KINDEST CUT
Three Roughriders get their flowing locks cut for cancer research
Three long-haired Saskatchewan Roughriders football players fought cancer Tuesday — and, simultaneously, foiled those CFL opponents who like grabbing their flowing locks when the refs aren’t looking.
Scott McHenry, Graig Newman and Sam Hurl — all members of what’s been termed the Canadian Hair Force — went under the razor Tuesday at a Saskatoon mall. Their fallen hair will be used to make wigs for cancer patients, and $15,000 raised will go to Cameco Touchdown for Dreams.
And, suddenly, there’s less of all three players to grab on the football field.
“A couple of times, guys would get their gloves caught in my hair and rip a whole bunch out,” said a freshly shorn McHenry, a former University of Saskatchewan Huskies slotback who played wide receiver for the Roughriders. “The first thing they’d say was sorry, and I always thought that was kind of funny.
“Sam I don’t think had quite the same luck. I think he had a few guys try to rip his hair out.”
So did Newman, a former Hilltop-turned-Roughriders defensive back who — like the other two — wore his hair down below his shoulders.
“A couple of times I’d be running down the field and people would grab it,” Newman said. “It had its disadvantages.”
That same hair was treated more kindly Tuesday, though Roughriders teammates Weston Dressler, Mike McCullough and Ben Heenan did seem to relish taking turns with a pair of scissors before turning the rest of the job over to professionals.
“Now that we’re doing this,” Hurl said with a grin, “maybe everybody on the field who made fun of us might feel a little bad about it now.”
The moment was a special one for Hurl, who was still a preteen when his father fought and survived colon cancer.
McHenry, who also donated his hair three years ago, has many family members who have fought cancer. An aunt and uncle are both cancer survivors. He lost his grandfather to cancer, and another aunt is currently battling the disease.
The whole idea was conceived by Newman, who got his inspiration from a friend who survived cancer as a child and later donated his hair after growing it long.
Newman says he shaved his head more than three years ago and has grown it ever since. The CFL rookie knew prior to the 2012 campaign what he wanted to do with it, and he approached McHenry and Hurl with the idea in mid-season. They agreed.
When Newman addressed
“IT WAS AN EMOTIONAL EXPERIENCE.”
GRAIG NEWMAN
a throng gathered outside the Rider Store Tuesday, he broke into tears — a display of emotion that wasn’t, he later stressed, caused by the impending loss of his hair.
“It was an emotional experience,” Newman explained. “(The effort) holds a dear place in my heart.
“When a couple of Riders get together and put their minds to something, we have so much support and loyalty behind us. It was quite the experience, going from just having an idea of donating, to getting the Canadian Hair Force donation fund set up. Hats off to everybody who helped us out. I’m proud of this moment and what it represents.”
Newman says he’s now into “Day 1 of the grow-back” and vows to donate his hair again in another three years. He said he hopes to have some hair poking from beneath his helmet this coming season, though it won’t yet match the lengthy locks he flashed in 2012.
“The Canadian Hair Force was awesome,” Newman said. “We got lots of attention, we made the TSN top 10 hair moments … there was lots of love in the community and Rider fans really liked the hair.
“I’m going to miss it next year — the power and the appeal of having the long hair. But it’s not going to hurt my game at all. If anything, I’ll maybe be a little bit faster, and I won’t have to worry about guys pulling on my hair.”