Glen Suitor began a long-term relationship on Valentine’s Day.
On Feb. 14, 1984, he was drafted by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
He didn’t miss a game — or even a start — over the next 11 CFL seasons.
He didn’t miss a beat, either.
Upon retiring as a player in May of 1995, he joined TSN and has been a franchise player on the network’s broadcast team ever since.
Suitor’s uninterrupted, 40-year association with the CFL began when he was drafted by the Roughriders in the second round, 10th overall.
“Sometimes,” he reflects, “those moments define your future.”
The CFL had long been a part of Suitor’s past when he was drafted.
He was introduced to the B.C. Lions when his family lived 800 kilometres away from the team’s home base.
An annual father-son excursion began in Prince George and was highlighted by a stop at Empire Stadium in Vancouver.
“I was one of those kids who thought, ‘I would love to, one day, play on this field,’ ” Suitor remembers.
His first steps on Empire Stadium were taken when he ran on to the field after a game, along with other young fans, and mingled with the players.
So there he was, being introduced to Lions luminaries such as Jim Young and Jerry Tagge, as an awestruck kid.
The Suitor family eventually moved to the Lower Mainland and settled in North Vancouver. As a quarterback and defensive back at Carson Graham Secondary School, the future Roughriders safety was named his team’s MVP in 1980. He was also recognized as the school’s male athlete of the year.
Next stop: Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., where he earned conference All-Star honours in 1982 and 1983.
Despite those impressive credentials, there was one strike against Suitor. His time in the 40-yard dash was a glacial 4.9 seconds — albeit with an asterisk.
“The best 40 I ever ran was at SFU,” Suitor notes as Tuesday’s CFL Draft approaches. “I was healthy and I ran a 4.57. Then, at the Combine, I felt like it was molasses.
“I did have a bit of an ankle injury that I told nobody about. I thought, ‘If I go in saying that, they’re going to say that I’m making excuses.’ So, at the Combine, I ran a terrible 40.”
Understanding that was an anomaly, the Roughriders chose Suitor to begin the second round.
“I found out I was drafted by listening on the radio,” he says. “First I heard my name. Then I heard ‘Saskatchewan.’
“I was thinking, ‘I’m going to the Riders! I’m going to Ron Lancaster and George Reed’s house!’
“I honestly felt that way. They were the biggest names in the game and two guys I respected so much.”
As a result, there wasn’t the slightest disappointment over not being chosen by the hometown Lions.
“All that I could think of was, ‘I want to get drafted. I don’t care what round. I don’t care what pick,’ ” he recalls.
“The way I looked at it, if I get drafted, that means I’ve been invited to a training camp. If I can get into a training camp, then I get an opportunity to see if I can make the next step.”
He soon became aware of the degree to which football fandom was stepped up in Saskatchewan.
“I knew the Rider passion, obviously, but I didn’t know the whole culture,” he says.
“Until you get there, you think, ‘They have good fans. That’s cool.’ But when you get there, you realize how passionate the fans are and how much the team means to that province. When I saw it, I was just beside myself.
“That put way more pressure on me than I needed, because there was yet another reason to want to make the team.
“I stepped off the plane and it took me all of three days to figure out how cool and dynamic that environment is and how much they care and how much they love it.
“I thought, ‘Oh, man. I’ve got to be here. I’ve got to make this team.’ ”
The only ticket, he figured, was via special teams.
“When I got into camp, I thought, ‘Just cover kicks like your life depends on it, because that’s going to be your only way to do that,’ ” Suitor says.
That seemed to be a sound assessment of the situation, considering that he was fourth on the depth chart when training camp began in Saskatoon on May 19, 1984.
Incumbent safety Marshall Hamilton was listed as the starter, one notch above sophomore defensive back Dave Sidoo.
Third in line was Hazen Henderson — who, like Suitor, had been a second-round draft choice (10th overall). A Roughriders draftee in 1981, Henderson spent the 1982 campaign with Hamilton before being cut by the Tiger-Cats the following spring.
Then, at No. 4, was No. 4 — Glen Suitor,
“They said, ‘What number do you want?’ ” he says. “I said, ‘I don’t care. I’ll take whatever you’ve got.’ I wasn’t even going to pretend to let my mind go to, ‘Hey, I’m picking a number here.’ ”
Shortly thereafter, Marshall Hamilton was caught up in the numbers game. He was released on June 11, 1984.
Three days later, the Roughriders reacquired Ken McEachern from Toronto after he had spent one season with the Argonauts.
As a Roughrider, McEachern had been a CFL All-Star safety in 1980. He was named a West Division All-Star the following year.
By then, though, the Roughriders had decided to deploy Steve Dennis as the first-string safety after moving him from cornerback.
In early June, Head Coach Reuben Berry had told Nick Miliokas of the Regina Leader-Post that the team’s defensive backfield was virtually set — with Dennis at safety, Fran McDermott and Steve Johnson as the halfbacks, and Terry Irvin and Ken Hinton on the corners.
At that point, Suitor’s snap judgment appeared to be spot-on. He would have to claw his way on to the roster on the strength of his special-teams prowess.
One potential obstacle was removed when the Roughriders decided to use McEachern as a rover — a hybrid of a linebacker and a defensive back — instead of playing him at safety.
But there was still the challenge posed by the presence of Dennis, a future SaskTel Plaza of Honour inductee who was entering his 10th season.
Suitor was more than equal to the task. Given an opportunity during the pre-season, which then consisted of four games per team, he impressed the coaches and worked his way into the equation.
The clincher was the Roughriders’ pre-season finale against the Lions. While being deployed on punt coverage, Suitor lost his helmet — but not his resolve — while jousting with B.C.’s Jan Carinci shortly after the ball was snapped.
“At that time, you could continue to play if you lost your helmet, so I went down and covered the kick,” Suitor says.
“We came back and watched the film together (as a team). I remember the coach stopping the film after that play and saying, ‘If we have 12 guys like that, I think we’re going to win a lot of games.’
“I turned to the guy who was sitting beside me and said, ‘I think I made the team.’ ”
Sure enough, he did.
On Canada Day, 1984, Suitor made his CFL regular-season debut when the Roughriders played host to Toronto. Leading up to that landmark game, he met with his position coach.
“Jay Cain called me into his office and said, ‘Do you know why we call you Pup?’ ” Suitor recounts. “I said, ‘Yeah, because I’m one of the youngest guys on the team.’
“He goes, ‘No. That’s not why we call you Pup. Do you know what a puppy does when you bring him home for the first time? He runs around with his head cut off, piddling on everything. That’s why we call you Pup.’
“I’m going to start you at safety in Game 1 and I want to know if you’re going to run around and just piddle on everything or if you’re going to man up and lead that secondary.’
“That was my pre-game speech from Jay Cain, just before my first start at the pro level.”
It was the first of 202 consecutive starts for Suitor, who suited up for 194 regular-season games and eight playoff contests.
For each of those games, Suitor wore what would become a trademark number — 27. His temporary training-camp digit, initially assigned by Equipment Manager Norm Fong, became fodder for trivia buffs.
“I had no real allegiance to 4,” Suitor says. “I knew that getting a jersey for the pre-season didn’t mean anything. It could have been blank, for all I cared.
“It wasn’t like I was 27 before that. I was 12 when I played quarterback at Carson Graham High School. One year, I wore 10.
“When Norm gave me the choices, 27 just jumped at me. I thought, ‘This is my number.’
“Then it turned out that my wife was born on July 27. My kid’s first college dorm was Number 27.
My other kid lived in Nashville and his locker at Belmont University was Number 27.
“I was big on 27. That’s why when we warmed up in a corner of Taylor Field, in front of Section 27, I thought, ‘Oh, I like this! ”
And here’s another one. Suitor helped the Roughriders win a Grey Cup championship two days after he turned … (wait for it) … 27!
In addition to registering an interception in the 77th Grey Cup Game, Suitor pinned the ball for The Kick — Dave Ridgway’s game-winning, 35-yard field goal on Nov. 26, 1989.
After Ridgway’s three-pointer gave the Roughriders a 43-40 lead over the Tiger-Cats, two seconds remained in the fourth quarter at SkyDome (now Rogers Centre) in Toronto.
The ensuing kickoff was fielded by Hamilton’s Steve Jackson, who launched a desperation punt toward Roughriders territory. Suitor fielded the football near the sideline and promptly stepped out of bounds, arms in the air, to cement the second Grey Cup victory in franchise history.
Five more seasons at safety followed for Suitor, who was named a CFL All-Star in 1991, 1992 and 1993.
He was still at the top of his game in 1994, when he registered five interceptions.
Hence the widespread reaction of surprise when Suitor, who was 32 at the time, stepped away from the game as an on-field participant to accept an enticing offer from TSN.
He is still the Roughriders’ All-Time leader in interceptions, with 51. All those picks … for a second-round pick!
“I just think about how much the game has meant, back to when I was a kid sitting in the Nalley’s Chips section at Empire Stadium,” Suitor reflects.
“You could sit there for free if you had an empty bag of Nalley’s Chips.
“I still remember watching that ’77 Lions team, which came back to win so many times. They were the Cardiac Kids.”
The heart was also a factor on Valentine’s Day, 1984, when Suitor was drafted.
“You don’t forget a day like that,” he concludes. “As a 10-year-old kid, I was just dreaming of it.”
