Toronto Argonauts 150th anniversary celebration in Toronto, October 6, 2023. (Photo by Mark Blinch
“I should have died. I should have died in my studio. I had three doctors tell me the same thing. It was scary as hell.”
Listening to former Argonaut kicker Dan Giancola tell his tale will get your attention in a hurry. The Thorold native always seems to be in a positive mindset, think of a slightly less exuberant Michael “Pinball” Clemons.
But when discussing his brush with death in 2020, the jovial Giancola pivoted into someone as serious as, well, a heart attack.
Giancola was teaching an on-line fitness class in the early days of the Covid pandemic when he felt nauseous, then became incredibly sick.
“It was like a knife, a harpoon went right through my heart,” Giancola told Argonauts.ca “The pain was excruciating. I was absolutely terrified.”
He was driving home from his gym when he called his wife to explain what was happening. She told him that he had to get to the hospital. Luckily, he followed her advice because it saved his life.
“They did an ECG (electrocardiogram) and it said I was having an acute heart attack,” he said. “They immediately raced me to Hamilton McMaster where they did their procedure. I ended up having what they call ‘The Widowmaker.’”
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If he hadn’t immediately raced to the hospital, we’d be talking about Giancola in the past tense.
As if the heart attack wasn’t enough, Giancola suffered a stroke in August of 2022. Now just one month shy of his 55th birthday, he’s fine and was well enough to write an autobiography, Be That One: Why Does It Have To Be Someone Else, Why Not Me? co-authored by former Argo beat writer Perry Lefko.
It’s not just about his health issues, but about his incredibly unlikely road to pro football. A soccer player who came late to the sport, Giancola didn’t play at the college or university level, but put together a great resume playing minor league football.
After performing well in 131 free-agent camps over a multi-year span, he finally got an opportunity to play pro when he signed with the Argos in 1999 as a 29-year-old rookie. He responded to the opportunity by kicking 48 field goals, a number surpassed in the team record book by only Lance Chomyc and Lirim Hajrullahu.
Not bad for a guy who was bagging groceries at Commisso’s Food Terminal when he got the call from the Argos.
“I wanted to write the book for kids who wanted to chase the dream,” explained the bagger turned baller. “People said how inspired they were by the story about the grocery clerk turning pro. I started to put pen to paper in 1999, then after I had my heart attack, I said I’ve got to do it. Then a couple years went by and I had a massive stroke and that’s what pushed me over the edge.”
When Argonauts.ca asked what his Argo highlight was, the expected answer was his walk-off, game-winning 42-yard field goal over Hamilton in his first home game in Toronto, giving Jim Barker his first win as a CFL head coach.
Instead, Giancola’s answer was as unexpected as an onside kick in the middle of the first quarter.
“The one for me was actually in an exhibition game.”
Huh?
“We were playing Hamilton at home. Noel Prefontaine went two-for-two in field goals, his kickoffs were fantastic, he punted the lights out that game. I knew in my heart that I wasn’t auditioning for the Argos anymore. I had a great camp, I never missed, that’s why ‘Pinball’ Clemons gave me the nickname ‘Clutch.’
“When I made a field goal from 45 yards out from the left hashmark, all I remember was that feeling of all the years of sacrifice, everybody who told me I was never going to do it, everybody who told me it was impossible. My family was there and I was trying so hard to make them proud. If I didn’t make that kick all those people would have been right.”
Giancola had three tours of duty with the Argos with other CFL stops in BC, Ottawa, Montreal and Winnipeg, and yet another with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. He’d total 42 games played in the CFL and would win a Grey Cup ring as a practice roster player with the 2004 Argos.
It was a huge thrill for him, one almost equaled when he took part in the 150th Anniversary game played at BMO Field in 2023, an evening that saw dozens of former players travel to Toronto for the game.
“I said this as a player, I was the luckiest guy in the world,” said Giancola, his voice starting to choke with emotion. “I was a fan with the best sets in the house. In training camp I’m standing next to Pinball, to Paul Masotti, to Mike O’Shea. When I was there for the 150, oh my God, are you kidding me with this? I’m standing there talking to the Rocket (Raghib Ismail), I was there with ‘Mookie’ Mitchell, Mike Vanderjagt, all these guys that I looked up to. Even as a guy who played, and I’m alumni, I’m a part of this thing, and I’m amongst all these greats. It was insane. If you’re an Argo fan, that moment in time was electric, it was so special.”
The proud Argo alumnus continues to work as an instructor at his BTO Performance in Thorold, a company he’s operated for a dozen years. He hasn’t slowed down despite his health scares, but doing the seemingly impossible is something Giancola has been doing his entire life.
