Rod Pedersen
CFL.ca
Saskatchewan Roughrider fans and staff had to be popping buttons off their chest with pride at Thursday’s CFL Gibson’s Finest Awards Gala during Grey Cup week in Montreal.
Canada’s Team had double winners at the event, with star slotback Weston Dressler taking home the CFL Most Outstanding Rookie trophy and team captain Jeremy O’Day earning the Tom Pate Award for outstanding service to his community and team. Gene Makowsky was also a finalist for the CFL Most Outstanding Lineman trophy.
Roughrider head scout Joe Womack told me at training camp last June that Dressler would have a career in the CFL “as long as he wants it”. Womack is close friends with Dressler’s college football coach at UND and that’s how the Bismarck, ND product found his way to Regina.
It’s rare that so early on in a training camp you can tell a rookie has what it takes to make the big club, but it was after Day 2 of camp that Rider coach Ken Miller was already penciling in Dressler as the Riders’ top return man and a key part of the offense.
The Riders didn’t know exactly where they would use Dressler, but it was a certainty that they would find room for him somewhere. Dressler would only go on to be the Riders’ only 1,000-yard receiver, combined yards leader, and be voted Molson Most Popular Player by the fans.
“It seems like yesterday that I walked in here for the first time for training camp,” smiled Dressler. “The whole season was a blur but I was thankful for the opportunity. All the injuries we had gave me a chance to show what I can do and I enjoyed every part of the season.”
At 5’7″(ish), Dressler could barely see over the podium as he addressed the CFL media at the post-awards interview session. No, he doesn’t cast much of a shadow but his stature is becoming legendary. Snubbed in the NFL Draft, Dressler wasn’t sure what his football future would hold before he got the call from Womack.
Dressler’s parents never missed a game this season, making the six-hour trek from Bismarck every two weeks. One game day I marveled at the number of young fans wearing #7 “Dressler” jerseys in the Southland Mall before the game. Privately, I hoped his parents might’ve stopped by the mall and witnessed what an impact their son has on the Rider Nation.
One funny story during the season I failed to recount on the blog was when we were taking off for Calgary from the Regina Airport Thanksgiving weekend. One of the runway personnel with the earmuffs and orange batons was wearing a #7 Rider jersey and I alerted Dressler that he had a fan on the WestJet staff.
“How do we know he’s not a Marvin Graves fan?” questioned wily veteran Chris Szarka, keeping the rookie’s ego in check.
We all know the truth however, and Dressler’s been a joy to have around.
As for Makowsky and O’Day, well, they are becoming every part of being Saskatchewan living legends. Having been around the Riders as long as I have, I know the Rider Nation has clung to names such as Roger Aldag and Bob Poley as provincial heroes. They still are of course, but Makowsky and O’Day have entered that realm.
Gene spends his off-season as a popular substitute teacher in Regina high schools watching over classes ranging from Shop to English to Phys Ed. He even commissioned a report for Football Saskatchewan on the state of grassroots football in the province this year.
Jeremy O’Day spends his winters travelling around the province promoting healthy lifestyles to Saskatchewan youngsters as part of the Riders’ Community Youlth Challenge. In the winter of 2006, he totaled his SUV in a snowstorm driving through southeastern Saskatchewan. A week later, he was back on the trail.
As Grey Cup champions, All-Stars and fine citizens, they are becoming part of the fabric of this great province.
And you can never have too many of those.
Rod Pedersen is Voice of the Riders on 620 CKRM Radio.
