There is certainly some truth to the statement that the young athletes of today are not necessarily wired exactly the same way as their forefathers of a generation or two ago.

That said, NFC (Northern Football Conference) Hall of Famer Paul Gauthier is not willing to lay the current challenges that his old team is facing directly on the feet of "the kids of today", if you will.

"I think the difference between then and today is that in the early eighties, there was nothing that was opened after 6:00 p.m.," noted the long-time Sudbury Spartans' quarterback, the man at the helm of four straight league championships from 1982 to 1985.

"Summer jobs were mainly day jobs. Everything was closed at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m., so you could get out to practice," Gauthier added, alluding to the need for high-school and post-secondary student athletes to find work from May to September.

"Now these guys are strapped for jobs so they take the shift work. It's just the way that society has developed the last 20 years that has made it much harder for guys to commit and get out to practice."

"I hated to miss practice," he added.

Perhaps - but there was an even more practical reason for Gauthier to be present at workouts in the days leading up the weekend encounter. "In the early eighties, Sid (legendary Spartans' head coach Sid Forster) had 47 seats on the bus," said Gauthier.

With an allotment for five coaches, that left 42 seats for teams which typically would draw between 45 and 50 players out to each and every practice.

"You had to make the bus list; if not, you weren't going to any of the away games," explained Gauthier. "You could still dress for home games, but if you wanted to make the bus list, you had to get your ass out to practice."

For the now 62 year-old who suited up with the Spartans for parts of three different decades and coached the College Notre-Dame Alouettes for several years as well, ultimate progression to rewriting parts of the Spartans' record book would not have easily been foreshadowed when he first stepped foot on the field as a junior at E.S. Rayside-Balfour.

"I went out as a 5'0" 104 pound grade niner," said Gauthier with a laugh. "My first year, I shared equipment with another player. I was a wide receiver to start, a little, tiny wideout who didn't play much in grade nine."

But Gauthier was a little tiny grade niner with big dreams, dreams of being a starting quarterback, and one who was more likely to think and finesse his way through a game than simply overwhelm opponents with raw athleticism.

"I started as a wide receiver with the Spartans but at that time there were so many guys at practice that Sid was running two sets of boomerang drills - and I was always the fourth guy to throw the ball," he said.

"I didn't have a great arm, but I threw a nice spiral."

Gauthier threw - and he threw - and he threw.

For the first couple of years of his time at the University of Ottawa with the football Gee Gees, Gauthier was an understudy to 1982 Hec Creighton Trophy (MVP of Canadian University football) winner Rick Zmich.

By 1983, Gauthier had earned serious playing time, recording no less than 56 pass attempts in a single game (vs Bishops), a RSQE record at the time and still in the top-25 all time in the league.

The joy of football, however, would come with his summers back home in Sudbury.

"Playing with the Spartans here was way different than university," acknowledged Gauthier, a man who returned to the Spartans in 2003 at the age of 41, simply for a chance to play a season with his son, Jacob.

"It was just a lot of fun with the Spartans."

That said, winning is fun - and the Spartans won a lot when this talented left-handed pivot was under centre.

"Our first championship at Queen's Athletic Field in 1982," Gauthier recalled. "The stands were full and you couldn't see the grass on the hills because there were people everywhere."

"It was pretty sweet."

Other memories still of moments shared with fellow NFC Hall of Famer Dave St Amour were shared last week when the latter was also added to the Sudbury Sports Hall of Fame, joining his favourite quarterback in that grouping.

"There were maybe not complete games that were memorable, but there are certain plays," said Gauthier. "The year we were undefeated and playing Oakville in the championship game. We were down by five late when Blair Holub made a one-handed catch in the corner of the end zone, off balance."

"And there's Neri Fratin flying up the sidelines on a fade pattern, on a "Tom Arrow". He was just stupid fast. He just had another gear."

The emotion in his voice is ripe with his love of the game. It's what has drawn him back, again and again - though not any more.

"I would still love to play but my body is telling me to go and play golf."