Robservations: Happy 75th, Rhett Dawson! … Thank you, Thomas Judek! … Merry Christmas to all!
Here is the latest from the too-cheap-to-buy-a-card department: Happy 75th birthday, Rhett Dawson!
The mere mention of his good name always hits home for me.
Let me take you back to Sept. 29, 1974, when Dawson played his first game for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
It was a most auspicious CFL debut for the former Florida State Seminoles, Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings receiver, who caught two touchdown passes from Ron Lancaster in a 34-10 victory over the Calgary Stampeders.
I was among the 17,168 onlookers at Taylor Field that afternoon, nearly 50 years ago.
At the time, I was 10 years old and pondering this notion: “This is what it must have been like to watch Hugh Campbell play.”
From the start, Lancaster enjoyed a telepathic on-field relationship with Dawson, as did Gluey Hughie.
Dawson caught 10 touchdown passes in each of his two full seasons with the Roughriders, earning All-Star honours in 1975 and 1976.
On what turned out to Dawson’s final regular-season play as a Roughrider, he caught a three-yard touchdown pass from Lancaster as time expired to power Saskatchewan to a 33-31 victory in Calgary.
The Roughriders rallied from deficits of 24-0 and 27-8 to register a comeback win that also gave them first place in the Western Conference.
The following spring, Dawson made the decision to focus on family and business interests, bringing an untimely conclusion to his professional football career at age 28.
Campbell, too, was only 28 when he played his final game as a Roughrider. So were Joey Walters and Jeff Fairholm, for that matter.
Walters, Fairholm, Campbell and Dawson have always been on my list of all-time favourites. Something about elite receivers fascinates me, especially when they also turn out to be equally amazing off the field.
As much as I admired Dawson as a player, I never had the honour of meeting him during his all-too-brief tenure with the Roughriders.
That void was addressed in June of 1994, when Sports Editor Gregg Drinnan assigned me to do a flashback for the Regina Leader-Post’s annual Roughriders season-preview section.
The open-ended marching orders were essentially “pick a player … any player.”
Easy choice.
Hello there, Rhett Dawson!
I tracked him down in Austin, Texas, left a phone message, and soon received a cordial call back.
“Even today, I think, ‘Maybe I should have gone back to Saskatchewan,’ ” Dawson, always an open book during interviews, reflected during our introductory conversation. “You only get to do that once, and only one person in 1,000 gets to live that dream.
“To turn it away, it was a tough choice. In some ways, I feel like I let the fans down by not coming back. In another way, I felt proud that I was able to unselfishly let go of that and provide for my family.
“There are truly mixed emotions.”
It was also an emotional time in 2006, when Dawson was enshrined in the Roughriders’ SaskTel Plaza of Honour.
On Sept. 22 of that year, with the induction ceremony only a few hours away, I met him in person for the first time — by the Plaza of Honour cairn outside historic Mosaic Stadium.
“The bottom line is that there’s a giant part of me that wishes I would have come back and played five or 10 more years, because it was my true love,” Dawson, who was enshrined alongside Gary Lewis and Ken Reed, mused at the time.
“It is the way it is. I cherish my days in Regina and I’m incredibly honoured to be inducted into the Plaza.”
It was also my honour to meet Dawson’s brother (Red) and daughter (Alison), both of whom were Rhett’s guests for the Plaza induction.
Little did I know at the time that Red Dawson was a central figure in We Are Marshall — a major motion picture that was released on Rhett’s 58th birthday (Dec. 22, 2006).
Red Dawson was an assistant coach with the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team, which was on a fateful flight back to Huntington, W. Va., after a road game on Nov. 14, 1970.
Southern Airways Flight 932 crashed just short of a runway near Ceredo, W. Va. All 75 people aboard were killed, including most of the Marshall team.
William (Red) Dawson and fellow assistant coach Gail Parker were spared only because they had driven to and from the game (against the East Carolina Pirates) so a recruiting trip could be part of the agenda.
Red Dawson, like his younger brother, is a heart-on-his-sleeve type of person — someone I interviewed by telephone only 3½ months after meeting him on Plaza weekend.
“We had such a nice time in Regina and the people were so nice to us,” Red Dawson told me in January of 2007.
“When you said who you were and where you were from, I was going to talk to you (for the interview).”
Keep in mind that Red, whose character was played by Matthew Fox in We Are Marshall, had been inundated with interview requests during that period in his life.
“I feel like I owe y’all,” Red continued. “Everything about that weekend was first-class. I couldn’t have had a better time and I’m sure Rhett feels the same way.”
Red eventually told his story in a book. A Coach in Progress, released in 2015, included a foreword that was written by a former Florida State teammate, Fred Biletnikoff.
Biletnikoff, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, was named the Super Bowl’s most valuable player in 1977 after setting up three Oakland Raiders touchdowns in their 32-14 victory over Minnesota.
Until reading A Coach in Progress, I was not aware of the Dawson-Biletnikoff connection, even though there was more than a hint.
As a Roughrider, Rhett Dawson wore No. 25 as a tribute to Biletnikoff.
“Everywhere I went, 25, was already taken,” Rhett recalled in a 2020 interview. “Florida State had retired Freddy’s jersey, so it wasn’t available.”
Therefore, Rhett wore No. 82 at Florida State before switching to No. 20 (with Houston) and No. 86 (Minnesota).
No. 25 became available in Saskatchewan after defensive back/punt returner Jim Walter was released on July 21, 1974, following the pre-season. Walter had donned a green and white No. 25 jersey for four seasons, beginning in 1970.
Who could have imagined that, one day, Fred Biletnikoff — No. 25 — would end up playing at Taylor Field?
After a one-year hiatus from football, he returned to the gridiron for a season as a member of the Montreal Alouettes. He caught four passes for a team-high 51 yards when the Alouettes visited Taylor Field on Aug. 6, 1980.
I thought that would be an interesting story to tell, so I reached out to Biletnikoff and was delighted to discover that he, too, is an all-star human being.
A 40th-anniversary flashback on Biletnikoff’s one appearance in Regina as a player was published in the L-P on Aug. 6, 2020.
While preparing the feature, this numerical nerd was intrigued by the statistical similarity between Biletnikoff and Rhett Dawson.
Biletnikoff’s career playoff totals: 70 receptions, 1,167 yards and 10 touchdowns.
Dawson’s 1975 stats: 69 receptions, 1,191 yards, 10 touchdowns.
“He’s just a super kid,” Biletnikoff said when I asked him about Dawson. “I call him a kid now, but he’s not a kid anymore.”
Not at the age of 75.
But, in many ways, he is still the same Rhett Dawson.
The first time I saw him play for the Roughriders, he made my day.
Every subsequent interaction has had a comparable impact.
As talented as he was on the football field, he is of even higher calibre as a person. I was reminded of that when I contacted him the other day and asked if he would like to convey a message to the fan base.
“I’d like to say thanks to all the Roughrider fans for their amazing support,” Dawson replied.
“Does that make a difference in how you play? You bet it does! It inspires you to reach a little deeper and make sure you give the fans the victory they want to see.
“My success as a Roughrider was in large part due to Ronnie Lancaster, the greatest quarterback in CFL history!”
THANKS, THOMAS!
For 10 months, it has been my great honour to work alongside Thomas Judek.
Sadly, from a personal perspective, Thomas concluded his accomplished tenure as the Roughriders’ Communications Co-ordinator on Friday.
He made the decision to move back home to Alberta, where his family, his girlfriend and his dog are based.
We all know that more great things await Thomas, whose niceness as a person is legendary inside and outside the Roughriders’ organization.
Thomas joined the Club as an intern in 2022 and quickly proved to be a keeper.
I was hired last February and proceeded to annoy him on a daily basis, inundating him with alleged jokes that he miraculously tolerated.
Thomas, unlike this correspondent, is blessed with a failure-proof sense of humour.
If he tells a joke, it’s a winner. Every time. No exceptions. Not one.
(Not fair!)
As a contrast to Thomas, I have to rattle off 976 one-liners in order to elicit one sympathetic “If I pretend to laugh at this, maybe he’ll just go away” chuckle.
Despite our contrasting comedic success rates, we shared so many laughs during 10 months as colleagues.
Most memorably, we were roommates in a University of Saskatchewan dormitory during the 2023 Coors Light Training Camp.
Once the work was done, we would typically spend an hour or three chatting.
Thomas, in his ever-cheerful way, told a series of stories that invariably cracked me up to the degree that pain was induced.
So it will be painful, in a sense, to return to work after the Christmas break and not see Thomas in the office.
We all cherish the time that we were so blessed to spend with him.
Every one of us will miss him.
But there is considerable solace to be derived from the recognition that Thomas, at 26, is still in the early stages of a career that is as can’t-miss as, well, any of his jokes.
And I am comforted, on a personal level, by the knowledge that we will always be great friends.
ROLL CREDITS …
- Nice people who deserve a plug: Rhett Dawson, Red Dawson, Fred Biletnikoff, Ryan Ackerman, Eva Fletcher, Carolyn Hamilton, Kaden Lowe, Frank Kovacs, Gord Pritchard, Laura Armitage, Tristan Frei, Thomas Judek, LeeAnne Siller, Donna Kabaluk, Madeleine Tell, Nicholas Tell, Rick Orban, Teale Orban, Taylor Orban, Karina Peterson, Rebecca Perigny, Eric Larson, Lindsay Morhart, Trinity Fesser, Rebecca Mills, Dave Stilborn, Donna Scherle, Dave Scherle, Dave Senger, Sandra Berkan, Jason Berkan, Dallas Skulski, Chelan Skulski, Dustin Gill, Harry Giesbrecht, Christina Clarke, Samantha Lawrek, Cindy Fuchs, Santa Claus, Bob Cratchit and, well, all denizens of Riderville and beyond. Merry Christmas!
