HAMILTON — Andy Fantuz got to enjoy the best of both worlds Thursday.
Fantuz, who split his 12-year CFL career equally between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Hamilton Tiger-Cats, announced his retirement just hours before his two former teams met at Tim Hortons Field.
Wearing a Tiger-Cats golf shirt and the Grey Cup ring he won with the 2007 Roughriders, Fantuz said he was planning to play in 2018, but seeing Toronto Argonauts quarterback Ricky Ray suffer a neck injury in a game June 23 against the Calgary Stampeders helped change Fantuz’s mind.
So did the birth of his daughter Abigail, who was born three weeks ago Friday.
“(He and his wife, Amanda) were already an inch away from saying, ‘OK, we’re totally good with (retiring),’ and then (after seeing Ray carted off the field) we looked at each other and we knew,” said Fantuz, a 34-year-old product of Chatham, Ont. “We said, ‘OK, this is going to be it.’
“When I started thinking about what I wanted to do and how I wanted to announce it, this opportunity (Thursday) was too good to pass up. I contacted Scott Mitchell (the Tiger-Cats’ president) and he was more than thrilled to help me organize something tonight to get a chance to thank both fan bases.”
He was a phenomenal teammate, friend, player and leader in the locker room.
Fantuz spent six seasons with the Roughriders (2006-11) followed by six more with the Tiger-Cats (2012-17). He wasn’t signed by any team after becoming a free agent in February.
He retires after recording 637 receptions for 8,363 yards and 44 touchdowns in 148 career regular-season games. He ranks fourth among Canadian receivers in CFL history in catches and ninth in receiving yards.
Chris Getzlaf, who like Fantuz was a member of the Roughriders’ so-called Canadian Air Force, said his former teammate was “the complete package” as a receiver.
“There aren’t a lot of careers that live up to what he was able to accomplish,” Getzlaf said. “He was a phenomenal teammate, friend, player and leader in the locker room. His hands and his route-running ability, there aren’t many people in the league who have that kind of ability.”
The Roughriders selected Fantuz in the first round (third overall) of the 2006 CFL draft out of the University of Western Ontario.
During his four seasons with the Mustangs, he set OUA and U Sports career records for receptions (189),receiving yards (4,123) and touchdown catches (41) and the single-season mark in receiving yards (1,300). He won the Hec Crighton Trophy as the top player in Canadian university football in 2005.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pounder played 77 regular-season games over his six seasons with Saskatchewan, recording 289 catches for 4,311 yards and 23 touchdowns. His best statistical season was 2010, when he caught 87 passes for 1,380 yards and six TDs en route to being named a West Division all-star, a CFL all-star and the CFL’s most outstanding Canadian.
Fantuz also was Saskatchewan’s nominee for the award as the CFL’s top Canadian in 2007. That same season, he was voted the most valuable Canadian in the Grey Cup game after registering four catches for 70 yards and a touchdown in the Roughriders’ 23-19 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“He was a big part of what we were doing when he was here — and he was a very good player for us,” said Roughriders assistant vice-president of football operations and administration Jeremy O’Day, who was Saskatchewan’s centre when Fantuz joined the team. “He was impactful, a big target with great hands who had a knack for getting open.
“I enjoyed talking to Coach (Chris) Jones about Andy. It was interesting how (Jones, when he was a defensive co-ordinator with Calgary) changed the defence to prevent Andy from catching balls. It was a big tip of the hat to Andy and the type of football player he was.”
That said, there were lessons that Fantuz had to learn during his career. In 2007, for example, he was benched by then-Roughriders head coach Kent Austin — and that stuck with Fantuz.
“Honestly, that was a lesson that I needed to have at that point in my life — riding high, young player, thinking I’ve got the world by the collar,” he said. “That really humbled me and put things in perspective.”
Fantuz signed as a free agent with the Tiger-Cats in February of 2012. Over the next six seasons, he caught 348 passes for 4,052 yards and 21 touchdowns in 74 regular-season games.
He was voted the top Canadian in the 2014 Grey Cup game — in which Hamilton lost 20-16 to Calgary — and, in 2016, was named the East Division’s top Canuck after catching 101 passes for 1,059 yards and five touchdowns in 17 regular-season games.
O’Day noted that Fantuz fit in well in the Roughriders’ locker room, a fact borne out by his eventual ascension to the position of CFLPA player representative.
O’Day said his former teammate was a “super-competitive guy,” whether he was playing football or board games.
“There was always a competition or a wager that had to come out because that was kind of his personality,” Getzlaf agreed. “That’s one of the great attributes about him.”
Fantuz, who’s working in the health and fitness industry, plans to remain involved in football somehow, using the skills he had and the lessons he learned over the years to give back.
He officially follows Getzlaf and Darian Durant into retirement in 2018. Like those two, Fantuz put in more than a decade in the CFL before making the decision to leave the game.
“All of those guys — and Andy was no exception — were all really good guys and really good players,” O’Day said. “If you’re not a very good player, then you won’t last very long in our league.
“Andy was one of the great Canadian receivers of that era. I’m proud to have been his teammate.”
