Campbell Fair makes no bones about his desire to kick footballs for a living.
So when the latest opportunity arose, how could he possibly say no?
“I was at work, on a break, and I just got a call,” the 23-year-old placekicker said after practising with the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Monday at Mosaic Stadium.
“It was a big surprise. I decided to come here and I flew out the next day.”
It helps to have a most supportive employer.
“I work for a company that builds dinosaur exhibits for museums,” Fair said. “I was working on a whale, actually.”
Uhhhh … how, exactly, does someone work on a whale?
“I helped to build the steel armatures that hold up the bones,” he explained.
“It was interesting and a lot of fun. I got to travel a lot for that job.”
And, he hopes, for the current one.
Fair signed a CFL contract on the weekend as an insurance policy, considering that Roughriders placekicker Brett Lauther has been nursing a hamstring injury.
Head Coach Craig Dickenson hopes Lauther will be able to play Saturday against the Calgary Stampeders (5 p.m., Mosaic Stadium). Failing that, the placekicking options would be Fair or versatile Global punter Kaare Vedvik.
Fair was selected by Calgary in the sixth round (51st overall) of the 2023 CFL draft out of the University of Ottawa. He was released by the Stampeders on June 3.
Despite the disappointment, Fair was undeterred. He maintained a steady kicking regimen, working out on the one artificial-turf field in Belleville, Ont.
That helped to prepare him for Monday’s introduction to expansive Mosaic Stadium.
“There’s a lot of stuff happening in a short amount of time, but you’ve just got to roll with it,” Fair said.
“I wanted to stay ready just in case there was a call. I wasn’t sure if there would be or I wasn’t expecting there to be.”
Then the phone rang and the dinosaurs, as it turned out, were on hold.
Mind you, they have been extinct for 100 million years, give or take a mega-annum or two, so what difference will a few weeks or months make?
It helped that Fair worked closely with his father. Matthew Fair of Trenton, Ont., is the general manager of Research Casting International. According to Linkedin, the company has “a demonstrated history of working in the institutions and museums history.” That includes the production of life-sized dinosaur models.
Some of them, in fact, appear in the new Transformers movie. Campbell Fair, who was working at Research Casting International for a considerable period before being drafted, was involved in the production of the replica dinosaurs that were used on the Transformers set.
But it was time to transform himself into a professional placekicker once the call came from the Roughriders. He dutifully finished his work for the day before packing for the trip to Regina.
“It was a big shock (to get the call),” he said. “I’m still kind of in shock.”
INJURY UPDATE
Lauther was one of 12 players who received the DNP — Did Not Practice — Designation on Monday’s injury report.
The others: Defensive backs Rolan Milligan Jr. (back/foot), Amari Henderson (rib), C.J. Reavis (leg) and Kosi Onyeka (leg), defensive linemen Anthony Lanier II (foot), Charbel Dabire (leg) and Lake Korte-Moore (leg), receiver Jake Wieneke (knee), centre Peter Godber (hand), offensive tackle Brandon Council (finger) and linebacker Matt Dean (foot).
Defensive back Rodney Clemons was limited in practice due to an ankle injury.
