Approaching Mosaic Stadium, Barry Clarke routinely passes the site of one of his earliest, most-cherished football memories.
The Regina Armoury is located just north of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ home base, with only George Reed Way separating structures old and new.
Time-wise, Clarke is much further removed from the aforementioned recollections, which date back to Nov. 27, 1966.
Only eight years old at the time, he accompanied his father to the Armoury’s auditorium to celebrate the first Grey Cup victory in Roughriders history.
The day before, Saskatchewan had defeated the Ottawa Rough Riders 29-14 at Empire Stadium in Vancouver.
The team flew back the following day and, upon landing in Regina, proceeded directly to the Armoury — where the newly crowned champions were greeted by several thousand fans, Doug and Barry Clarke among them.
“I still remember how excited my dad was about us winning the Grey Cup,” recalls Barry Clarke, whose two-year term as Chair of the Roughriders’ Board of Directors concluded last week.
“I didn’t know much about the Grey Cup at the time because I was so young, but I certainly developed an appreciation for how important it was to everyone.”
Imagine what it was like, then, for Clarke to come full circle and ultimately serve as a co-chair of a Grey Cup Festival — an immensely successful event that was held in Regina last November.
As the Roughriders’ Board Chair, Clarke already had plenty on his plate. Even so, he was honoured to serve in a dual capacity, sharing the Grey Cup Chair’s role with Roughriders President-CEO Craig Reynolds.
“That was just a great experience,” Clarke says. “(The Grey Cup Committee) did some really great things that will leave a legacy.”
The same could be said of Clarke’s time on the Board, which he joined in 2014. He was able to celebrate that appointment with his father, a 50-plus-year season-ticket holder who was 88 when he passed away on July 19, 2018.
Earlier that month, Barry and Doug Clarke had attended their final Roughriders home game together.
When Barry Clarke became the Roughriders’ Chair in 2021, he was able to share that landmark with his mother, Margaret, who lived until 96. She passed away on July 11 of last year.
The family resided in Kamsack when Barry was born in 1958. At the time, his father worked for the railroad, but the Clarkes soon relocated to Saskatoon so that Doug could attend the University of Saskatchewan.
Shortly after graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce degree, Doug accepted a position with the Government of Saskatchewan. Doug, Margaret and their two sons, Barry and Brian, were soon off to Regina.
Before too long, a father-son ritual had been established. Sitting alongside his dad at Taylor Field, Barry watched Roughriders legends such as Ron Lancaster, George Reed, Ed McQuarters, Ron Atchison and Hugh Campbell.
Barry was such a fan of “Gluey Hughie,” in fact, that he proudly wore a green T-shirt on which Campbell’s number (31) was emblazoned.
Campbell, Lancaster, Reed and virtually every other member of the 1966 Roughriders were brought to Regina by Ken Preston, who was the team’s General Manager from 1958 to 1977. The Preston family lived on Princess Place, just a few doors down from the Clarkes.
The ties to football extended to Doug Clarke’s vocational life. One of his colleagues in the Province’s budget bureau was Gary Brandt, who was a member of the Roughriders’ offensive line from 1967 to 1977.
While coaching Little League baseball, Barry would often bump into Lancaster when the legendary quarterback was coaching his son, Ron Jr.
Lancaster was in the broadcast booth for CBC when Saskatchewan won its second Grey Cup title, 23 years to the day after the first.
On Nov. 26, 1989, Barry sat in the stands at SkyDome (now Rogers Centre) in Toronto, sitting with the Fiegers (Greg and Brenda) and Reeds (George and Angie).
“I was hugging George Reed after we won the Grey Cup,” Clarke remembers. “That was kind of a surreal moment.”
By then, he had already begun a volunteer-based association with the Roughriders that endured for 35 years.
In 1988, Clarke was an eighth-year employee of Peat Marwick (now known as KPMG). The managing partner of the accounting firm’s Regina branch was Tom Robinson, who eventually presided over the Roughriders’ Board from 2001 to 2003.
“Tom was on the Plaza of Honour dinner committee,” Clarke says of Robinson, who was inducted into the Roughriders’ shrine in 2012. “There was a meeting one day at noon and he couldn’t make it, so he asked if I could go.
“I went to the meeting and was assigned Tom’s responsibility of selling spaces on a pool board. I went back to the office and said to Tom, ‘You have to sell these.’ He looked at me and said, ‘Get at it.’ ”
He got at it, all right.
Clarke chaired the Plaza of Honour dinner in 1993.
When the first Regina-based Grey Cup Festival was held in 1995, Clarke and Darlene Brunskill were responsible for special events.
In 2013, Clarke worked as the Vice-Chair of Special Events — with the assistance of Lorrie Pettigrew — for a Festival that culminated in a Roughriders home-field victory.
Clarke’s inexhaustible volunteerism was a complement to time that was devoted to his family and his vocation.
Barry and Ramona Clarke were married on May 15, 1982. Earlier that spring, Barry had completed his second of six seasons with the Regina Exports senior hockey team.
His hockey career also included time spent with the SJHL’s Regina Silver Foxes (1975-76 season) and the University of Regina Cougars (1976 to 1980).
After graduating from the U of R with a degree in business administration, Clarke continued his studies and became a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Saskatchewan.
As an accountant, he worked with Peat Marwick (12 years), Crown Life/Canada Life (10) and the McDougall Gawley law firm (17) while also helping Ramona raise three children (Jared, Kirsten and Jessica).
Clarke retired in May of 2021, just before his standing on the Board was elevated.
“Never in my wildest dreams as a fan did I think I would be the Chair,” Clarke marvels. “There were a few moments where I pinched myself.”
There were more such moments on June 21, when the community-owned team’s Annual General Meeting was held and the torch was passed to the new Chair, Dave Pettigrew.
Although the composition of the Board has changed to a degree, and by design, Clarke applauds the organization’s overall continuity — pointing to leaders such as Reynolds, Kent Paul (Chief Financial Officer), Anthony Partipilo (Chief Brand Officer), Jeremy O’Day (GM/Vice-President of Football Operations) and Craig Dickenson (Head Coach).
“They’re high-character, high-integrity people,” Clarke says. “We talk about sustained success, and we’re going to get to where we want to get to with these people.
“I’m proud of the fact that we’ve got such a strong team. When you work closely with people of that calibre and see the passion that they bring, you know the organization is in great hands.”
That is of considerable comfort to Clarke now that he is almost exclusively a fan, the responsibilities of the past-Chair being limited in scope.
“It was a huge, huge honour to be the Chair,” he reflects. “There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s the best volunteer job in the province — and the Roughriders are the best organization to be a part of, for sure.”
