Roughriders president makes promise to people of Humboldt

Without being at all presumptuous — and with an emphasis on providing words of consolation and hope — Saskatchewan Roughriders president and CEO Craig Reynolds made a vow on Wednesday.

“If we’re fortunate enough to win the Grey Cup in 2018, which is our goal, our guys will spend some time with that Cup and then we’re going to take that Cup to Humboldt,” Reynolds told a Regina and District Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Delta Hotel. “That will be the first place we take that Cup.”

Reynolds offered that as a demonstration of support for the people of Humboldt, who have been reeling since the tragic bus crash Friday.

While the SJHL’s Humboldt Broncos were en route to a playoff game in Nipawin, the team’s bus collided with a semi-trailer truck. Sixteen of the 29 people on the bus have died.

“I’m sure I’m like everyone else here,” said Reynolds, who is from Foam Lake. “I’m struggling with how to carry on with business after what happened in our province on Friday.

“I guess I’m struggling in lots of different ways. I’m struggling as a father. I’m struggling as someone who grew up very near to Humboldt and travelled on a lot of buses to that city to play a lot of different sports.

“And, quite honestly, I’m struggling as a president of a sports team, because that’s your absolute worst nightmare. It’s just an incredible tragedy for that community, for that team, and for those families.”

Reynolds has been in touch with the Broncos’ president, Kevin Garinger, and pledged to provide wide-ranging support.

“I simply said to him that the Riders will be there for him,” Reynolds said. “We’ll be there for their community and we’ll be there for their team in whatever way they need us.

“We can, and we are, helping with the fundraising efforts that are occurring all over the province and all over Canada. It’s equally important for us to be there for the community, those players and their families for the long haul.”

In December of 2015, Roughriders running back Joe McKnight was shot to death in a road-rage incident. The team also lost four players — Mel Becket, Mario DeMarco, Gordon Sturtridge and Ray Syrnyk — in a 1956 plane crash.

“That’s literally your worst nightmare being involved with a team — to have some of our players tragically pass away,” Reynolds said.

“We’ve dealt with that as a team, between the plane crash and losing an active player on our roster. I know how much that impacted our organization. I just can’t imagine the impact that the Broncos are feeling right now and that community is feeling.”

But he can think of so many ways to help out. Hence the promise he delivered Wednesday.

“I just know from 2013, when we took the Grey Cup around Saskatchewan, I was fortunate enough to go with it to my hometown,” Reynolds said. “Being from that area and being from a smaller community, you know how much that means.

“I think it would mean a lot to that community. It has been a terrible tragedy in 2018. If somehow we were fortunate enough to win that trophy and could end 2018 in a positive way in Humboldt, that’s what we want to do.”