ROBSERVATIONS: 200 games for Trevor Harris … Dolegala joins lengthy list … Bob Ptacek was a one-of-a-kind Roughrider  

Trevor Harris won’t even have to throw a pass to reach his next impressive milestone.

Simply setting foot on the Mosaic Stadium turf will suffice on this occasion.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ starting quarterback will suit up for his 200^th CFL regular-season game on Sunday against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

What does that nice round number signify?

“Aside from age, I would say it’s a blessing,” replied Harris, 40, who hails from Waldo, Ohio.

“I’m very thankful for this country, this league, and how it has helped me develop as a man. I told my wife, ‘Football has taught me so much as a human. It has helped me grow as a person and a child of God.’

“It’s a lot of games. Actually, I didn’t know that (the 200^th game is imminent), so it’s wild.”

Harris was a member of the Toronto Argonauts on June 30, 2012, when he made his first CFL appearance. The Argonauts’ Head Coach at the time was Scott Milanovich, who will be the visiting team’s field boss on Sunday.

The first time Harris dressed for a home game — his second CFL contest overall — it was against a Calgary Stampeders team that included defensive tackle Corey Mace.

At the time, Harris was the Argonauts’ third-string quarterback, behind veterans Ricky Ray and Jarious Jackson.

With Ray injured, Jackson started against the visiting Roughriders on Oct. 8, 2010. With Saskatchewan enjoying a commanding lead late in the game, Milanovich called upon Harris to lead the offence. His first CFL completion — to Andre Durie for a three-yard gain — soon followed.

Harris threw only 19 passes during his first season of three-down football. In fact, he didn’t receive consistent playing time until 2015, at age 29.

Here he is, 11 years later, with 3,202 completions (ninth on the CFL’s All-Time list). He is 12^th in passing yards (39,115), 14^th in aerial touchdowns (214), 15^th in attempts (4,505) and a close second in completion percentage (71.08).

Harris is the reigning Grey Cup MVP as his 200^th CFL game nears.

With 10 TD passes for the 3-1 Roughriders, he is one of only three players in franchise history to throw for multiple scores in each of the first four games of a season. The others are Henry Burris (2000) and Darian Durant (2013).

Burris and Harris were teammates with the Grey Cup-winning Ottawa REDBLACKS in 2016. Smilin’ Hank was 41 when he retired after that season, with 274 games to his good name and a Grey Cup MVP trophy to show for a Hollywood-ending farewell appearance.

Harris, too, is at the top of his game in his early 40s as he prepares to become only the second quarterback to play for Saskatchewan in his 200^th game. Ron Lancaster, in 1973, was the first.

“I think it speaks to his work ethic in anything that he’s ever done,” Mace, the Roughriders’ third-year Head Coach, said of Harris. “It’s not shocking that he’s turning the page on 200 games.”

Getting to the first game was one of the biggest challenges.

“Seven teams in two years,” Harris reflected. “I tried to quit playing and become an offensive co-ordinator at my alma mater. I never thought it would turn into this, but I’m really, really thankful.

“To be standing here at this juncture in my life with the blessings I have, all praise be to Jesus.”

Effective on Sunday at 5 p.m., Harris will become one of only 18 individuals to play for Saskatchewan in his 200^th CFL game.

The exclusive fraternity includes current Roughriders Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager Jeremy O’Day — like Harris, an alumnus of Edinboro University in Pennsylvania.

O’Day played in 238 CFL regular-season games, the last 202 of which were with Saskatchewan.

In O’Day’s case, the 200 milestone was achieved on Oct. 19, 2008, when he helped the Roughriders defeat the visiting Tiger-Cats 30-29.

The day before, Harris had thrown a school-record-tying five touchdown passes as Edinboro defeated Slippery Rock 35-14.

Aside from Harris, O’Day and Lancaster, the following players were employed by the Roughriders for Game No. 200: Bill Clarke (1964), Reg Whitehouse (1964), Ron Atchison (1966), George Reed (1975), Lawrie Skolrood (1987), Roger Aldag (1988), Dave Ridgway (1993), Mike Anderson (1995), Ray Elgaard (1995), Dan Rashovich (1996), Don Narcisse (1999), Gene Makowsky (2006), Eddie Davis (2007), Chris Szarka (2009) and Charleston Hughes (2022).

Clearly, 200 games is a feat for the elite.

“It’s something that we’ll celebrate,” Mace said, “and hopefully we do it as a team after a win.”

WELCOME BACK, JAKE!

Jake Dolegala is poised to become the 37^th former Roughriders quarterback to throw a pass against the Green and White in the post-Second World War era.

Dolegala, a Roughrider in 2022 and 2023, is to call signals for the Tiger-Cats on Sunday.

There is also a Hamilton connection to the five erstwhile Roughriders quarterbacks who have played against Saskatchewan most frequently:

34 — Henry Burris (Tiger-Cats, 2012 and 2013).

27 — Kevin Glenn (2009 to 2011).

17 — Zach Collaros (2014 to 2017)

14 — Tom Clements (1979, 1981, 1982).

11 — Vernon Adams Jr. (acquired by Hamilton on Feb. 2, 2018; released by the Tiger-Cats on June 21 of that year).

The rest of the lengthy list, Dolegala included, consists of …

10 — Kerry Joseph; Drew Tate.

9 — Jim Kemp.

8 — Kerwin Bell; Tom Burgess.

7 — John Hufnagel.

6 — Rick Cassata; Joe Paopao; Drew Willy.

5 — Kent Austin; Steven Jyles.

4 — Joe Barnes.

2 — Michael Bishop; Rocky Butler; Darian Durant; Cody Fajardo; Kevin Mason; Reggie Slack.

1 — Joe (747) Adams; Don Allard; Jake Dolegala; Al Dorow; Homer Jordan; Jake Maier; Randy Mattingly; Fred McNair; Mike Nott; Bob Pearce; Keith Price; Bernard Quarles; Tom Rozantz; Ted White.

If the depth charts do not change, Saskatchewan will play against one of its former quarterbacks in six consecutive games.

Dolegala follows Maier, who started against Saskatchewan when it visited Ottawa on July 3.

After Sunday, the Roughriders will play a home-and-home set against Fajardo and the Edmonton Elks. Saskatchewan then opposes Ottawa (see again: Maier) and Hamilton (Dolegala).

Dolegala will be the third ex-Roughrider to play quarterback against Saskatchewan in a span of four games. Adams Jr. and the Stampeders played host to the Roughriders on June 20, six days before Saskatchewan faced Chad Kelly and the Argonauts.

Rewinding a mere 113 years, our favourite team played against one of its former quarterbacks for the first time when the Moose Jaw Robin Hoods visited Dominion Park to oppose the Regina Rugby Club on Oct. 11, 1913.

Billy Ecclestone started at quarterback for Moose Jaw. His opposite number, Fred Ritter, was the RRC’s player/coach.

Ritter also was in charge for the team’s inaugural season. On Oct. 8, 1910, Ecclestone quarterbacked the Regina side against the Moose Jaw Tigers. The game, played at Dominion Park, was the first home appearance in the long history of a franchise that has been known as the Roughriders since 1924.

Regina’s Value Village is now located at the former Dominion Park site.

BOB PTACEK (1937-2026)

Bob Ptacek, who was 89 when he passed away on June 29, was a unique Roughrider from two perspectives:

• Along with starting at quarterback for Saskatchewan in 34 games, he was a Western Conference All-Star at two other positions — linebacker (1961) and defensive back (1964).

• He joined the Green and White as part of a rare NFL-CFL transaction.

Ptacek became a Roughrider on May 20, 1960, when he was acquired from the Cleveland Browns for defensive lineman Jim Marshall.

In Ptacek’s first start with the Roughriders, he completed 19 of 28 passes for 231 yards against Calgary at Taylor Field on Aug. 12, 1960. He rallied the Roughriders from a 15-1 deficit, directing two fourth-quarter touchdown drives. His 25-yard TD pass to Bob Renn with 1:08 remaining preceded a Reg Whitehouse convert that produced a 15-15 tie — a score that held up for the duration.

Ptacek tied a Roughriders single-game record on Sept. 26 of that year by throwing four TD passes in a 45-35 home-field victory over Calgary. Glenn Dobbs had previously accomplished the feat three times (twice in 1951; once in 1953).

(Austin set the current record of six TD passes on Sept. 21, 1991 in B.C. He also boasts two of the nine five-TD-pass games in Roughriders history.)

Also of note was Ptacek’s 104-yard TD pass to Ray Purdin on Oct. 15, 1962 in Hamilton. That was the longest completion in Roughriders history until Austin collaborated with Jeff Fairholm for a 107-yard score against the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sept. 2, 1990.

Unfortunately, Ptacek’s playing career was cut short by back-to-back Achilles tendon injuries, sustained in 1965 and 1966.

The former University of Michigan Wolverines standout thrived in his post-football endeavours, enjoying a long and successful career in transportation sales.

“When did you retire?” I inquired during a 2020 interview for a Regina Leader-Post feature on Ptacek and Marshall.

“Probably about 10 minutes from now,” Ptacek joked over the phone from Dayton, Ohio. “It just keeps me current and not sleeping all day.

“I get up. I work from my telephone. I make calls on people and take people out to dinner and out to lunch, just in the Dayton area.

“I’m still viable. I’m at the Y at 5 o’clock every morning, lifting (weights) a little bit and exercising and trying to stay in shape.

“When you’re 83, you’re just thankful you open your eyes every day.”

How’s this for an eye-opening accomplishment? Ptacek is one of 14 individuals to have been named the Roughriders’ MOP more than once.

Lancaster and Reed were honoured six times. Austin was a three-time MOP.

Ptacek, Durant, Fajardo, Ken Carpenter, Weston Dressler, Corey Holmes, Kenton Keith, Ken McEachern, Mike Saunders, Frank Tripucka and Joey Walters were honoured twice.

ROLL CREDITS …

• Nice people who deserve a plug: Donna Ptacek, Jillian Baldwin, Murray McDonald, Tommy Stevens, A.J. Ouellette, Joelle Hydaman, Gene Smith, DaMarcus Fields, April Green, Norm Fong, Jake Dolegala, Benny Green and Virginia Wilkinson.