The King.

Unfortunately, this story doesn't have a happy ending.

An original T C B medallion in that expensive metal presentation, given directly by Elvis (through Esposito), would have been Cahill's retirement -- his pension. Especially if he'd chosen to sell it at auction, particularly following Elvis's death.

However, one night, Leo's son pleaded with him to allow him to wear it out to a party. Another partygoer understood the value of the treasure and stole it after Leo's son had one too many.

It gets worse.

Cahill passed away with no CFL pension and no money in the bank, in a hospital in Atlanta GA, after spending more than 50 years in Canada as one of the country's most beloved and hated sports celebrities.

A GoFundMe program had to be created to look after his hospital bills and burial.

Tragic.

Leo Cahill, one of the most recognizable faces in Canada for decades, would not like to know that the story of his life ended this way.

One more thing about The King. He recorded a cover of Sinatra's song, MY WAY.  Canadian Paul Anka specifically wrote that song for Sinatra. The lyrics matched him. It's unmistakable.

Elvis's rendition seemed silly. 

He did nothing his way.

As the movie correctly points out, his life was controlled by that sleazy carnival barker, "Colonel" Tom Parker. So much so that the King of Rock n Rock never performed outside the US because the slippery Parker didn't have or couldn't ever get a passport.

If you would like to read the obituary I wrote about "Leo Cahill"  click this link:

https://allworldhockey.blogspot.com/2019/05/leo-cahill-obituary.html