EVANS GOOD FIT ON WEST COAST
Lions’ signee closer to wife, mother
If there’s to be an irreversible slide in the couple’s future, DeQuin Evans of the B.C. Lions won’t be applying the brakes to it.
Married to Canadian Olympic 400-metre runner Jenna Martin-Evans — a candidate for the 2018 Winter Games’ women’s bobsled team — theirs is no ordinary relationship.
A 29-year-old Californian of Samoan extraction, DeQuin is training in preparation for his first season with the Leos, who signed the former Montreal Alouettes defensive end to a two-year contract during CFL free agency this month.
His wife, the former Jenna Martin, competed for Canada in the 2012 Summer Olympics before ditching her track shoes last year to take up bobsled. Now, the native of Bridgewater, N.S., is focusing on qualifying for PyeongChang, South Korea, site of next year’s Winter Games. When two-time Olympic gold-medallist Kaillie Humphries wants to recruit you as her brakeman, you listen.
“After I retired from track, I jumped right on it,” Martin-Evans said Wednesday. “Kaillie has contacted me over the last four years to give it a try and see where it leads. I got here (Calgary) a month ago. I knew I would regret it, if I didn’t come out. She knows how to win.”
Relocating to Calgary to train at Canada Olympic Park — her husband played with the Stampeders for two seasons (2014-15) — hasn’t only shortened the couple’s longdistance relationship, but also turned back the clock to their undergraduate days at the University of Kentucky, where the athletes from Nova Scotia and Southern California met while representing the Wildcats in football and track.
“The athletic world, even at a major university, is a small one,” Jenna says. “DeQuin has been stalking me for a while (laughs). Our relationship has been long distance more than anything. Three years ago, this summer, I finally gave in (marriage). I’m here to support him any way I can. I admire the way he’s stepping up and leading his family.”
While signing with the Lions is a football decision, Evans insists, being closer to his wife and his mother, Samoan-born Penina Maefau, are important benefits of the move to the West Coast. His mom, 48, lives in Tacoma, Wash., and is battling stomach cancer after previous rounds of radiation and chemotherapy for breast cancer.
DeQuin spends much of his off-season these days in Tacoma, attending to her needs, between training sessions and brief side trips to Calgary to be with his wife.
“My mom was always there for me, growing up, and I want to be there for her now,” he explains. “My wife is very understanding of the situation. It’s a blessing to wake up every day and be able to just make coffee for her. My mom struggled to raise four kids in a tough neighbourhood.”
Growing up in inner-city Los Angeles, DeQuin was exposed to gang life early and spent time in juvenile detention at Camp Kilpatrick — the first in the U.S. with a state-sanctioned, high school sports program. It helped to turn his life around. He graduated, went on to play at L.A. Harbor Junior College and later was recruited by Kentucky, along with childhood friend Chris Matthews, the 2012 CFL rookie of the year with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and a Super Bowl cham- pion with the Seattle Seahawks.
Undrafted in 2011, Evans caught on with the Cincinnati Bengals for three seasons before coming to Calgary in 2014.
Playing behind John Bowman and Gabriel Knapton last year with the Als, he appeared in just five games. His signing with the Lions might be the career break he needs.
“In Montreal, he’s got to compete against John Bowman,” says Lions head coach and general manager Wally Buono. “In Calgary, he’s got to compete against Charleston Hughes. We like him. And he’s excited about coming.”
With his ailing mom three hours’ drive south, and his wife a shorthop flight away in Calgary, Evans sees Vancouver ideally situated at the nexus of his personal and professional life. Above all, there’s a good chance to start and win in B.C.
“Playing for one of the greatest coaches, if not the greatest in CFL history, is hands down a blessing,” he says. “I’m here to help bring the young rooks along. What else do I bring? I can definitely get to the quarterback and make it hell for offensive linemen, complete hell. I’m going to make opponents pay on every down, you can count on that.”
You can bet your antique Flexible Flyer that if family standards begin to slide, it won’t be on the football field, anyway.