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Hall opens door to five

Middle linebacker Alondra Johnson, offensive linemen Jim Mills and Rudy Phillips, along with long-time Calgary Stampeders director Tony Anselmo will be among the five newest inductees into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, The Canadian Press has learned.

TORONTO — Middle linebacker Alondra Johnson, offensive linemen Jim Mills and Rudy Phillips, along with long-time Calgary Stampeders director Tony Anselmo will be among the five newest inductees into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, The Canadian Press has learned.

The Hall of Fame will formally announce its newest members this morning but two sources requesting anonymity told The Canadian Press that Johnson, Mills and Phillips will be inducted as players while Anselmo will go into the Canadian football shrine as a builder.

The identity of the fifth was not immediately available but the sources said he is a former CFL player.

Johnson, 43, spent 16 seasons in the CFL with the B.C. Lions, Calgary Stampeders and Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1989 through 2004.

After breaking in with the Lions in 1989, Johnson played 13 seasons with the Stampeders, before ending his career with Saskatchewan in 2004.

The five-foot-11, 225-pound West Texas State product was a three-time CFL all-star and finished his career with 1,085 tackles, leaving him second behind Willie Pless (1,331) when he retired.

Johnson has since been surpassed by long-time Toronto Argonaut Mike O’Shea (1,241). Johnson was a three-time Grey cup winner with the Stampeders (1992, 1998 and 2001).

Mills, 47, a Vancouver native, played his college football at the University of Hawaii before being drafted in the ninth round of the 1983 NFL draft by the Indianapolis Colts.

The offensive tackle spent two seasons with Indy before joining the B.C. Lions in 1986 and playing for his home-town squad through the 1995 season.

He was named the CFL’s outstanding lineman in 1990 and 1991.

Phillips spent seven seasons in the CFL breaking in as an offensive guard with the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1981, the year the underdog squad reached the Grey Cup before losing to the heavily favoured Edmonton Eskimos 26-23.

Phillips remained with Ottawa through the 1984 season before the North Texas State product signed with the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.

After being released, Phillips signed with the Edmonton Eskimos in 1986 and spent two seasons there before finishing his CFL career with Calgary in 1988.

Phillips was named the league’s outstanding offensive lineman in 1982 and 1983. Anselmo became a director with the Stampeders in 1967 and served as the club’s president in 1973-’74 and on its advisory board from 1974 through 1982.

He also played a big role in the development of McMahon Stadium as a multi-purpose facility and in 2001 was inducted as a builder to the Calgary franchise’s Wall of Fame.