Sorry, Vince McMahon … “Cowboy” Dan Kroffat’s storyline is being rewritten.
The community advocate and former wrestling star is building a new bestowal with a veterans’ initiative that outshines the wildly popular ladder match concept he created — and has been famous for — for more than 30 years.
“This, to me, is my legacy,” Kroffat said recently of his anti-theft poppy boxes. “It affects people’s lives … I want to work in a small way to make a big difference.”
“I hope these boxes stir the hearts and the attention of the government,” said Kroffat. “There is an interest and there is an appetite. Now, the discussion is front and centre.”
Kroffat is a familiar face both in Cochrane and across the country, where he was a fixture in Stampede Wrestling and National Wrestling Alliance in the 1970s and 1980s.
It was during his reign that he designed a unique wrestling match style: bringing a ladder into the ring, with a prize hanging high above. Rasslers duked it out for the bounty and often used the ladder as leverage to win the match.
Friend and fellow grappler Bret “The Hitman” Hart eventually pitched Kroffat’s concept to the World Wrestling Federation (now known as World Wrestling Entertainment) … the idea took off and is still used as a spectacular and crowd-pleasing stunt.
Since his wrestling days, Kroffat has been involved in a number of charitable initiatives, and two years ago he began advocating for a solution to the Royal Canadian Legion’s problem of poppy box theft around Remembrance Day.
Last year, he came up with a fabricated metal lock box that anchors to a counter – replacing the plastic pieces supplied by Legion Command. The Men of Vision branch in Cochrane saw an uptick in their donations, which they partially attributed to Kroffat’s better mousetrap.
Now, this year, the “poppy pals” are certified lightning in a bottle.
Cochrane’s legion has upped its order to 70 for the 2017 campaign, and another 50 will sit on counters in the Summerland and Williams Lake communities of British Columbia.
Banff-Airdrie Conservative MP Blake Richards is also organizing meetings in Ottawa with parliamentary colleagues to show off the boxes in hopes they will be inspired to take the idea back to their home regions.
“We saw the success that it had in Cochrane last year … we didn’t lose boxes to theft and that creates confidence,” said Richards. “It means more money for our veterans — and that’s what this is all about.”
Finally, Kroffat will have a chance to pitch the poppy pals to federal Minister of Veterans Affairs Seamus O’Regan when the minister’s schedule opens up in the next few weeks.
“It’s the opportunity to show the box that Mr. Kroffat has designed and the local legion there has taken on,” said O’Regan’s press secretary, Alex Wellstead. “Sharing good ideas with the minister responsible is a good idea — and the minister is always ready to hear good ideas.”
Kroffat is thrilled with the developments, and hopes the tiny tins will be the catalyst to shine a light on the bigger issue of veterans in need.
Kroffat makes no money off the grassroots initiative and he is not a veteran himself. Local EGB Manufacturing builds the boxes at a loss for about $30 each, and Cochrane Toyota’s Alex Baum has been helping to front the cost.
“I think it’s important for our veterans to be acknowledged finally. Thousands and thousands of veterans are living below the poverty line. Hundreds and hundreds of veterans are living on the streets.
“We can’t sweep this under the carpet anymore.”
