Robservations: 38,000 feet above a small world … travelling back in time to 1980 … Riders’ landmark performances in B.C. … and the usual shout-outs

VANCOUVER — Corey Mace celebrated a memorable touchdown on Friday.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ chartered aircraft was landed in sensationally smooth fashion by First Officer Eric Fraser, who was a CFL defensive back with the Calgary Stampeders (2010 to 2013), Ottawa REDBLACKS (2014) and B.C. Lions (2015 and 2016) before becoming a full-time aviator.

“We were teammates in Calgary and we were roommates for a few years,” Mace said. “I remember when he was reading all these pilot books, I was looking at him and saying, ‘Why would you want to do that?’

“Fast forward to 2024. I’m the head coach of the Riders and Eric is our pilot flying us in on WestJet.

“We always keep in touch, so it wasn’t a surprise to see him, but it was just cool to see the work that we both put in to get to where we wanted to get to.”

Mace and Fraser marked the reunion by having a photo taken on the stairs leading up to the Boeing 737 jet.

“I knew he would be our pilot a couple of weeks ago, but (assistant coaches) Edwin Harrison and Jordan Linnen, they know Fraser as well,” Mace said leading up to Saturday’s game between the Roughriders and Lions (5 p.m., TSN, CKRM).

“I didn’t tell them until we got on the plane, so it was pretty cool to see their reaction.”

Mace and Fraser both made their Canadian professional football debuts with the Stampeders in 2010. They were teammates for four seasons.

In July of 2017, Fraser began work as a pilot with the Yukon-based Klondike Placer Miners’ Association, flying cargo and crew between mining sites in the far north.

He subsequently spent 18 months flying for Carson Air before joining Canadian North as a First Officer in July of 2019.

Next stop: WestJet, which hired Fraser last September.

Mace has enjoyed an impressive ascent in his own right.

He was employed by the Stampeders as a defensive tackle (2010 to 2015) and defensive line coach (2016 to 2021) before spending two seasons as the Toronto Argonauts’ defensive co-ordinator. He was named the Roughriders’ head coach on Nov. 30.

“I’m a firm believer that you get out what you put in,” Mace said.

“I know how hard he worked to become what he is today. On the flip side, he knows how hard I’ve worked on the other side.

“To get to the point where our worlds collide, that’s the awesome part.”

TAXI TERROR

When I last visited BC Place, I saw Dave Ridgway kick seven field goals that, alas, did not count.

It was a pre-season game, played on July 4, 1991.

B.C. defeated Saskatchewan 38-35, thanks to a last-minute touchdown pass from Doug Flutie to Ray Alexander.

Flutie versus Kent Austin was a quarterback matchup to savour, at any juncture of the season.

A mere 12,063 days later, I am poised to stagger into BC Place for the second time.

This will be my first CFL regular-season game in Vancouver since July 8, 1980, when the Lions defeated the Roughriders 39-24 at Empire Stadium.

The crowd of 19,356 included yours truly (then 16) and my friend and neighbour from Acadia Drive, Tom Fuzesy.

We had travelled to Vancouver via train — yeah, it has been a while — and then made it to our Burnaby hotel after miraculously surviving a terrifying interaction with the most maniacal cab driver in history.

For some reason, I remember that Elton John’s “Little Jeannie” was playing on the radio as the crazed cabbie negotiated every turn without applying the brakes.

Tires were screeching. Passengers were screaming.

Amid the chaos, Elton John was honouring little Jeannie in song.

(“You got so much love, little Jeannie … you got so much time, little Jeannie … watch out for that pedestrian, little Jeannie …”)

Fortunately, we made it to the hotel. A subsequent cab ride to Empire Stadium was utterly, relievedly unmemorable.

As for the game … well … uh … the Lions erupted for 33 second-quarter points.

Some solace was derived from the events of the second half, during which Danny Sanders threw two touchdown passes to Dwight Edwards.

Edwards was making his first regular-season appearance with the Roughriders after being acquired from Toronto 13 days earlier.

His impressive debut gave me some hope that the Roughriders could replace Joey Walters, who had signed with the San Francisco 49ers during the off-season.

(Edwards, whose blazing speed was comparable to that of a certain Vancouver taxi, remained with the Roughriders through the 1983 season. Walters rejoined the Green and White in September of 1980 and was the CFL’s best receiver in each of the following two seasons.)

The other highlight from 44 years and five days ago: Simply being able to visit Empire Stadium, where:

• Roger Bannister ran the first sub-four-minute mile (Aug. 7, 1954).

• The Beatles — Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr — performed their first Canadian concert (Aug. 22, 1964). The only well-known George I ever saw at Empire Stadium was the Lions’ long-time cheerleader, Krazy George.

• The Roughriders posted the first Grey Cup victory in franchise history (Nov. 26, 1966).

This weekend’s highlight? Finally seeing a regular-season game at BC Place, where Elton John appeared in what was billed as his final concert in Canada (Oct. 21, 2022).

Alas, he didn’t play “Little Jeannie.”

RECORD CENTRAL

Some of the finest individual performances in Roughriders history have taken place in Vancouver. For example …

Sept. 29, 1958: Jack Hill became the first Roughrider to catch three touchdown passes in a game.

Aug. 9, 1962: Gene Wlasiuk returned a punt 62 yards for a touchdown. That was back in the days, remember, when blocking on punt returns was prohibited. Geno went one-against-12 … and scored!

Oct. 24, 1965: George Reed rushed for 268 yards — still a franchise single-game record. (Hugh Campbell, whose son Rick is now the Lions’ head coach, caught five passes for 73 yards and one TD. The passes were thrown by Ron Lancaster, whose grandson — Marc Mueller — is the Roughriders’ offensive co-ordinator. See again: Small world!)

Sept. 28, 1985: Fifteen tackles by Eddie Lowe. His team record stood until Reggie Hunt made 16 stops in Winnipeg on July 10, 2003.

Sept. 16, 1988: Three touchdown receptions by Ray Elgaard, who was always unstoppable at BC Place.

July 18, 1989: Tom Burgess threw five touchdown passes, tying Lancaster (1963, 1966) and Joe Barnes (1981) for the team’s single-game record.

Sept. 21, 1991: Austin threw a club-record six touchdown passes, including three to Jeff Fairholm. (Fairholm, Elgaard, Campbell, Walters and Hill have combined for 10 of the 20 three-touchdown-catch games in Roughriders history. Two other members of the three-TD-catch club — Shawn Bane Jr. and Samuel Emilus — will be in the Roughriders’ lineup today.)

Aug. 13, 1992: Austin amassed 559 aerial yards, an enduring Roughriders single-game mark.

July 9, 1993: Five special teams tackles by Bruce Boyko.

Sept. 13, 2008: Five special teams tackles by Yannick Carter. Boyko and Carter are among eight players who share the Roughriders’ single-game standard for special teams stops.

ROLL CREDITS …

• Nice people who deserve a plug: Carter Michael Joseph Patterson, Shalyn Kivela, Arielle Zerr, Jon Halvorson, Cindy Fuchs, Eva Fletcher, Ryan Jupp, Mitch Saretzky, Marcus Sayles, Miles Brown, A.J. Allen, Logan Ferland, Jermarcus Hardrick, Jorgen Hus, Jenn Senger, Nathaniel Cruz, Thomas Judek, Eric Fraser, Lori Dattilo, Maurizio Dattilo, Liam Dattilo, Elliott Dattilo, Noah Dattilo, Evan Dattilo, Dave MacLean, Terry O’Malley, Barry MacKenzie, Danny Sanders, Dwight Edwards, Tom Fuzesy, Grant Griffin, Darrell Romuld, Angel Blair, Nathan Meyer, Pete Alonso, Logan Lindskog, Jim Kolitsas and Dr. Kane Christiuk.