Ron Stewart (football player)

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Ronald L. Stewart (born September 25, 1934) is a former Canadian running back for Queen's University and the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League.

[edit] Playing career

Born in Toronto, Stewart played football at Queen's University between 1953 and 1957, where he was the team's most valuable player three times and played on two Yates Cup championship teams (1955 and 1956). He was voted MVP of the 1957 season.

Stewart, though smaller than most players at 5 foot 7 inches, went on to a 13 year career with the Ottawa Rough Riders from 1958 to 1970. He was an Eastern Conference all star running back in 1960, 1961 and 1964. He played on Grey Cup winning teams in 1960, 1968 and 1969, and also played in the 1966 Grey Cup on the losing side. He rushed for 5,690 yards on 983 attempts and tallied 42 touchdowns in his career. He capped his 1960 season by winning the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award and by setting the CFL record for rushing yards in one game with 287 against the Montreal Alouettes on October 10, 1960. His totals were 139 rushes for 1,020 yards that year. Stewart was voted the winner of the Lionel Conacher Award as Canada's top male athlete of the year.

Stewart has been inducted into the Queen's University Sports Hall of Fame, the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (1977) and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (1989).

[edit] Accusations

Stewart graduated from the University of Ottawa with a law degree. After his retirement from football, he was appointed the ombudsman for the federal correction system in 1977, which post he held until his retirement in 2003.

Since his retirement, Stewart has been the subject of an investigation by the Office of the Auditor General of Canada, Sheila Fraser. Her report of November 28, 2006 alleged that Stewart "who retired from the Office of the Correctional Investigator in 2003, repeatedly failed to attend staff meetings, was frequently unavailable to aides and otherwise shirked his duties." He was also accused of often skipping work and collecting $325,000 in improper or questionable salary, vacation pay and expenses during a six-year period of his 26 years in office. The file was handed over to the RCMP for invesigation.