As if by script, the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Jamal Morrow scored a touchdown on George Reed Day.
Morrow, like Reed, attended Washington State University before venturing to Canada to play professional football.
And it was Morrow who led his teammates out of the tunnel — carrying a No. 34 flag in memory of Reed — before Saturday’s CFL game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Mosaic Stadium.
“I was very touched to do that,” Morrow said. “It was a very special moment for me to come out and wave the flag.
“To run out of the tunnel with the flag was, for me, a very emotional and great experience. I was very honoured.”
Not to mention surprised.
Morrow didn’t have any inkling that he would be the flag-bearer until he saw that it had been placed in his locker room stall before the game.
Fittingly, 34 seconds remained in the first half when Morrow crossed the goal line to complete a 32-yard run.
Brett Lauther’s convert made the score Hamilton 25, Saskatchewan 9. So, yes, 34 points had been scored by halftime.
“It’s crazy how that works,” Morrow said of the coincidences.
He was the Roughriders’ offensive sparkplug on a generally tough night for the team, carrying the ball 18 times for 120 yards in a 38-13 Tiger-Cats victory.
Fifty years earlier, to the very day, Reed had rushed 20 times for 100 yards and three touchdowns in a 24-9 home-field victory over the B.C. Lions. That game, too, was played on George Reed Day.
Reed starred for the Roughriders from 1963 to 1975, amassing 16,116 yards and 134 touchdowns along the ground.
He passed away on Oct. 1, one day shy of his 84th birthday, at his home in Regina.
A tribute to Reed took place at Mosaic Stadium shortly before Saturday’s game.
Members of the Reed family — including his wife (Angie) and three children (Keith, Vicki and Georgette) — watched from Section 34, atop the north-side grandstand.
Morrow was facing the Reeds when he scored the touchdown on Saturday.
To punctuate the major, he looked toward the Reed family and made the No. 34 signal by holding up three fingers on his left hand and four on his right.
Morrow and Reed, by the way, are the only players in Roughriders history to rush for 100 or more yards in an Oct. 7 game.
Next up for Morrow and the Roughriders is Friday’s game against the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium (7:30 p.m., TSN, CKRM).
Morrow rushed for a career-high 133 yards when the Roughriders won 29-26 in overtime in Calgary on June 24.
