By Rob Vanstone
Here’s some 2020 hindsight.
A generation ago, a personable, promising pivot named Henry Burris made his debut with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
A marquee free-agent signing on March 7, 2000, Smilin’ Hank completed five of eight passes for 61 yards during the first quarter of a 28-14 pre-season loss to the host Calgary Stampeders — with whom he had spent the previous three CFL seasons.
Burris was replaced by John Rayborn, who was subsequently succeeded by Jose Laureano, during a game that was played 20 years ago Sunday.
“The best times of your life seem to come and go the quickest,” reflects Burris, 45. “It goes by too quickly. You’ve got to enjoy the good times while they’re here.
“Here we are, 20 years later. It doesn’t feel that way but, man, it went by way too fast. I wish we could get those times back again.”
Now a sure-fire Canadian Football Hall of Famer, Burris made the most of his initial opportunity to become an uncontested starting quarterback in professional football.
He threw for 4,647 yards and 30 touchdowns while enlivening the offence of a team that had won only three games — none of which were played after Labour Day weekend — the year before.
Granted, the 2000 edition of the Green and White posted a mere five victories, plus a tie, to go with 12 defeats. The offence, however, upped its point production from 370 in 1999 to 516 in 2000, but the defence continued to be a sieve.
“We could have been something special that year,” reflectsDan Farthing, a Roughriders slotback from 1991 to 2001. “I would say we should have won six more games than we did that year. I don’t think that’s an exaggeration.”
Burris, for his part, was a sensation. He instantly connected with fans on the strength of a cheerful personality, earning most-popular-player honours.
The Green Bay Packers took notice, signing Burris the following year. Just like that, a franchise player was gone.
“He genuinely felt bad (about leaving Saskatchewan),” Farthing recalls. “He really did.
“I said to him, ‘Henry, if anybody says anything to me about this, I will say what I think in a genuine fashion. If any person out there would have the opportunity to do the same job for that much more money in a league that’s generally recognized as the premier league in the world, none of them would do anything differently. So anybody who thinks you’re disloyal is just not looking at all the facts that surround the situation.’ ”
Burris spent the 2001 season in Green Bay before joining the Chicago Bears, for whom he made a start in 2002.
He returned to Saskatchewan midway through the 2003 season, only to spend much of his time on the sideline, buried beneath Nealon Greene and Kevin Glenn on the depth chart.
Greene was also the opening-day starter in 2004, by which time Glenn was a Winnipeg Blue Bomber, but a broken leg cleared the way for Burris to return to starting duty. He promptly threw for 4,267 yards and 23 TDs before sparkling in the playoffs.
In the 2004 West Division final, Burris threw for 416 yards and three scores, only to lament a 27-25 overtime loss to the host B.C. Lions.
The prolific passing performance was well-timed, in that Burris was poised to become a free agent.
Roy Shivers, the Roughriders’ general manager of the day, didn’t exactly bathe Burris in effusive praise as the rocket-armed passer prepared to test the open market.
“We have a No. 1 quarterback already,” Shivers told the Calgary Herald in reference to Greene, not Burris. “Henry’s a bonus for us.”
The signing bonus, as it turned out, was paid by Calgary.
Roughriders fans were apoplectic. For the remainder of his playing career, which ended fittingly when he quarterbacked the Ottawa Redblacks to a Grey Cup victory in 2016, he heard the derisive “Hennnnn-ryyyyy!” chant while playing in Regina.
“From my side, people knew I wanted to be there,” Burris says. “Unfortunately, when there comes the opportunity to take advantage of things, you have to because there’s a business side.
“But it’s just like with anybody. If you’re going to get a pay raise and a job promotion, you’ve got to take it and go with it. That’s pretty much what we did.
“There are some fans who take it personally, but the majority of fans took it as, ‘OK, Hank’s the enemy now. Even though we love him off the field, we hate him on the field, just as any other quarterback who comes in here.’
“When they chirped me, I loved it because, to me, there was probably no greater rivalry in the past 30 or 40 years in the CFL than Calgary and Saskatchewan during that time.”
There is no greater person than Henry Burris in sporting circles.
He should be remembered here not only for the touchdown passes, the autographs he signed or the incessant chanting, but also for the integral role he played in establishing a foundation for a generally prosperous 20-year period.
The Roughriders were a mess when Shivers arrived. The signing of Burris signified that Saskatchewan could be a destination for a premier free agent.
The team steadily improved to the point where it became a perennial playoff participant, and then a champion in 2007 — under GM Eric Tillman and head coach Kent Austin. Ties were severed with Shivers and head coach Danny Barrett at different points in 2006.
“After losing to Saskatchewan in 2007 in the West final before they went on to win the Grey Cup, I always felt that was the conclusion to what we started in 2000,” Burris says.
When the Roughriders next won the Grey Cup — on Taylor Field in 2013 — Burris was with the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
That was another milestone in a Roughriders resurgence that began in 2000, when Burris was first resplendent in green.
To this day, Burris still wonders how history would have unfolded had circumstances been different and he had been able to enjoy an extended stay in Saskatchewan. How many Grey Cups would the Roughriders have won with No. 1 behind centre?
“When you see people that you know who put so much into it, there was nobody more deserving than the Riders, but we wished that could have been us — because those goals were definitely attainable,” Burris says.
“With the staff and players that we had, we definitely could have won more than one.”
VIA: https://leaderpost.com/sports/football/cfl/saskatchewan-roughriders/rob-vanstone-henry-burris-was-a-foundational-presence-for-saskatchewan-roughriders
Recent Comments