Sandro DeAngelis and a special companion made a lot of people’s day over the weekend. The Stampeders’ all-star kicker was in his hometown of Niagara Falls, Ont., to take part in a coaching clinic and his date was a certain shiny trophy that was captured by Calgary this past November at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium.

As luck would have it, one of the awestruck fans who bumped into Sandro and the Grey Cup was 12-year-old Calgarian Max Perisiol. As chronicled in a story in the Niagara Falls Review, Perisiol was thrilled by the encounter.

“They’re the greatest team ever and he’s a great player,” Max told the newspaper. “I watch him all the time.”

In addition to chatting with DeAngelis for a few minutes, Max got the kicker to sign the Stampeders championship T-shirt that the Calgary lad just happened to be wearing at the time.

“I’m never washing this,” said Max.

Sandro says he relishes opportunities to meet with fans, especially the young ones.

“I always tell kids they’ve got to dream big,” he said. “To not do something you’ve always dreamt about doing is a crime. Everyone has a dream, whether it’s to be a teacher, a police officer, a broadcaster . . . you’ve got to go for it.”

However, Sandro notes that there’s a price of blood, sweat and tears to be paid in chasing a dream.

“My brother always said that if being successful was easy,” he said, “everyone would do it.”

DeAngelis’ dream was to become a professional football player and in order to make that happen, he went to college at the University of Nebraska and suited up for the legendary Cornhuskers football team.

“Everyone at first thought I was nuts,” he chuckled. “Here I was, a five-foot-whatever little stubby Italian guy saying he wanted to play with the big boys down south.”

Ah, but it was DeAngelis who had the last laugh as his dream of playing pro football was realized. And as anyone who witnessed his clutch performance in the 2008 Grey Cup will attest, Sandro not only made it, he made it big.

Sandro’s bio