2013 Grey Cup-winning team, Wendy Kelly going into Riders’ Plaza of Honour

A decade later, the 2013 Saskatchewan Roughriders continue to add to their lengthy list of accolades.

That edition of the CFL team, which beat the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 45-23 to win the 2013 Grey Cup at Regina’s Mosaic Stadium, is being inducted into the Roughriders’ Plaza of Honour in 2023.

Neal Hughes (left) and John Lipp at a media conference announcing the inductees into the Saskatchewan Roughriders Plaza of Honour in 2023. (Britton Gray/980 CJME)

“You don’t ever ask for these things, but to be recognized for what that team did on the field is very special,” former Riders fullback Neal Hughes, a member of that squad, said Thursday.

“The Riders do a great job of honouring people that do things the right way. We did things the right way that year and it’s very humbling to be a part of that group.”

Hughes believes there were many moments that season when the Riders knew they had something special, but the one that really sticks out in his mind was a team camping trip.

“Normally at that team camping trip, we only get maybe a handful of guys show up … just team bonding throughout our bye week,” Hughes said. “That year, I went out fishing with Geroy Simon. We went out fishing on the boat and I had no idea who was showing up.

“When I got back to camp, almost the whole team was there. It was amazing to see and was a great team-bonding experience. It was fun and it was one of the moments I remember.”

The 2013 team will join the other three championship squads in Roughriders history in the Plaza of Honour after the induction ceremony. The 1966, 1989 and 2007 teams were enshrined together in 2010.

Hughes will now be a three-time member of the Plaza — he went in individually in 2019 and was a member of the 2007 Grey Cup-winning team as well.

With the recent passing of Fred Wagman — who was the team president in 1996 when the team had to host a telethon to stay afloat — Hughes recalled being a member of the Thom Trojans high school football team and explaining to reporters how important football was to him.

“I just remember doing interviews with my Thom football jersey on, asking what the Riders meant to me,” Hughes recalled. “That came full circle that day of the Grey Cup in 2013.

“All the emotions started pouring through me on the way to that stadium that I played in my entire life. I started bawling for no apparent reason because I just had a feeling it was going to be a special night.”

The Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation and the Plaza of Honour Committee also announced Thursday that builder Wendy Kelly is being inducted posthumously.

Kelly, the first woman to serve on the Roughriders’ board, is the first woman to be enshrined in the Plaza of Honour as an individual.

“It’s very important. Since the time she first came on (to the board), that was a big thing to have a woman on (and) we’ve now had many women serving on our board,” said John Lipp, the Plaza of Honour selection committee chair and a former team president.

“Women are a very important part of the Rider fan base and it’s very important to us to recognize that. By having a woman in the Plaza, we think the time is right.”

The inductees will be honoured during a halftime ceremony at the Roughriders’ home game against the Tiger-Cats on Oct. 7. The Riders announced they’ll give free replica 2013 Grey Cup rings to the first 5,000 fans through the gates that day.

The Plaza of Honour comprises 138 inductees who have made major contributions to the club.

“I want to congratulate Wendy and the 2013 Roughriders team on their induction into the Plaza of Honour,” Roughriders president-CEO Craig Reynolds said in a media release. “Their remarkable contributions to the club will forever be etched in the memories of Rider Nation and I have no doubt Wendy will be smiling down on us as we celebrate at Mosaic Stadium on October 7.”

2013 Saskatchewan Roughriders

After going 11-7-0 in the 2013 regular season and finishing second in the West Division, Saskatchewan beat the B.C. Lions 29-25 in the division semifinal and the Calgary Stampeders 35-13 in the West final.

In the Grey Cup game at old Mosaic Stadium, tailback Kory Sheets rushed for a Grey Cup-record 197 yards and two touchdowns to earn MVP honours. Regina-born slotback Chris Getzlaf was named the game’s top Canadian after catching three passes for 78 yards.

Quarterback Darian Durant, who was at Ag in Motion in Langham, credited then-general manger Brendan Taman for bringing in so many key players to help the Roughriders win the franchise’s fourth Grey Cup.

“We made a lot of key off-season acquisitions that year, a lot of guys who had CFL experience that could help us get over the hump,” Durant explained. “It was a special group and you have to give Brendan Taman a lot of credit for putting it together.”

Durant had a tough time describing what it was like to beat Hamilton in the Grey Cup at home after losing two heartbreaking Grey Cup games in 2009 and 2010.

“There was no better feeling. We have the best fans in the CFL by far, so to be able to win it at Mosaic in front of our fans, it just made it that much more special,” he said.

Durant said he plans on attending if the 2013 team holds a reunion.

“I think it would be great to give back and be with the guys and be with your friends,” Durant said. “It made that moment in 2013 special and it would be great to reminisce a little bit and relive that moment.”

The team had nine players voted to the West Division all-star squad that season — Getzlaf, Sheets, Durant, defensive backs Dwight Anderson and Tyron Brackenridge, defensive linemen Tearrius George and Alex Hall, slotback Weston Dressler and guard Brendon LaBatte.

Brackenridge, Dressler, Hall, LaBatte and Sheets also were named CFL all-stars.

Wendy Kelly

Kelly, who previously had been the team nurse for seven years, served on the Roughriders’ board from 1993 to ’95.

According to the Roughriders, she co-produced the Grey Cup Parade and halftime show in ’95, chaired the 2012 Plaza of Honour dinner committee, and was the production manager of the 2013 Grey Cup Gala.

“She has had a big role with the Riders — a great supporter and a great organizer,” Lipp said. “When you asked her to do something, she would take it on and you knew she would get it done.

“She had that air about her of confidence and she had the ability to get people to work with her. She was one of those leaders who attracted people to work with her.”

Kelly passed away in April of 2018.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray