VANCOUVER, B.C. -

By Mike Beamish, Vancouver Sun

The Peace Arch monument, situated on the busiest Canada-U.S. border crossing, between Blaine, Wash., and Surrey, B.C., has an inscription on the American side which reads "Children of a Common Mother."

The friendly neighbours are also offspring of a hybrid game -- North American football -- although when it comes to the Canadian version, and the Grey Cup game, the countries don't find common ground.

Whatcom County is mostly clueless about the Grand National Drunk up the road.

"I don't think a lot of people here realize it's (Grey Cup) going on," admits Paul Madison, the long-time sports information director at Western Washington University in Bellingham. "That would be my take."

Mind you, Madison is speaking generally. Personally, he admits he's keenly interested in the 102nd Grey Cup game because of the participation of Orlondo Steinauer, the former Western Washington alumnus who is the defensive coordinator of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the designated visitors Sunday against the Calgary Stampeders at BC Place Stadium.

Steinauer, who was born in Seattle and grew up in Lynnwood, Wash., was an all-star defensive back and kick returner at Western Washington in an era when the school scheduled games against rival Simon Fraser in the Columbia Football Association. In 1995, his final season with the Vikings, Steinauer was a consensus first-team All-American and named the school's top male athlete. Basketball player Gina Sampson, from Kirkland, Wash., was given top female athlete honours that same year.

Their marriage didn't end the debate about who is the best athlete in the family.

"Orlondo, he could play," says former WWU running back Pat Locker, who holds the school's record for combined yards. "He was outstanding on the defensive side of the ball and on special teams. He's on our all-century team. It's a pretty elite group. He was the only one who made it in dual positions."

After more than 100 years of football at Western -- it started in 1903 -- the program came to a screeching halt in 2009 when it was announced the school would no longer field a team due to budget constraints.

"It was done in the dark of night. It still leaves a bad taste down here," says Locker, the uncle of Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker, who played his high school football in Ferndale, Wash.

By coincidence, Pat Locker is a real estate agent. He negotiated the sale of the Ferndale house currently occupied by Gene Steinauer, Orlondo's grandfather, the dominant male influence in his life as the child of a single working mom, Gene's daughter, Margaret.

Gene Steinauer, a retired police officer, is 86, and he admits to being a little hard of hearing. Still, he's aware that Orlondo's name has surfaced as one of the leading candidates to fill the B.C. Lions' head coaching job, left vacant when Mike Benevides was fired last week.

"That would be a godsend," Gene said. "He's pretty young for a head coach (41), but you never know. He did a good job this year. As a person, he's a tremendous young man. He worked very, very hard to get where he is. He's a student of the game of football. He told his grandma (Bonnie), when he was five or six, that he was going to be a football player and coach. Thank goodness, he was able to accomplish it."

During a Grey Cup media event Thursday in Vancouver, Orlondo Steinauer refused to be drawn into speculation, much less discussion, about the Lions' opening.

When asked what a possible career move back to the West Coast would mean to him on a personal level, he talked about the generic delights of Cascadia, outside of monsoon season, "Spring and summer, it's the most beautiful place to be," he said.

Queried if he's ready to be a head coach, Steinauer responded tersely, "I'm not going there."

But he knows how much it would mean to his grandpa if he did land in Vancouver, about 70 kms. north of Ferndale, a 45-minute drive away with a Nexus border pass.

"He's been following my football career my whole life," Orlondo said. "He probably didn't miss a high school game and all the way through college. It was always important for him and my grandmother to come across the border and get the TSN feed."

Bonnie Steinauer is gone now, but Gene said it was common for the couple to drive north from Ferndale, book in to a motel in Aldergrove, B.C., just across the border, with the sole purpose of watching CFL on TSN telecasts of games in which Orlondo was playing. Then, they would drive home the following morning.

"I'd watch his games (Orlondo played for three CFL teams) on TV that way," Gene said. "One year, I watched them on a computer. I have two very bad knees now, so I can't walk very far. That kind of scratches me from going to the stadium."

Most of Whatcom County might have other viewing plans. But with this year's Grey Cup shown on ESPN2 in the U.S., Gene Steinauer can kick back, rest those aching knees and become the biggest Tiger-Cat fan in Ferndale -- perhaps, the only one.