Ball security was paramount for Jake Marce.
As the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ Fan Day festivities wound to a close, the 11-year-old Regina youngster proudly clutched an autographed football as if he were poised to encounter a swarm of menacing tacklers.
He was not letting it go!
“I met almost all the players and it was very fun,” Jake said on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium — on the eighth anniversary, it just so happened, of the City of Regina announcing the substantial completion of the $278-million facility.
“I got a picture with A.J. Ouellette and a picture with Samuel Emilus. All the players were really nice and the coaches were amazing, too.”
That description also applies to the Marce family and its football story.
Jake’s late grandfather, Dan Marce, was a Roughriders board member, marketing executive and long-time volunteer — someone whose love for the CFL team was ignited when, as a wide-eyed five-year-old, he attended his first game at Taylor Field.
That was back in 1951, when quarterback Glenn Dobbs was such a sensation that Regina was dubbed “Dobberville.”
Three years later, Larry Isbell joined the Roughriders and quickly, enduringly, became Dan’s favourite player.
Dan’s devotion to the Roughriders was inherited by his sons Dallas, Joel and Kelly.
Jake’s father vividly remembers when he, too, was 11. Kelly Marce’s Roughriders heroes at the time were Kent Austin, Ray Elgaard, Richie Hall and Roger Aldag.
So there was Kelly on Saturday, teeming with pride as he watched Jake meet the players who now follow in the footsteps of Dobbs, Isbell, Austin, Elgaard, Hall, Aldag and more than 2,100 others who have suited up for the much-beloved Roughriders in at least one regular-season game since the team’s inception as the Regina Rugby Club in 1910.
Jake Marce (left). Thomas Somerville (right). AJ (middle)
“I just said hello to the players and then they said, ‘How’s your day going?’ ” Jake said of the interactions he and family friend Thomas Somerville enjoyed with members of the 2024 Roughriders.
“Most of them asked if I played football and I told them that I played quarterback and safety. I play flag football for the Buccaneers.”
One of the most inquisitive players was rookie receiver Ajou Ajou, who was a typically joyous presence on Saturday.
Everyone who visited Ajou’s table — a popular destination — was greeted with a warm, “What’s your name? Nice to meet you!”
Selfies? No problem.
Fist-bumps? Absolutely!
Two claps and a Ric Flair? Whoooooo!
Rookie linebacker Melique Straker joined in for the last one.
“Have a great day … the best day,” Ajou told one young admirer.
A few first downs away, long snapper Jorgen Hus was chatting with fans and signing autographs while holding his daughter, Makaia, who celebrates her first birthday on Sept. 10.
Seated just to the right of Hus was rookie offensive lineman Daniel Johnson, who fielded one request — “we want a W!” — from a signature seeker.
“You got it!” Johnson exclaimed.
Rider Fan Day is an annual prelude to the Labour Day Classic — the 59th instalment of which is slated for Sunday when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers invade Mosaic Stadium (5 p.m., CKRM, TSN).
Saturday’s event also presented an opportunity for fans to gather on the field, try out some games, meet Gainer and the 620 CKRM Rider Cheer Team, and even toss around a football. Some of those footballs were, as you might expect, newly signed.
“It’s not just people from Regina coming to meet all the guys and sit down and chop it up,” Head Coach Corey Mace noted. “They’re coming from everywhere.
“We feel the love and support. Every single game that we play across this country, Rider Nation shows up for us.
“To be able to mix and mingle and get some face-to-face time with the fan base, it’s important to the fans, and it’s important to us as well.
“Game day, you just hear them screaming, but to be able to put some facial recognition to it and have a conversation, it goes a long way.”
Those sentiments were echoed by another magnetic presence on Saturday.
“It’s really cool to get to meet the fans,” quarterback Trevor Harris said. “You get the odd advice like, ‘Hey, make sure you throw it to our guys tomorrow,’ so it’s really fun because you get an array of suggestions and things from fans.
“You also get to spend time with people in the community, which is really what this is about. It’s a community-owned team.
“They’re the owners of this franchise, so we’re excited to go out there and just give back a little bit, get to meet them, and spend a little time with them.”
Is any time spent icing the right hand after the rigorous process of signing autographs, without even a hint of a respite, during a very hectic hour?
“I think it’s one of those things when you’re growing up,” Harris replied during his pre-game media conference.
“Probably everyone listening to this at least practised their autograph growing up because they wanted to sign something. Raise your hand if you didn’t.
“It’s one of those surreal moments. One day, this will be over and nobody will want my autograph. Nobody will stop me in a grocery store and say, ‘Are you Trevor Harris?’
“It’s pretty stinkin’ cool. I’m a very private person. That stuff doesn’t really move the needle for me, but I know that when you’re done, this is something you’ll look back on as a cool experience.
“So I try to allow myself to enjoy those things and really just stop and get to know and talk to people.
“But, no, I don’t think any icing will be needed. You kind of just lightly write it. It’s kind of just your initials and scribbles, right?”
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