ROBSERVATIONS: Harris moves to greener pastures … thank you, Anthony Vitale … Retro Sports rules!
One transaction turned Andrew green.
There will be an inevitable period of adjustment, as Andrew Harris acknowledges, while the legendary CFL running back makes the transition to coaching as a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ staff.
After all, he was a prominent player with the Roughriders’ arch-rival — the Winnipeg Blue Bombers — from 2016 to 2021.
“I feel like this is a good situation for me and one that I never would have expected — being a Winnipeg guy and because this rivalry goes so thick within Saskatchewan,” Harris said on Monday after the Roughriders announced his hiring as the running backs coach.
“But, at the end of the day, it’s football. I know football really well and I’m excited to help contribute to the success of the team this year.”
History tells us past allegiances will be forgiven — even forgotten — as the sight of Harris in green and white becomes more familiar.
We take you back to 2013, when the Roughriders added Geroy Simon and Dwight Anderson.
The moves were jarring, at least initially, because Roughriders fans were accustomed to bemoaning countless clutch receptions Simon had made for the B.C. Lions — a playoff opponent of Saskatchewan in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010.
Anderson played for the Calgary Stampeders during numerous showdowns with Saskatchewan over the 2008, 2009 and 2010 seasons.
With the Montreal Alouettes in 2011, Anderson poked Roughriders star Weston Dressler in the eye. It was unintentional, Anderson emphasized, but the enmity between the Roughriders and Anderson was undeniable.
So how did it all turn out?
As a Roughrider, Anderson registered a team-leading five interceptions in 2013 en route to being named a divisional All-CFL selection.
Simon caught two touchdown passes to help Saskatchewan post a 45-23 Grey Cup victory over the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Nov. 24, 2013.
The game’s final touchdown was scored by Dressler, whose career with the Roughriders lasted from 2008 to 2015.
The future Canadian Football Hall of Famer was surprisingly released by Saskatchewan on Jan. 14, 2016 — only to resurface with (gasp!) Winnipeg 12 days later.
Unexpected? Absolutely.
Unthinkable? Not in the nine-team CFL.
Unprecedented? Hardly.
Consider another example — that of Tyrone Jones.
On Dec. 5, 1991, the Roughriders acquired Jones from Winnipeg for receiver Allan Boyko and a first-round pick in the 1992 CFL Draft.
Asked about the loquacious linebacker, then-Roughriders head coach Don Matthews told the Regina Leader-Post: “I have no problems with how he is off the field or on the field. He’s exactly what we need.”
As a Blue Bomber, Jones was noted for jawing with members of the Roughriders and their fan base. One can only imagine — and certainly cannot publish — the exchanges that took place.
“I’m not a bad guy,” Jones told Darrell Davis of the Leader-Post, “but I will be a bad guy on the football field.”
Jones’ single season in Saskatchewan unfolded without incident — but not without interceptions.
He picked off two passes and registered four sacks, one of which was against Winnipeg in the 1992 Labour Day Classic.
In 2012, Jones was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame.
After becoming eligible, Harris will join Jones in the Canadian football shrine. And we will be proud to claim him as a Roughrider.
THANK YOU, ANTHONY
Harris succeeds Anthony Vitale, who was on the Roughriders’ coaching staff the past two seasons before resigning for personal reasons.
Word of his departure resonated with me personally.
I loved every millisecond of dealing with Anthony during our time as colleagues.
It was impossible to spend any length of time with him without convulsing in laughter. He is one of the funniest, nicest guys you will ever meet.
Anthony was rarely spotted without a smile during his time in Saskatchewan. He absolutely beamed while talking about his wife (Diane) and daughters (Isabella and Lia).
Anthony’s loved ones, who are based in southern California, were able to spend some time with him during the past two summers. Last year, I interviewed the proudest papa while he was holding Lia, who gave Dad a kiss on the cheek.
“She has no boundaries whatsoever,” Anthony said at the time. “I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but I’m not going to turn it down.”
During the same interview, Anthony pricelessly served up one of my favourite quotes of all time — a reflection on his passion for coaching.
“I’m really lucky, in that this is what I love to do,” he said. “I really don’t have a whole lot of balance in life.
“I have an MBA, but I don’t know how to read the stock market.
“I can’t golf.
“I don’t speak another language.
“I don’t go bowling.
“I don’t go to ball games.
“Really, this is all I’m interested in. This is it.”
As much as he loves coaching, his family comes first.
We will dearly miss him here, but there is comfort in knowing that Anthony will be able to spend more treasured time with his home team — Diane, Isabella and Lia.
RETRO RENEGADES
One of my favourite podcasts is known as Retro Sports Radio, which offers vintage broadcasts of baseball and football games.
Most of the football is of the NFL variety, of course, but there is one exception — an April 29, 1985 United States Football League game between the New Jersey Generals and Orlando Renegades.
That matchup piqued my interest because Roughriders receiving legend Joey Walters played for Orlando in what turned out to be the last of the USFL’s three seasons.
I decided to listen to the broadcast, featuring announcers Charley Steiner and Dave Herman, without Googling the score.
In that respect, it almost felt like the game was live.
Every time Orlando had the ball, I was hoping, hoping, hoping for a pass to Walters.
Better yet, I wanted to celebrate a touchdown by No. 17.
Imagine my aggravation, then, when the Generals — quarterbacked by Doug Flutie — led 24-0 in the fourth quarter at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
And then it happened. On second-and-goal from the Generals’ 18-yard line, Orlando quarterback Jerry Golsteyn dropped back to pass.
“Golsteyn out of the shotgun, throwing in the end zone for Joey Walters … touchdown!” Steiner exclaimed.
“Oh, what a brilliant catch by Joey Walters in the corner of the end zone! The fact that he was able to keep both feet in bounds and make that catch is quite a story in and of itself.”
The other part of the story was the presence in the broadcast booth — at the exact moment Walters scored — of then-Generals owner Donald Trump.
He was at the forefront of an ill-advised, ill-fated campaign for the USFL to move its games from the winter/spring to the fall. By late April of 1985, winds were blowing in that direction.
“I am very pleased,” Trump said during an in-game interview.
“I believe in fall football. I like class, wherever it might be, and football is meant to be played in the fall.”
The Renegades fell, 24-7, but at least Joey Walters scored a touchdown.
The fall of the USFL wasn’t too far away.
The league’s final game was played on July 14, 1985, when the Baltimore Stars defeated the Oakland Invaders 28-24.
John Walker, who had 10 regular-season sacks for the Stars in 1985, went on to play for the Roughriders in 1987 and 1988.
Post-football, Walker remained in Saskatchewan and spent 27 years with the Regina Police Service before retiring in January of 2016 — around the same time Weston Dressler joined the Blue Bombers, coincidentally.
ROLL CREDITS …
• Nice people who deserve a plug: Anthony Vitale, Diane Vitale, Isabella Vitale, Lia Vitale, Terri Harris-Strunk, Barry Clarke, Wes Cates, Steve Mazurak, Cleveland Vann, Don Hewitt, Alan Ford, Jameer Thurman, Brett Lauther, A.J. Ouellette, Andrew Harris, John Walker, Weston Dressler, Joey Walters, Colson Schulz, Charley Steiner, Erin Stankewich, Bryann Olenick, Daniel Reech and Jennifer Francis.
