The Saskatchewan Roughriders did not win a Grey Cup while Roy Shivers was the general manager.
But, beyond his tenure, they celebrated championships because he was here.
That is the essential point to ponder when appraising the contributions of Shivers — a 2024 inductee into the SaskTel Plaza of Honour.
Shivers, who was the Roughriders’ GM from Dec. 23, 1999 to Aug. 20, 2006, built the nucleus of a team that won it all just 15 months after he left.
Twenty-five of the 42 players who dressed for Saskatchewan in the 2007 Grey Cup Game debuted with the team while Shivers was the GM and Danny Barrett was the head coach.
Shivers is now joining nine of those players in the Plaza of Honour.
One of them — Darian Durant — is a fellow 2024 inductee.
Durant was the Roughriders’ third-string quarterback in 2007, when Saskatchewan signal-caller Kerry Joseph was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player.
Joseph and Durant both became Roughriders in the same, game-changing April 12, 2006 trade, which was engineered by Shivers.
Durant was the Grey Cup-winning starting quarterback in 2013, when Saskatchewan’s roster included three other players who had joined the team during the Shivers years — offensive lineman Chris Best, running back Neal Hughes and linebacker/special-teams captain Mike McCullough.
So, yes, Shivers should take a bow.
The opportunity will be there when he and Durant are honoured on Legends Night, during halftime of Saturday’s game between the Roughriders and B.C. Lions (5 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
Shivers can look toward the north end of the state-of-the-art facility — one that was unthinkable when he arrived here — and appreciate banners that recognize the 1966, 1989, 2007 and 2013 championship teams.
His influence on half of them was unmistakeable.
That appears to be of little consolation to the 83-years-young Shivers, who held court with the media in classically candid fashion on Thursday.
His only regret? “I don’t think I finished the job.”
Look at where he started, though.
Shivers took over a team that was coming off a three-win season.
The artificial turf — then 11 years old and far beyond its best-before date — was painful to look at, so what must it have been like for the poor souls who actually had to play on that tattered carpet?
Saskatchewan was not a preferred destination for free agents.
The Roughriders’ head office was more of a draw for creditors. The accumulated deficit swelled to $2.649 million after the community-owned team incurred a $675,000 loss on its 1999 operations.
Welcome to Saskatchewan, Roy Shivers.
Step by step, day by day, the Roughriders were rebuilt under Shivers and Barrett.
The signing of quarterback Henry Burris on March 7, 2000 was a signal that, yes, things were going to be different.
And they certainly weren’t going to be boring!
Smilin’ Hank became a first-time full-time starter in Year 1 of the Shivers regime. The 2000 season was a key springboard for Burris, who would be inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame 20 years later.
Leading into Year 2, Shivers signed Eddie Davis — a shut-down defensive back who entered the Hall in 2015.
Shivers joined Burris and Davis in the Canadian football shrine two years ago.
The tributes continue this weekend.
“Danny was as important to this as I was, because he was really good at a lot of small things,” Shivers said. “They had a great staff.
“I felt I let him down when I walked away. It has been bothering me ever since, because I don’t think I finished the job.”
But, oh, what a job he did while restoring the Roughriders and building a team that was, as he put it, “on the cusp.”
The Green and White was on the cusp of bankruptcy when he got here.
By the time he left, the team had a certain swagger.
It was no longer a punching bag.
Playoff games became an annual occurrence in 2002, when the team really began to take shape under Shivers and Barrett. Before that, the Roughriders had missed the post-season six times in a period of seven years.
Around election time, politicians like to say: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
If you fiddle with the wording and the numbers and apply that question to the Shivers years, the obvious answer is “yes!”
The induction of Shivers into the Plaza finishes a job he nonetheless regards as incomplete.
This crowning honour is the Club’s way of extending thanks and recognizing the very best.
From a personal perspective, it is also an opportunity to remember an eventful era in Roughriders history.
We had a few jousts, Roy and I did, when he was the GM and I was a cranky columnist at the Regina Leader-Post. It was my job to dispense opinion and he never shied away from airing his views.
“I wish Danny and the coaching staff were here to go in with me,” because they did most of it,” Shivers reiterated on Thursday. “I was just a guy who took the verbal abuse.”
Now he can accept the bouquets.
With that in mind, Dave Thomas — CKRM’s voice of the Riders — wondered on Thursday: What do you want to be remembered for? What do you want your legacy to be?
“A guy who did a good job,” Shivers replied. “I came into a tough situation.
“The only thing I knew about Saskatchewan was what I used to get from Don Matthews. It was like purgatory for him. Every time he cut somebody, he threatened to send them to Saskatchewan.
“I never could figure it out, but then I thought about it. I said, ‘Well, it’s just like Green Bay.’ The town centres around the football team. Green Bay’s the same way.
“What I’d like people to think about is a guy who’s an honest guy. He did the best job he could do and let chips fall where they may.
“You see, thoughts can’t hurt you. And if words were hurtful, there would be a lot of people walking around with black eyes and teeth knocked out and stuff.
“But I don’t have a problem. I had a great time here. I met some great people. And I’d do it again.”
