Ron Lancaster and George Reed are forever linked as teammates, close friends and Saskatchewan Roughriders icons.
But there is a lesser-known connection — to the Summer Olympic Games.
Lancaster was part of CBC’s Olympic telecast team in 1988, when the Games were held in Seoul, South Korea.
Reed attended the Barcelona Olympics four years later to watch his daughter, Georgette, compete for Canada in the shot put.
“I’ve got my chest poked out because I’m watching one of my children accomplish some things that very few people get a chance to accomplish,” the legendary Roughriders fullback recalled during an interview in 2006.
Reed rushed for 16,116 yards over a 13-year CFL career that began in 1963 — the same year Lancaster was obtained by Saskatchewan in a trade with the Ottawa Rough Riders.
Lancaster retired as a player after the 1978 season, by which time he owned most of the league’s significant passing records.
After serving as the Roughriders’ head coach in 1979 and 1980, Lancaster was hired by CBC and spent a decade as an analyst on the network’s CFL telecasts, alongside play-by-play man Don Wittman.
That terrific tandem also described the action from the basketball venue in Seoul.
While playing with the Roughriders, Lancaster had been a teacher and basketball coach at Central Collegiate in Regina.
“He loved calling basketball games,” said his daughter, Lana Mueller, “and he was so excited to watch Ben Johnson win his (100-metre) race.
“Every day, he would go back to his hotel room and watch the highlights. He didn’t understand the language (on South Korean television), but he loved watching all the athletes.”
It wasn’t nearly as enjoyable to discover that Johnson, a Canadian sprinter, was stripped of his gold medal after testing positive for an anabolic steroid.
“(Lancaster) turned on the TV and saw Ben’s picture in the upper corner of the screen,” Mueller said. “He said the only words he understood were ‘Ben Johnson’ and ‘steroids.’
“He laughed and said that he knew that was not good.”
Before leaving for Seoul, Lancaster asked Lana to record the basketball telecasts.
“Because the TV schedule would show the sports being broadcast in three-hour blocks, I had to record the whole three hours,” she said with a laugh.
“We still have the VHS tapes with some of his games.”
Lancaster was 69 when he passed away on Sept. 18, 2008.
Reed was one day shy of his 84th birthday when he died on Oct. 1, 2023.
One of their teammates, Dale West, starred in track and speed skating in addition to being one of the elite defensive backs in Roughriders history.
West was an alternate for the Canadian Winter Olympics speed skating team in 1960. He joined the Roughriders two years later and spent all seven of his CFL seasons with Saskatchewan.
In 1968, leading up to what would be West’s final season of professional football, the Roughriders selected University of Saskatchewan Huskies defensive back Gordon Garvie in the seventh round of the CFL Draft.
Later that year, Garvie wrestled for Canada at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. He was also a wrestling coach for Canada at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal.
Some other Roughriders Olympic connections …
George Chiga: 1936 was an eventful year for Chiga, who played in eight games with the Regina Roughriders and wrestled for Canada at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. The star of the 1936 Olympics was American sprinter Jesse Owens, who became a close friend of Reed. At Reed’s invitation, Owens spoke at a Special Olympics dinner in Regina in 1968.
Don Clark: After starring as a linebacker for the Huskies, Clark attended the Roughriders’ training camp in 1968. He was a wrestling coach at Canada’s Olympic training camps in 1980 and 1984. In 1996, he was the team leader for the Canadian wrestling squad at the Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Jay Dearborn: Dearborn was a defensive back with the Roughriders in 2019 and 2021. He competed in bobsleigh for Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.
Bob Ellard: The Roughriders’ volunteer President from 1998 to 2001, Ellard was a director with the Canadian Olympic Association for four years. As well, he was the Vice-President of High Performance with Canada’s rowing team at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Joe Kanuka: Kanuka was a Roughriders director in 1967 and 1968. His daughter, Lynn Williams, won a bronze medal in the 3,000m at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Chris Getzlaf: Ryan Getzlaf, Chris’s brother, helped Canada win Olympic men’s hockey gold medals in 2010 and 2014. Chris, a Roughriders receiver for nine seasons, entered the SaskTel Plaza of Honour in 2021.
Willie Hinchcliff: In 1988, Hinchcliff represented New Zealand at the Winter Olympics in Calgary (bobsleigh) and the Summer Olympics in Seoul (100m, long jump). Signed as a receiver, he dressed for two games with the 1995 Roughriders. “There’s nobody faster in this league than me,” Hinchcliff told Doug McConachie of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix in 1995.
Peter Hume: The 6-foot-8, 325-pound offensive lineman attended training camp with the Roughriders in 1981. He had made Canada’s Olympic wrestling team a year earlier but was unable to compete due to a boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow.
Kevin Molle: Molle, an offensive lineman, attended two training camps with the Roughriders after being acquired from the Calgary Stampeders on May 1, 1985. His brother, Bob Molle, won a wrestling silver medal in the super heavyweight division at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Dan Payne: Payne wrestled for Canada at the 1988 Olympics. The following year, he was an offensive lineman with the Grey Cup-winning Roughriders. He later played for the Green and White in 1993, 1994 and 1995.
Johnny Quinn: Quinn played in all 18 regular-season games with the Roughriders in 2009. Most memorably, he caught a 29-yard touchdown pass from Darian Durant to help force overtime on Oct. 29, 2009 against the visiting B.C. Lions. Saskatchewan ended up winning 33-30. In 2014, Quinn was a member of the United States bobsleigh team that competed at the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
George Short: Short competed for Canada in the 100m at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. Later a defensive back with the Saskatoon Hilltops and University of Alberta Golden Bears, he attended training camp with the Roughriders in 1966.
Patrick Thibeault: Thibeault was a receiver with the Green and White in 2002, 2003 and 2004. His daughter, boxer Tamara Thibeault, is competing in the 75-kilogram division at this year’s Summer Olympics in Paris.
