Elks to honour longtime employee’s 50 years with CFL club

Wayne Mandrusiak started with the Edmonton Elks as a 14-year-old ball boy. Fifty years later he's celebrating a major milestone with the team.

A longtime employee of Edmonton’s Canadian Football League team will be honoured for his decades of service during its home game on Saturday.

The Edmonton Elks will recognize Dwayne Mandrusiak’s 50 seasons with the club at halftime of their afternoon game against the Montreal Alouettes.

Mandrusiak was a mainstay with the club, having started as a ball boy in 1971 when he was 14 years old, eventually becoming the equipment manager. He was a part of the club for 11 championships.

The team had let him go in 2020, one year shy of his 50th anniversary working for the Green and Gold, but brought him back last year as the team’s community liaison and historian.

The team said then that letting Mandrusiak go was a result of the COVID-19 pandemic leading the CFL to cancel the 2020 season.

Chris Morris, the team’s president and chief executive officer, said in a media release that bringing Mandrusiak into the Elks’ fold was one of the late Larry Thompson’s “first priorities” after he and wife Deb bought the club in 2024.

“Dwayne means a great deal to our players, staff, alumni, and generations of cherished fans,” said Morris, who won three Grey Cups as an offensive lineman with the team over a 14-year career and came on board with the Elks as their top executive at the end of the 2024 season.

“He represents loyalty, humility, and a lifelong commitment to the Double E. As we celebrate his 50th year with the organization, we are also honouring Larry and Deb’s vision of what this club should be — a family, a community institution, and a place that never forgets the people who helped build it.”

Mandrusiak was added to the team’s Builders wall in 2024 to honour his past service.

The Elks’ game against the Alouettes is their first home game of the season. They started the 2026 CFL season with a win June 6 over the Ottawa Redblacks and had a bye last week.