Alumni Profiles
Papal reign
One-time lark has become 30-year gig for famed ‘Pope’ of Acadia
By Anna-Maria Galante
T
he first time Rob McGregor (’87) stepped onto Raymond Field in his Pope costume, everyone in the stadium noticed. “The whole place stood up. I thought it was a touchdown,” he recalls. It was almost 30 years ago - the fall of 1984 - and Pope John Paul II had visited Halifax the summer before, touring the Commons and Citadel Hill in a glassed-in vehicle nicknamed the “Popemobile.” McGregor, who had been working as a historical animator with the 78th Highlanders on Citadel Hill, was inspired by Q104’s on-air radio promotions that made the tour sound like a rock concert. He got the idea to role-play at a football game, “for a lark.” A former radio news reporter and reader and now a veteran real estate agent who turns 50 this month, McGregor is seated comfortably in the living room of the west-end Halifax house he shares with his wife, Allison Bates, recounting the tale in his best radio voice. When he returned to Acadia for his second year of Recreation Management, he got his costume plans set for the first football game of the season. He had no inkling of the phenomenon he was about to unleash on the field and in the hearts and minds of students
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and faculty. “The place just went absolutely crazy. And that was the beginning of it. People said, ‘Do it again. Do it again!’” He donned a white dress shirt and a few bed sheets for the initial tours, but “I think it was when I went home for Thanksgiving in 1984 that my Mom created the robes. The top part (cape) was actually one of her old summer skirts. She made the main part out of a bedsheet and knitted the red belt. My frosh beanie was the perfect touch after I lost my large purple hat, which was actually my Mom’s garden party hat. I believe the cape and red belt are still in my room at the family cottage. “ Pope guard Rob Fennimore (’87), now an IT sales executive in Ottawa, said, “McGregor was truly a campus celebrity.” Despite the immortalization of an iconic pre-game appearance in an old Blazer truck, there are many people who just wouldn’t believe what McGregor got away with - and many more who will never forget. ‘’To this day, many around Halifax greet him as ‘Pope,’ including some he barely knows but who knew of him,” Fennimore adds.