George Reed doesn’t settle for merely remembering his first game with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
He still feels it, too.
“My introduction to the CFL was when we were playing in Edmonton and Oscar Kruger laid a hit on me,” the legendary Roughriders fullback says, chuckling at the memory. “That would be the first thing I think about.”
That recollection dates back to Aug. 5, 1963 — 60 years ago on Saturday — when the Roughriders visited Clarke Stadium in the Alberta capital.
A rookie from Washington State University, Reed carried the ball 16 times for 74 yards in his first game of professional football.
Late in the third quarter, Reed carried the ball four times for 36 yards to set up a 28-yard touchdown pass from Bob Ptacek to Dick Cohee.
The Roughriders’ new No. 34 then scored on a one-yard run at 2:30 of the fourth quarter. Reg Whitehouse’s convert gave Saskatchewan an 18-9 lead.
But that isn’t what stands out, all these years later.
“I was laying on the ground, the play was over, and Oscar Kruger put his helmet into my helmet,” Reed recalls of the long-time Edmonton defensive back. “I never forgot that.
“I had a couple of hits like that in my career that really stuck in my mind and that was the first one.”
That collision was referenced by columnist John Robertson in the Aug. 6, 1963 edition of the Regina Leader-Post.
“If you saw rookie George Reed ripping up the middle through the Eskimo defenders with the speed of an explosive halfback and the power of a Sherman tank, you must have applauded coach Bob Shaw’s decision to let the Washington State product fall heir to the job,” Robertson wrote.
“He received the supreme compliment on one play in the second half when Eskimo head-hunter Oscar Kruger tromped on his nose with a well-aimed shot — after the whistle, of course. Everyone knows that Oscar does not waste his time trying to tromp on second-raters.”
That game in Edmonton was Reed’s first of 203 regular-season appearances with the Roughriders.
Over that span, he rushed for 16,116 yards and 134 touchdowns, scoring another three majors through the air.
In 1965, he became the first Roughrider to be named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player. En route to winning what was then known as a Schenley Award, he set enduring franchise records for rushing yards in a game (268) and a season (1,768).
That was a prelude to Nov. 26, 1966, when Reed helped Saskatchewan register the first Grey Cup victory in team history. He rushed 31 times for 133 yards, including a 31-yard TD, as the Green and White defeated the Ottawa Rough Riders 29-14 at Empire Stadium in Vancouver.
The standard of excellence never waned. In 1975 — his final season — he posted the third-best rushing-yardage total of his illustrious career (1,454). He exceeded 100 rushing yards in nine of his final 16 regular-season games.
The most remarkable stat, however, doesn’t have a direct tie to football. At one time, he was involved with 47 different charitable or community groups.
“If you need something done,” Reed once said, “ask a busy person.”
Reed’s all-around exemplary nature was recognized in 1978 when he became a member of the Order of Canada.
The Roughriders’ home base is now located at 1734 George Reed Way. Just outside of Mosaic Stadium, you will find statues of Reed and fellow Roughriders icon Ron Lancaster.
“I appreciate that people can still talk about it or tell their kids about it,” reflects Reed, 83. “It’s important to look back and think that I did contribute something on the field and in the community.”
At the start, though, Reed wasn’t sure how long he would be here.
“I was just trying to make the football team,” he remembers. “We had a lot of guys when I started out. I think I was the seventh or eighth fullback.
“All through training camp, I played two positions. I’d run with one team at fullback and I’d run with another team at halfback.”
Reed made the team, all right. In 1963, he rushed for 751 yards and five TDs in 15 games.
“He was unheralded but, as soon as he stepped on the field, you knew he was a player,” former Roughriders teammate Dale West says. “That never stopped.”
Reed rushed for 1,012 yards in 1964, exceeding the 1,000 milestone for the first of 11 times.
Even then, Reed wasn’t convinced that Saskatchewan would be a long-term home.
“I didn’t feel that way until after I won the Schenley Award in ’65,” he notes. “Then I started feeling more comfortable.
“I didn’t feel too comfortable my first two years. I felt that I had to do my best and never show any signs of weakness.”
It didn’t help matters that Reed and Lancaster had an uneasy coexistence with Bob Shaw, who was the Roughriders’ Head Coach in 1963 and 1964. After Shaw moved to the Toronto Argonauts in 1965, Eagle Keys took over and began a six-year run as the field boss in Saskatchewan.
Ronnie and George quickly took to Keys, under whom the Roughriders posted a 68-25-3 regular-season record, made three Grey Cup appearances, and won a franchise-record 14 games (in 1970).
After the record-setting third season as a Roughrider, George and Angie Reed moved their family to Regina in April of 1966.
Here we are, in August of 2023, and George and Angie are still proud and beloved residents of the Queen City. And that ice-breaking first game is 60 years in the rear-view mirror.
“I hadn’t even thought about that until you asked me,” Reed said. “Time has gone by.”
Times have also changed. Again, we take you back to the aforementioned hit by Kruger.
“Today, they would have a look at the play afterward (on video review),” Reed says. “Back then, he didn’t get a penalty for it.
“I got my revenge, I think.”
