Training camp is a highlight for one Riders fan

SASKATOON — Gerald Bosch’s commitment to the Saskatchewan Roughriders knows no bounds.

For four years now, Bosch has travelled from Calgary to watch the Roughriders at training camp. He also has taken in several of their games in Regina and in other cities over the years.

The 69-year-old is back again in 2018, attending practices at Griffiths Stadium and Saskatoon Minor Football Field to see how his favourite CFL team looks. He also is to be at the Roughriders’ pre-season game Friday against the visiting Calgary Stampeders.

What makes it all impressive is that Bosch is dealing with cancer. He was diagnosed in December of 2014 with Stage 4 colon cancer; it has metastasized and now is in his liver.

“We just trek along,” says Celine Bosch, who married Gerald on May 19.

“I’m going to keep doing it as long as I can,” Gerald says. “I feel important at training camp. I’ve always loved it. I always wondered if I could do something with the team to get to know them better.”

Bosch was born in Unity, but moved to Calgary when he was 18. He remained a fan of the Roughriders even after moving west, putting up with incessant ribbing from Stampeders fans in his adopted hometown.

“It’s really rough, but I keep smiling,” Bosch says. “I’ve just always loved them. I never did like Calgary.”

He drove a transit train for the City of Calgary for 37 years before retiring, but he also piloted a bus. On many occasions, he drove the Roughriders around Calgary when they were in town for games.

And, in late spring, he’d travel to Saskatchewan to watch training camp.

“It was just something to do,” Bosch says. “It was something to watch to get to know the players.”

“It’s a sense that he belongs,” Celine adds. “He lives for that. All winter, he longs for this. It’s like he’s a part of it.”

During his visit to training camp in 2016, Bosch introduced himself to a former Calgary resident and ex-Stampeders employee — Roughriders assistant vice-president of football operations and personnel John Murphy.

The two chatted over the fence at Griffiths Stadium on the University of Saskatchewan campus, talking about Calgary, football and the Roughriders.

Eventually, Bosch’s illness came up. Murphy’s mother has dealt with cancer for much of the past two decades, so he felt an immediate connection with Bosch.

Since that first meeting, Murphy has kept in touch with Bosch. On days when Bosch is to have a chemotherapy treatment, Murphy texts him to check in.

Murphy also decided to offer his two tickets to the Boschs for any game they feel Gerald can attend. Bosch often doubles up his chemo treatments to ensure that he’ll be available to travel to wherever the Roughriders are playing.

“If what I’m doing can somehow add a day that he gets to spend with (Celine) or just be around, that’s important,” Murphy says.

“It gives you the bigger picture of what this team means to people and that you can do something so positive with your job, even though it seems so minor. If my two tickets somehow have become something bigger than that, it gives you a lot of perspective on what’s important.”

Bosch says with a laugh that he invited Murphy to his wedding on May 19, but Murphy wasn’t able to attend — primarily because the Roughriders were already in Saskatoon. Their camp opened on May 20.

“It may have taken him 70 years to find somebody but, boy, that’s a helluva teammate he’s got there,” Murphy says of Celine, whose first husband also died of cancer.

With Celine behind the wheel, the Boschs drove from Calgary to Saskatoon on May 27. Weather permitting, they attended as many training-camp sessions as they could to let Gerald see his team at work.

The Boschs were to head to Regina on Tuesday and plan to be at Mosaic Stadium for Friday’s pre-season contest. The couple made it to two games during the stadium’s Inaugural Season of 2017, including the grand opening July 1.

Asked what the Roughriders do for him, Gerald says quickly: “I feel like family.”

That would be music to Murphy’s ears. The long-time football exec obviously has a healthy respect for Bosch — and Murphy’s feelings become evident as tears well in his eyes while discussing Bosch’s situation.

“With so much going on — when you’re dealing with a team and you’re dealing with your career and your life and your family — it’s amazing to see somebody who has a really unique perspective on things because they’re not sure what their timetable is,” says Murphy, who joined the Roughriders prior to the 2016 season.

“One of the biggest positives that has come out of this opportunity to come here and be part of this team is meeting Gerry at the fence two years ago. I don’t think I could ever tell him how much it has changed me having that type of person in my life.”