as the Saskatchewan Roughriders take on the Ottawa Red Blacks in CFL action in Regina, SK, June 5, 2025. Photo Electric Umbrella/Liam Richards
Long before there were passes being caught and touchdowns being scored, there was Dhel Dunkin’-Busby.
Duncan-Busby, who on Saturday caught his first CFL touchdown pass to help the Saskatchewan Roughriders defeat the visiting B.C. Lions 37-18, proved to be a natural as a football player despite a later-than-usual introduction to the sport.
“I didn’t actually start playing football until my senior year of high school,” Duncan-Busby said. “I was a hooper all the way through.”
A hooper with hops!
Duncan-Busby used his leaping ability to perform some aerobatics on the basketball court.
“In high school, there were only two dunks, because we got in trouble,” he said. “If you missed a dunk, you got pulled, so I got a little nervous about dunking.
“Actually, my first dunk in a game was against our rival and, hey, the crowd was going crazy for that one, so it was a lot of fun.
“We actually had to call a timeout right after. I was going a little crazy. I probably should have got T’d up (a technical foul) for that one but, hey, it was a lot of fun.”
Playing against him wasn’t as enjoyable.
“I was a slasher,” Duncan-Busby recalled. “I went straight to the basket. I got other people to get fouls and got under a lot of people’s skin and stuff like that.
“I was kind of a pesky kind of person. I could shoot when I was open if I needed to, but everything was for me just to go to the basket.”
Then came Grade 12, when the end zone also became a target.
“I had just transferred to the States and our high school football coach came up to me,” said Duncan-Busby, a graduate of Madison High School in Ohio.
“He asked me, ‘Have you ever played football? Have you ever tried it?’ I said, ‘I’ve never done it before.’ He said, ‘I think you’ll be really good. Play receiver. Come out to a couple of practices and we’ll see what happens from there.’
“The rest is history.”
Duncan-Busby’s personal history dates back to Oct. 3rd, 1999, when he was born in Vancouver. He grew up in Brampton, near Toronto.
While playing basketball in Ontario, Duncan-Busby crossed paths with R.J. Barrett, who attended high school in Mississauga before joining a perennial NCAA powerhouse, the Duke Blue Devils.
Selected by the New York Knicks with the third overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Barrett has averaged 21-plus points per game for the Toronto Raptors — Duncan-Busby’s favourite NBA team — each of the past two seasons.
Like Barrett, Duncan-Busby excelled in American university sports, but in football.
He caught 171 passes for 2,839 yards and 27 TDs in 47 games over four seasons with the Minnesota-based Bemidji State Beavers.
Duncan-Busby was uncannily consistent over the final three seasons, registering reception totals of 49, 48 and 49. Eleven of his catches produced a touchdown during his senior year.
The Roughriders were understandably thrilled, then, that Duncan-Busby was available in Round 3 of the 2024 CFL Draft. He was claimed as soon as the Roughriders were on the clock for the 23rd overall pick. No debate necessary.
As a rookie, he caught 16 passes for 188 yards while starting in six of the seven regular-season games in which he appeared. He also made two post-season starts.
Leading up to Saturday, a touchdown had been elusive even though he had two previous scoring plays — in the form of two-point conversions — as a Roughrider.
The ice was broken at 11:44 of the fourth quarter, when he caught a picturesque pass from Jake Maier on the Lions’ 15-yard line and sprinted down the west sideline toward Mosaic Stadium’s north end zone to complete a 42-yard major.
While the play was in progress, it seemed like slow motion to the intended receiver, even though the pass was delivered in timely and efficient fashion. Such was the anticipation.
“I was just hoping for that ball to come in a little bit quicker,” Duncan-Busby said with a smile. “I’m like, ‘Please!’ It’s just hanging out there.
“I appreciate Jake for letting me get my first one.”
That being done, what was the first thing that went through his mind?
“I had to make sure I had scored the touchdown, so I got up to look at the ref,” Duncan-Busby recounted. “I told all the guys that once I got into the end zone, I was going to start surfing on them, so that’s what I did.”
What? No celebratory slam dunk over the crossbar?
Duncan-Busby smiled and shook his head.
“I think that’s a flag,” he said.
