Roughriders’ Zack Evans still savours “the ultimate dream” 10 years after first Grey Cup win
On the eve of the 101st Grey Cup game, members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders immersed themselves in a strategy session that didn’t have anything to do with X’s and O’s.
Instead, the discussion pertained to the protocol that would apply after the Roughriders faced the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Nov. 24, 2013 at historic Mosaic Stadium.
“We had a players’ meeting and all the vets stood up,” recalls Zack Evans, who was then 23 years old and in his second CFL season. “Mike McCullough stood up and just said, ‘Hey, guys, when we win this Cup, the first person to touch it is Darian Durant.’ ”
The certainty in McCullough’s phrasing still resonates with Evans, nearly 10 years after the Roughriders won a CFL championship on home soil for the first time.
“When we win this Cup, the first person to touch it is Darian Durant,” Evans reiterates, quoting McCullough and referencing the legendary Roughriders quarterback.
“Then he just went down the list of all the vets and who gets to touch it next, next, next. He was like, ‘I don’t care who else touches it. Doubles gets it first.’
“It was so meaningful. I owe a lot of who I am and what I was as a player to that team, because they taught me how to be a professional athlete. They taught me what a winning mentality is. They taught me what a team needs to do to be a Grey Cup championship team. That kind of changed my whole life and my whole career.
“And then, the next year, I was in Ottawa …”
Only three weeks after helping Saskatchewan win the fourth Grey Cup in franchise history, the Regina-born Evans was claimed in the expansion draft by the Ottawa REDBLACKS.
It was a devastating blow at the time — one that prompted him to ponder an abrupt termination of a professional football career that had only just begun.
But it’s funny how life works. Evans went to Ottawa, embraced the opportunity, and helped a fledgling franchise become credible faster than anyone could have envisioned.
The REDBLACKS advanced to the Grey Cup game as a second-year team and, 12 months later, won it all in exhilarating fashion.
Henry Burris — the very same quarterback who had been on the opposing side when Evans played in the 2013 Grey Cup game — threw for 461 yards to help Ottawa (which finished 8-9-1 in the regular season) upset the 15-2-1 Calgary Stampeders 39-33.
Playing his final game of professional football, Smilin’ Hank signed off as a Grey Cup MVP after throwing an 18-yard, game-winning touchdown pass to Ernest Jackson in overtime.
As much as Evans loved it in Ottawa, part of his heart was always back in Regina. So, at the first opportunity, he rejoined Saskatchewan as a free agent on Dec. 18, 2018.
He played two more seasons with the Green and White and, after an intermission, is once again overjoyed to be employed by the team — as a Sales and Partner Relations Executive.
It will be most convenient, then, for him to partake in the festivities when the 2013 championship team is celebrated once more.
On Oct. 7 — Legends Night — members of the 2013 team will be honoured at halftime of a home game against Hamilton.
The 2013 Roughriders are entering the SaskTel Plaza of Honour in the team category. Also being inducted is Wendy Kelly, who is being posthumously recognized as a builder.
Kelly, the first female to serve on the Roughriders’ Board of Directors, was the Production Manager of the 2013 Grey Cup Gala. That event was a preamble to the most memorable Sunday in Saskatchewan football history.
“You don’t realize it’s that momentous of an occasion when it’s happening,” Evans reflects. “You respect it after.
“You look back on winning the Grey Cup, walking on to the field, getting your hat, holding up the Grey Cup for the first time, and seeing all the confetti.
“It’s a little surreal, honestly, to think about it. During all those moments, you didn’t know that was a moment. Looking back on it now, that was the moment.
“So you have all those memories — the feelings and all the camaraderie with your teammates and just how close we were as a team. You’re thinking back on all those things.
“Then there’s winning another Grey Cup and having similar feelings, but it was different. There were different guys in the room and things like that.
“Every single one of those games — every single one of those seasons — was special in its own way, but ’13 was probably the biggest cap-off to my career, to be honest with you.
“Obviously, winning a Grey Cup in ’16 with the REDBLACKS was amazing. We were very big underdogs. We shouldn’t have won that game and we ended up winning it.
“But winning in ’13 … with Saskatchewan … in Saskatchewan … at old Taylor Field, in the last Grey Cup game ever played there … it was special.”
How many times had Evans set foot on that field before joining the Roughriders’ practice roster in 2011? It’s impossible to count.
“I played minor football there,” the former O’Neill Titans standout says. “I played high school football there. I played for the Regina Thunder there. I played my one year with the Rams there.
“The old stadium was my home for a long time. I Ukrainian danced at the opening ceremonies for a Summer Games.
“I have a different perspective coming from northwest Regina, going to St. Francis School and then to O’Neill.
“I never thought that I’d ever be in the CFL, to be honest with you. I never thought I’d win a Grey Cup. I never thought I would have two Grey Cups.
“That wasn’t in my brain until I started winning. I won a Grey Cup and I was like, ‘Oooh, I like this! Let’s keep going, keep going, keep going, keep going …’
“Having the chance to come back here at the new stadium and finish my career, it was the ultimate dream.”
