SUPER ACCOLADE
Simon going to Hall of Fame
How else would you put Superman into the Hall of Fame?
In the past, the Canadian Football Hall of Fame has had underwhelming ways of announcing the latest class of inductees.
In the past, there had been press releases and announcements that got lost late during Grey Cup week. Not this year. The way Geroy Simon and one of the greatest Canadian Football Hall of Fame groups ever was presented here Wednesday at the inaugural CFL Week surely made it a staple for all future editions of the league’s new off-season football festival.
It was a CFL Awards-calibre production, except with things sort of in reverse.
The event featured a lock-up where the accredited members of the media were given the results before the introductions. But instead of bringing in the individuals to be interviewed after they were presented on stage, they were brought in for interviews before the introductions.
The new hall of famers were presented at a $250-a-ticket gala before 400 fans at the spectacular new Mosaic Stadium.
“This is great. What a great setting to have this announcement. CFL Week should happen every year and I think this is a great time to have the announcement as well,” Simon said.
And it couldn’t have been more super for the former Saskatchewan Roughrider.
OK, Geroy Simon was a Rider for only one year. But he was the only inductee with a Saskatchewan past. That made him the star of the show, or at least no worse than the co-star of the night, which also featured Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo.
“Every place I’ve been I tried to make an impact. I think I did that here,” said Simon, a native of Johnstown, Pa.
“I’m grateful for my time here. I’m grateful for the fans and the organization for welcoming me with open arms. I’m thankful for the Riders, thankful to the Lions and thankful for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for giving me the opportunity to play a game I love.”
Simon ended up winning the Grey Cup in his final game.
“Each Grey Cup I’ve won has been really special in a different way. I can’t say one is more special than another, but to have that one here in Regina be my last game as a professional football player and to win a Grey Cup here, that was a sort of storybook scenario.”
Before his 12 seasons with the Lions, with whom he won two Grey Cups and was the 2006 CFL Most Outstanding Player, Simon played two seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“When I first came into the CFL, my goal was to just play a couple years, have a couple 1,000-yard seasons and go back to the NFL.”
A funny thing happened when he was in Kansas City, Simon said.
“I went back to the NFL without the thousand-yard seasons. I went back and learned a true lesson. I belonged in the CFL. The whole time I was in Kansas City after Winnipeg was getting back to the CFL.”
Traded to the Riders in 2013, Simon won the third Grey Cup of his career and spent the next season in the Saskatchewan front office.
“Once I came back, I knew where I should be,” he said. “This is the best game in the world as far as football is concerned. It’s fast, it’s fun and it’s entertaining.”
Superman, as he came to be called around the CFL, played the majority of his career with the B.C. Lions. Nobody in CFL history had more passing yards than Calvillo and nobody caught more passes for more yards receiving than the Lions’ superstar Simon. “It’s amazing,” Simon said. “I’m glad I’ve done a few things that no one else has done and to go in with the leading passer in the all-time history of the league is something that I don’t think anybody else has ever done. I’m truly happy for that and I’m truly happy for Anthony.”
When you own the records for receptions with 1,029 and yards with 16,352 and have your image on a Canadian postage stamp celebrating the 100th Grey Cup, it’s a slam dunk you are getting into the Hall of Fame. But what a wonderful way for it to happen.
You have to wonder how the actual induction is going to top this.
I’m thankful for the Riders, thankful to the Lions and thankful for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for giving me the opportunity to play a game I love.