QB shows plenty of heart and sole
REGINA Bo Levi Mitchell put his best foot forward while showing his support for the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Humboldt Broncos.
The Calgary Stampeders quarterback wrote “Humboldt Strong ” on his football cleats before Friday ’s 39-12 CFL preseason win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium.
The slogan is a tribute to a team that was involved in an April 6 bus crash that killed 16 people and injured 13 others.
Mitchell added the slogan to his shoes after seeing what the Roughriders are doing to help the community of Humboldt and the Broncos recover from the crash.
“I have some ex-teammates (on the Riders),” Mitchell said.
“I thought it was a way to honour them a little bit and to try to give something back.”
One of Mitchell’s former teammates is Riders defensive end Charleston Hughes.
Mitchell said he will donate the cleats to Hughes so they can be auctioned off before the Riders play host to the Montreal Alouettes on June 30 in a game that has been dubbed “#HumboldtStrong.”
“It’s a good thing and Bo is a caring guy,” Hughes said. “He likes doing stuff for people like that, so I’m not surprised by it.”
The Riders have invited the family members of the 29 people on the bus, the first responders who were at the scene of the collision and community leaders from the Humboldt community to the game. It’s expected that 250 people will be at Mosaic Stadium as the Roughriders’ special guests.
It won’t be the first time the team has paid tribute to Humboldt.
On June 3, the Riders travelled from their training camp in Saskatoon to conduct a walk-through and community barbecue in Humboldt.
“It was a great experience,” Hughes said. “You could tell that the city is in mourning and that a lot of people are really hurting. It affected a lot of people. Just to be there and to help brighten their day was a great feeling.”
Mitchell said CFLers have also been impacted by the accident.
“It hits close to home for a lot of guys because we all rode those buses growing up in some point of our lives,” he said. “It’s a terrible tragedy that we hope we can shine a bright light on.”
One of the victims in the tragedy was Broncos athletic therapist Dayna Brons, who had helped out the Riders at their 2016 training camp.
Her parents Lyle and Carol Brons were at Friday’s game.
They took part in the ceremonial coin toss that included Mitchell and both teams’ captains.
“It’s amazing that they had the courage to do that,” Mitchell said of Brons’ parents.
“They are trying to show that they are going to step up and get back to how they do things. It’s going to take time and it will be a long process for them. Just to see that happen was pretty awesome.”