Spectacular showing in Steeltown ignited Weston Dressler’s Hall of Fame career

On a Saturday in Hamilton, tributes will be paid to someone whose breakout game took place on a Saturday in Hamilton.

Weston Dressler and his fellow members of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024 will be honoured at halftime of tomorrow’s CFL game between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Ottawa REDBLACKS at Tim Hortons Field.

The Tiger-Cats’ previous venue, Ivor Wynne Stadium, was the site of a July 12, 2008 game that put Dressler and Saskatchewan Roughriders teammate Darian Durant on the map.

Dressler caught six passes for 122 yards, including a 30-yard score and a 67-yard pass-and-run that set up the game-winning touchdown, as Saskatchewan prevailed 33-28.

“Looking back on it, that was really my first opportunity to start as a receiver,” Dressler reflected. “Darian and I made a couple of big plays throughout that game and we found a way to win it.

“It really was kind of our coming-out party and the start of our careers together.”

The game was actually Dressler’s third in the CFL. He had been utilized primarily as a returner over the first two weeks of the 2008 season.

In the second game, D.J. Flick — a 1,000-yard receiver in 2007 — suffered a broken leg. A huge void in the starting lineup was filled eight days later when Dressler, a rookie out of the University of North Dakota, received his first front-line assignment on offence with the Green and White.

The game in Hamilton was also the introductory CFL start for Durant, who threw for 347 yards and two touchdowns. Durant is among this year’s inductees into the SaskTel Plaza of Honour, which Dressler entered two years ago.

Dressler caught 539 passes for 7,797 yards and 50 touchdowns over eight seasons as a Roughrider.

He exceeded 1,000 receiving yards in five of those seasons, beginning in 2008 when he caught 56 passes for 1,128 yards — an average of 20.1 yards per reception — en route to winning CFL rookie-of-the-year honours.

Dressler added a sixth 1,000-yard campaign during his first of three seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He signed off with career totals of 715 catches, 10,026 yards and 60 TD receptions.

As a Roughrider, he also rushed for two majors and scored on three punt returns.

“I had no idea what the CFL was going to bring me in my time up there and what it was going to do for me,” Dressler said from Bismarck, N.D. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

“It’s about life experiences and meeting new people and making new friends. I’m fortunate that I got to do it for 11 years in the CFL and made some best friends that I have to this day.

“I met my wife (Tegan) up there and I have four awesome kids.”

Dressler’s CFL rights initially belonged to Winnipeg. After he was dropped from the Blue Bombers’ negotiation list, then-Roughriders General Manager Eric Tillman was quick to secure the CFL rights to the 5-foot-7 speedster.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know about the negotiation list and what that all meant,” Dressler said.

“At that time, I was just coming out of school, trying to finish up and graduate, and going through the whole NFL pro day process and the Combine and all that.

“I was hoping for a phone call shortly after the NFL Draft. I was hoping to get an opportunity by signing as a free agent. When that didn’t pan out, that was really the first time I thought about the CFL.

“I had a coach in college who was from Canada. He was the one who told me, ‘I’m pretty sure that Saskatchewan has your negotiating rights.’ That opened the whole door for me.

“I had a conversation with him. I got to understand a little bit about how things worked with that process. I had some conversations with my agent and, after that, it was all Saskatchewan and seeing whether it was going to be an opportunity for me.”

The signing of Dressler was announced on May 13, 2008, just 15 days before rookie camp begin at historic Mosaic Stadium.

Dressler, who turned heads from Day 1, quickly became a popular and productive Roughrider.

“As I went through my career and those first couple of years in Saskatchewan, I really realized what the CFL is all about and what the Roughriders are all about,” he said.

“I just fell in love with it all. I’m really thankful that I had that opportunity.”

Dressler was named the Roughriders’ Most Outstanding Player in 2011 and 2012. In the latter year, he established career highs for catches (94), receiving yards (1,206) and TD grabs (13). He added a 14th major on a punt return.

A four-time West Division All-Star, Dressler earned All-CFL honours in 2012 and 2013.

The 2013 season is especially memorable for its culmination.

On Nov. 24 of that year, Saskatchewan registered the first home-field Grey Cup victory in franchise history.

Dressler scored the Roughriders’ final touchdown, on a 26-yard pass from Durant As was the case in the aforementioned breakout game, Hamilton was the opponent.

Saskatchewan, which led 31-6 at halftime, won 45-23.

“It was just a special moment … a special night … a special season,” Dressler recalled.

“Obviously, the Grey Cup and winning the game was kind of icing on the cake to top it all off. You go back a few years prior and losing a couple of Grey Cup Games.

“I think that makes it even more sweet when you have that moment that you do finally win one, having gone through the hardships we did.

“We did that with really the same core of guys, especially in the receiving room with Rob Bagg and Chris Getzlaf, and there was Darian Durant in there with our offensive line.

“To be able to do it with a group of people who I got to know so well and made those friendships with that will last a lifetime, that part of it makes it extra-special for me.

“Winning is awesome and it feels great, but to do it with the people around you makes it really special.”

And now, just over a decade later, the people closest to Dressler will celebrate his Hall of Fame induction.

He is one of three former Roughriders players to be entering the Hall this year. Pass-rusher Vince Goldsmith (a Roughrider from 1981-83 and 1988-90) and receiver/returner Chad Owens (2017) are also in Hamilton for the ceremonies. Marvin Coleman and S.J. Green are the other players being recognized in 2024.

Ray Jauch, who was an assistant coach (1991-93) and head coach (1994-95) in Saskatchewan, is being inducted as a builder. The builder’s category also includes Ed Laverty, a legendary supporter of touch football in Canada, who is being honoured posthumously.

TSN’s Farhan Lalji and statistician extraordinaire Steve Daniel are joining the Hall of Fame’s media wing.

Daniel is the CFL’s vice-president, football and team analytics. In that capacity, he expanded a league database that includes Dressler’s impressive numbers.

The former Roughriders star has never been one to accentuate such things. He has always focused on collective goals.

As a former CFL player — and now a Hall of Famer — the home team comes first.

“I look back on my career and I kind of made a conscious decision that I didn’t think I was ready to have kids while I was playing football,” said Dressler, the proud father of Cooper (6), Nova (5), Zoey (3) and Tatum (nine months). “I wanted to postpone that phase of my life until I was near the end.

“I had my oldest boy in my time with Winnipeg. I’ve got four kids now — three girls — and to be able to enjoy this with them and with my wife is pretty special.

“What football brought me, what the CFL brought me, what Saskatchewan brought me is something I’ll always be grateful for.

“You can take all of this away — the Grey Cup, the touchdown catches and the Hall of Fame — and I’ve got the best prize already. That’s my kids and my wife. To be able to share this with them is extra-special.”