From Luther Lion to Winnipeg Blue Bomber: Patrick Neufeld chasing third straight Grey Cup

Patrick Neufeld could add another championship chapter to his storied career.

While most of his career has been with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the first chapters of his journey were written in Regina and at Luther College High School.

Patrick Neufeld as a member of the Luther Lions football team. (Troy Casper/Submitted)

“I thought I was going to be a basketball star. I was sure I was going to be a basketball player,” Neufeld said as he and the Bombers prepared for Sunday’s Grey Cup game in his hometown.

“I was much thinner in my ninth and 10th (grades) and then they tricked me into thinking that football was going to get me into shape for basketball but I think they saw the writing on the wall that the Luther cafeteria was catching up to me. Sure enough, running around and hitting people with pads on was something I truly loved.”

That love has led to a remarkable CFL career that will have the right guard set to battle for his third straight Grey Cup win, this time at Mosaic Stadium. Kickoff for the game between the Bombers and Toronto Argonauts is set for 5 p.m.

The two people who helped set Neufeld on his path were Gerry Harris and Troy Casper — the two coaches at Luther who got him onto the gridiron.

“He’s a great team person. He works hard,” Harris said. “He treats people with respect and cares for them. I’m very proud of him.”

“He just kept going. We had a super-talented group of kids at the time,” Casper said. “He had great feet, great hands and was a strong strong guy … He puts the work ethic in and knows the game so well.

“He’s a friend. He comes back and we talk football … To watch him go through (his career) as a teacher and a coach and see the success of him and players like him that we have had at the school, it is rewarding in some aspects but also encouraging because of the time you put in.”

Now 33, Neufeld is grateful for the chance to not only learn from Casper and Harris but to become friends with them as well now that he’s older.

“Those two guys are two guys that introduced me to football and helped me fall in love with the game. They went from my teachers and coaches to friends, which is pretty cool,” Neufeld said.

“They are still fans of me and fans of what I am doing on the field but it’s pretty cool because of the way they taught me to play the game. There are parts of them in me. I’m pretty lucky to have those two in my corner.”

Patrick Neufeld (left) and the Luther Lions celebrate an LIT championship in 2006. (Troy Casper/Submitted)

Neufeld did find some success on the basketball court as well, helping lead the Luther Lions to a Luther Invitational Tournament title in 2006.

“I was more of a role player with that Luther Lions team but that was a really cool memory. It was the first time we had won that tournament in a long time. It’s always cool to win championships with your high school buddies because it’s just you and your friends playing for the love of the game and that was really fun,” Neufeld said.

Neufeld’s football journey saw him leave Regina for the first time when he went to play with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in Saskatoon.

He returned to the Queen City after the Saskatchewan Roughriders selected him in the fifth round of the 2010 draft.

While he enjoyed playing for the team he grew up watching, the business of football reared its head, and he was shipped off to Winnipeg in 2013 — the year the Riders reached the top of the CFL world and won the Grey Cup at old Mosaic Stadium.

While it hurt at the time, Neufeld said it ended up being one of the best things to happen to him in his life.

“At the time, I never would have thought that growing up a born and raised Rider fan, my parents still have season tickets, so it was hard,” Neufeld said. “I was probably too naive to the business side of the CFL but the team, at the time, made the decision for what was best for them.

“Our team hired (head coach) Mike O’Shea and at the time we hired a really great offensive line coach named Bob Wylie and those were the guys that really made me fall in love with the sport again and the whole process of football and being a professional again and I’m just extremely grateful this organization has kept me around and had my back.”

Now Neufeld is looking to raise Canadian football’s top prize in the city in which he grew up.

“I think that would be very cool on a personal level. Obviously, you want to win it for your teammates and the guys you are playing with, but it’s a feather in my cap to be able to win it in the city I grew up in and that full-circle story,” Neufeld said.