Sask. fans, pundits reminisce about ‘Rider Royalty’ George Reed

Former players, current fans and active pundits are remembering George Reed’s legacy with the Roughriders and his impact on Saskatchewan.

The rugged fullback, who was one of the league’s most dominant rushers, died Sunday, a day before his 84th birthday. The Saskatchewan Roughriders, the team Reed spent his entire CFL career with, confirmed his passing.

“I remember when I met George. How nice and charismatic he was,” said 2007 Grey Cup winner Belton Johnson Monday on The Greg Morgan Morning Show.

Johnson, a football analyst for the Green Zone, said the two quickly developed a bond over their Mississippi roots.

“I always felt close to him that way, me being from Mississippi and living here in Saskatchewan.”

Like Reed and many other former Rider players, Johnson made his home in Regina after retirement.

George Reed passed away just one day shy of his 84th birthday in Regina on October 2, 2023. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)

Even BC Lions’ fans showed their respect Tuesday morning.

Rita Wares, Rod Cowie and their daughter Michelle Shaw paid their respects at Reed’s statue in front of Mosaic Stadium.

Cowie grew up in Vancouver and frequently went to games at the old Empire Stadium.

“We would always watch George Reed and the Riders kick the crap out of the BC lions,” he said with a laugh.

A tradition in that stadium was jumping down onto the field after the game. That’s where Cowie met the football star at age 11.

“I got to stand on the bench beside George Reed, and I looked up and I said, ‘Mr. Reed, can I have your chin strap please?’ He took it off, just like a commercial, and gave me the chin strap. It almost tears me up right now,” he said.

The trio frequently go to games and remember seeing Reed on the jumbotron.

“Seeing George Reed in the crowd just waving at everybody. It’s a sad day for Rider Nation and the CFL. He’ll be missed,” said Shaw.

‘Rider Royalty’

“Rider royalty” and “legend” are a few descriptors that come to mind when Colin McLeod remembers Reed.

The dedicated fan from Bulyea, Sask. said the news of Reed’s death came as a shock.

“You just don’t ever think that a legend like that is gonna leave ya, right?,” he said.

McLeod regularly attends games and said he saw Reed on the jumbotron at last week’s home game.

The Rider fan fondly remembers Reed and his wife Angie attending a sports dinner in Strasbourg for his fastball team, the Bulyea Rustlers, in 2012.

Angie Reed (left), George Reed (center), and Colin McLeod (right) at a 2012 sports dinner in Strasbourg, SK. Supplied photo.

Prior to the dinner McLeod said he had to call Reed to discuss the event.

“When it (came) time for me to call him, I was so nervous. I mean how do you just call George Reed and chat,” he said, adding that Reed was larger than life, exuded class, and was easy to talk to.

Although there was no reason for the running back to attend an event in a small town like that, he did it for his community.

“It was super cool,” he said, “everybody there was just kind of in awe that a living legend (was) there.”

McLeod didn’t start watching football until long after the running back’s retirement, but said it didn’t take him long to figure out his impact on Rider Nation.

“It’s going to be devastating for those that watched him play, (he) was probably a hero to them as a football player” he said.

George Reed. (650 CKOM file photo)

Darrell Davis says George Reed wasn’t just a sports hero kids in Saskatchewan watched on TV — he was an invested community member.

“George Reed lived like two blocks away from me when I was growing up,” he told the 650 CKOM Morning Show on Monday.

“A bunch of us would hang out on his driveway just so we could say ‘Hi Mr. Reed. We like you. You are a good football player.’

“He would say, ‘Thank you very much guys. It’s nice to see you.'”

While Davis grew up watching Reed play football for the Roughriders, later in life, he was fortunate to rub shoulders with the football legend during his career as a sports journalist.

His favourite memory was outside a Winnipeg hotel in 2006 with Reed and former Calgary Stampeders linebacker Wayne Harris at a TSN event honouring the CFL’s 100 greatest players.

“They had to get their helmets repainted after every time they played each other,” Davis recalls.

“Harris’ helmet became mostly green, and Reed’s became mostly red from the collisions they would have with each other.”

The story embodied Reed’s rugged playing style, said Davis, who was inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame as reporter in 2006.

 — With files from The Canadian Press, 980 CJME’s Gillian Massie and 650 CKOM’s Brent Bosker and Mia Holowaychuk