Don Narcisse, who ran geometric pass patterns throughout a legendary CFL career with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, vividly remembers one route he didn’t want to take.
It was the highway from Port Arthur, Texas, to Houston.
The year was 1983. Having received an unexpected scholarship offer from Texas Southern University, the sure-handed receiver was poised to leave home for the first time.
There was only one problem.
“I didn’t want to go,” Narcisse recalls. “I was crying like a baby.”
There were more tears — of joy — late last week, when Narcisse was informed he would be among the 2024 inductees into the Texas Southern University Sports Hall of Fame.
It is the latest enshrinement for Narcisse, who is already in the SaskTel Plaza of Honour and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
None of this was even remotely imaginable when Narcisse was a member of the Port Arthur-based Lincoln High School Bumblebees, because the scouts were hardly buzzing about him.
Texas Southern had planned a recruiting trip to Port Arthur, but that was for the purpose of wooing the Lincoln High School quarterback.
The Bumblebees’ tight ends coach, Richard Williams, happened to know the Texas Southern recruiter and put in a good word for Narcisse.
“At the time, I was 5-foot-7 and 155 pounds … maybe 145,” Narcisse says. “But it wasn’t even my receivers coach who recommended me. It was my tight ends coach!
“He said I was a hard worker, that I had a great attitude, and that I could catch a BB in the dark.”
So the Texas Southern staff took a shot in the dark and recruited Donald Ray Narcisse.
As it turned out, Narcisse had someone else in his corner — a neighbourhood friend named Robert Graham.
“When I woke up in the morning on the day I was supposed to leave for college, my dad had already gone to work and my mom was telling me ‘bye,’ ” Narcisse says. “I started crying.
“Robert Graham had agreed to drive me to Houston, but I didn’t want to go. My mama was saying, ‘Donald Ray, you’re going to be OK. Robert is on his way and he’s going to pick you up.’ He came over and he told me, ‘We’re going.’ ”
There was little time to waste. Hurricane Alicia, which ravaged the Houston area over a six-day period in August of 1983, was fast approaching.
“We ended up getting to Houston just in time,” Narcisse says. “I had packed a lot of stuff and we carried it up to my room. That’s when I met my three roommates.
“They all thought that Robert was the football player. When he left, my roommates were looking at me and saying, ‘What?’
“I had brought all my stuff for my bathroom. They said, ‘You know the bathroom is for everybody, right?’ I didn’t know we had a community bathroom!
“Just after I got settled in, the storm hit. We couldn’t get any food. We were stuck in the dormitory.”
The storm would pass, but the same couldn’t be said for the homesickness.
“My mama used to send me $20 a month — and not by mail,” Narcisse says. “If someone was going to Houston, she’d give them the money and I’d have to meet up with them.”
Narcisse would eventually become a money player on the football field, but it wasn’t easy.
“One of my roommates told me, ‘I thought you were the little water boy. I can’t picture how they gave you that scholarship,’ ” says Narcisse, who can laugh about it now.
“All I could do was go out there, work hard, and prove that I belonged. Like I tell kids today, ‘You never know who’s going to be looking when you put in the work.’ ”
The extra effort paid off when Narcisse became a starter as a sophomore. The following year, he caught 63 passes to tie a Texas Southern Tigers single-season record.
That standard was shattered in 1986, when Narcisse caught 88 passes — still a school record — for 1,074 yards and 15 touchdowns.
His yardage total led all NCAA Division I-AA receivers.
After posting career totals of 203 catches, 2,430 receiving yards and 26 touchdowns at Texas Southern, Narcisse signed with the NFL’s St. Louis Cardinals as an undrafted free agent.
After being released by St. Louis, he signed with Saskatchewan on Sept. 1, 1987.
He made his CFL debut 18 days later, catching five passes for 46 yards, including a nine-yard touchdown strike from Jeff Bentrim, during a game in Edmonton.
That was the first of 216 consecutive regular-season games in which Narcisse would make at least one reception. His pass-catching streak is the longest in professional football history.
Over 13 seasons in Saskatchewan, Narcisse caught 919 passes (still a franchise record) for 12,366 yards and 75 majors.
Over eight CFL playoff games and two Grey Cup appearances, he added 53 catches for 718 yards and three scores. One of those TDs came in the Roughriders’ 1989 Grey Cup win.
Narcisse was named the Roughriders’ Most Outstanding Player in 1995, when he established an enduring team record by catching 123 passes.
Also in 1995, he was named a CFL All-Star for one of four times in his career.
Even after long being established as one of the league’s elite receivers, he remained a tireless worker.
“I ran on the scout team for 13 years straight,” he says. “I didn’t have to be on the scout team, because I was a starter, but I always wanted to get better.
“My approach was to be there early and be the last to leave.”
Rest assured that Narcisse will be one of the first to arrive on Oct. 4, when the TSU Hall of Fame inductions will take place in conjunction with Homecoming Week.
The list of 24 enshrinees includes two other ex-CFLers (receiver Mike Holmes and linebacker James West) and former New York Giants defensive lineman Michael Strahan.
“When I found out about the Hall, I was so excited,” Narcisse says. “I look back at everything that has happened and it’s unbelievable. You can’t make up stuff like that.
“I am very blessed.”
