Brack’s coming back! Roughriders star safety to be honoured with 2013 Grey Cup team on Legends Night

Tyron Brackenridge is going an entire three weeks between inductions. 

Brackenridge, who is poised to enter the SaskTel Plaza of Honour as a part of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 2013 Grey Cup championship team, was recognized individually on Sept. 14. 

That evening in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Brackenridge was enshrined in the Chaffey College Athletic Hall of Fame.  

He starred for the Chaffey College Panthers, a junior college team, in 2002 and 2003 before proceeding to Washington State University and, eventually, the pro football ranks. 

“You’re very thankful to be honoured in such a way,” Brackenridge, 39, says of the recent induction. “It just takes you back to the beginning of it all. It takes you through that journey from where it all started and how it all ended for you.” 

As a bonus, Brackenridge was introduced by his 12-year-old daughter, Brooklynn. 

“She did a nice little speech, so it was awesome,” the former Roughriders safety says. “I was very proud.” 

Just as proudly, Brackenridge refers to himself as a “full-time dad,” although he devotedly lends his efforts and expertise to his clients with Primerica Financial Services.  

He was also a money player as a Roughrider, making a succession of impactful plays en route to earning CFL All-Star honours in 2013 and 2014. 

The highlight, however, is unrelated to personal plaudits.  

Football-wise, nothing compares to being part of a 2013 Roughriders team that posted the first home-field championship-game victory in franchise history. 

That team is to celebrated in grand style on Oct. 7 — Legends Night, presented by Purolator — when the Roughriders oppose the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5 p.m., Mosaic Stadium). 

At halftime, tribute will be paid to this year’s Plaza inductees — the 2013 Roughriders (in the team category) and the late Wendy Kelly (builder). 

“It’s a huge honour to be a part of something so special,” Brackenridge says. “It hasn’t happened since in the province of Saskatchewan. 

“To be a part of a special team during a special moment, and to win it in Regina with the good group of guys, it was an awesome feeling. It’s an honour to be able to be acknowledged with such a group of men.” 

That group burst out of the tunnel, en masse, at historic Mosaic Stadium on Nov. 24, 2013, mere minutes before the 101st Grey Cup game began. 

The Roughriders then assumed a 31-6 halftime lead over Hamilton en route to posting a 45-23 victory in the last of four championship games to be held at the edifice once known as Taylor Field. 

“We were a very tight team, from the coaches to the equipment manager,” Brackenridge reflects. “A lot of us still talk today. 

“We all gelled. It’s very hard to explain the feeling and just the camaraderie we had as a group. It was so special that it’s unexplainable and it was so amazing to be a part of.” 

Brackenridge became a part of the Roughriders on Sept. 27, 2011, when he first signed a CFL contract, and soon established himself as an integral component of the defensive backfield. 

He was named the Roughriders’ Most Outstanding Defensive Player in each of his first two full seasons with the team (2012 and 2013). 

Additionally, he was an upstanding member of the community throughout his time with the Roughriders, for whom he played through the 2015 season. 

“My time there was different,” he says. “It was very unique — amazingly unique, I would say.  

“It was kind of like being in that college atmosphere again. I went to Washington State in Pullman, so it’s a very small town. It’s family-oriented and Regina was very similar to that for me. The fan base in Regina was also unmatched.  

“Being able to be in the community as often as I was and interacting with a lot of fans and families and friends and all those things that you develop while being there, it was different. It was amazing.  

“I still have a lot of those relationships today, so it’s going to be nice to come back and see a lot of people.” 

Just like not-so-old times. 

“I appreciate the way that Saskatchewan embraced me,” Brackenridge continues. “They allowed me to be able to open up some of my personality and be out there more.  

“With me being embraced with open arms, with nothing but love and respect, I was able to give the same thing to everybody else.” 

With more to come on Legends Night.