Everything was on an entirely new plane for Rob and Diane Wiebe when they flew to Winnipeg to watch their son, Nick, make his CFL debut with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“We’ve travelled around a lot of places to watch him play, but this one was a real culminating event when he can be out there with the Riders and we can watch him be a professional,” Diane said on Sunday from the family’s home near Okotoks, Alta.
Mr. and Mrs. Wiebe didn’t have to wait very long to see Nick in action.
The 25-year-old linebacker was part of the special-teams unit for the opening kickoff of Saturday’s game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Princess Auto Stadium.
“Watching him walk on to the field for the kickoff was the wildest part for me,” Diane said. “I could feel the goose bumps.”
“For me,” Rob added, “it was actually the warmups and watching him come out in his Riders jersey. I hadn’t seen him in the Riders jersey before. That one was really emotional.”
The buildup to Saturday began on April 30, when Nick was selected by Saskatchewan in the second round (12th overall) of the CFL Draft.
Then came the wait.
He was sidelined for training camp, the pre-season and the first two-thirds of the regular season while recovering from a knee injury he sustained while playing for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on Nov. 4.
After going 10 months between games, Nick was able to savour his “I’m in the CFL!” moment.
“I think it was the whole day, honestly,” he said. “It was a super-live crowd out there and the guys you go against are obviously not 18 years old anymore.
“The whole game, I was trying to knock the rust off a little bit. It was a super-good introduction to the CFL against a really good special-teams unit.”
Having his parents at the game made an already momentous day even better.
“I don’t think my dad has missed a game since I was in Grade 7,” Nick said. “To have him and my mom there, it means everything.
“They’ve been my backbone through this entire rehab process and through my entire athletic career.
“Having them there, there’s nobody I’d rather share it with. It was an awesome moment.”
Nick’s parents flew from Winnipeg to Calgary on a late-evening flight after the game.
So concluded the latest of many trips to the airport.
The boarding-pass barrage began after Nick decided to spend his final two years of high school at sports-centred IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla.
From there, it was off to the University of Oregon. He was a redshirt for most of his first two seasons with the Ducks, playing in one game over that span.
In 2020, he suited up for three games, one of which was the Fiesta Bowl.
Nick spent the following three seasons with the Huskies, registering 199 defensive tackles (six for a loss), five sacks, three forced fumbles and one pass deflection over 31 games.
He was named Canada West’s top defensive player in 2023, when he was also recognized as the outstanding male athlete at the U of S.
At every stop, every game, the family was represented in the stands.
“It pretty much started when he was playing at IMG in Florida,” Rob said. “I commute and travel a lot for work, so instead of travelling home to Calgary, I would just travel to wherever he was playing.
“Shreveport … Oklahoma … southern California … Georgia …”
Even if Nick wasn’t playing, a parental presence was a given.
“It’s a blessing to watch him play, but years when it was a little more tough and he wasn’t playing as much, it was even more important that we were there to watch him,” Rob said. “That’s really when he needs to know someone loves him and to keep going.”
That was reinforced many times over after Nick joined the Ducks as a walk-on and eventually earned a scholarship.
“The first four games at Oregon, we flew all that way to watch him wave a towel,” Rob said. “We’re not proud people.”
Diane chuckled at the reminder.
“Rob used to say, ‘Here we are, watching our son watch the game,’ ” she said.
“You know what?” Rob added. “When you’ll fly thousands of miles to watch your son wave a towel, you’ll fly millions of miles to watch him actually play.”
Plenty of air miles have also been logged to celebrate the accomplishments and athleticism of Nick’s 23-year-old brother, Connor, who is completing a computer engineering degree at the University of Victoria.
While at UVic, Connor has also played rugby for the Vikings.
Like father, like son.
Rob, a graduate of the University of British Columbia, was a member of the UBC Thunderbirds rugby team.
The closeness of the Wiebe family is also exemplified by the fan support Nick will receive when the Roughriders, who are on a bye week, return to action on Sept. 20 against the host Calgary Stampeders.
So far, the Wiebe ticket count stands at 30. That doesn’t include the friends and neighbours who plan to make the convenient journey to McMahon Stadium.
Eight days later, Nick is to make his home debut when the Ottawa REDBLACKS visit Mosaic Stadium.
“It will be the Highway 1 Wiebe Express,” Rob said. “We’ve been to a lot of the Riders games already, just watching him hold up the signs and work the sideline. He seems to have that mastered.
“As much as I’m looking forward to watching him play in Calgary, that feeling in Mosaic is amazing. I really want to see him run out on to the Mosaic field.”
The appetite was whetted by the events of Saturday.
“It’s amazing what a powerful feeling it is when you see him in the green uniform with that green helmet,” Rob marvelled.
“I’m not going to lie. I haven’t been a Riders fan my whole life but, boy, it’s a powerful feeling once you start getting into the Riderville tradition.”
