Roughriders holding public ceremony of life for George Reed Friday afternoon
CBC
A ceremony will be held in Regina Friday afternoon to honour George Reed, the former Saskatchewan Roughrider who died last weekend.
Reed, who died at 83, wore green and white throughout his 13-year career, retiring as the CFL's greatest rusher. After football, he was a devoted philanthropist with the Special Olympics and established his own foundation that supports projects to help people with physical or mental disabilities.
Friday's celebration of life ceremony will be held at the Viterra International Trade Centre. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. CST, but the ceremony starts at 1 p.m. CST. The public is welcome.
"He's one of the most influential figures in the history of the Saskatchewan Roughriders," said team president and CEO Craig Reynolds.
"He inspired a generation — and that generation passed down the love of him and the love of the Roughriders on to them, and we'll continue to do that to the next generation."
Reed was born in Vicksburg, Miss., but his family moved to Renton, Wash., when he was a young child.
He enrolled at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash., in 1958. He suited up for the WSU Cougars the following year — at the time, freshmen were ineligible to play — and starred as fullback until graduating in 1962.
He first moved to Regina after signing with the Roughriders in 1963. When he retired in 1975, he had run for 16,116 yards and 134 touchdowns — both CFL records at the time. Mike Pringle (16,425 yards) has since surpassed Reed's yardage, but the touchdown record still stands.
The Roughriders made it to four Grey Cup matches during Reed's career. The club was victorious in 1966 against the Ottawa Rough Riders, with Reed named the game's most valuable player.
Reed's football legacy has been immortalized in myriad halls of fame, and his No. 34 is one of only eight jersey numbers the Riders have retired.
His name lives on in other ways locally.
Mosaic Stadium sits along George Reed Way in Regina. A statue of Reed stands outside the stadium.
In 1973, the City of Regina proclaimed Oct. 7 as George Reed Day — then, by order of the Saskatchewan government, the date was changed to Oct. 34.
On Thursday, the provincial government extended the holiday, proclaiming Oct. 7 as George Reed Day throughout the province of Saskatchewan.
There was a bit more optimism among Prince Edward Island producers at this year’s Seafood Expo North America in Boston — but that depended on which industry they were representing.
A new contractor will take over operations of the Inuvik Warming Shelter on April 1 — closely following a switch at another Inuvik shelter — as Housing N.W.T. takes a step back from operating the two locations.
Northern Ontario politicians are urgently appealing to the federal government for help during one of the deadliest winters on record along 2,000 kilometres of highway between Nipigon, Sudbury and North Bay.
The ongoing U.S.-Israel war against Iran is causing diesel prices to spike across Canada, climbing nearly 30 per cent since the conflict began.
The federal government is bringing its case to justify use of the Emergencies Act to clear the convoy protests that gridlocked the capital city and border points to the country's highest court.
Statues on the grounds of the Ontario Legislature will be covered in wrapping to protect them from vandalism ahead of expected protests at Queen’s Park this spring.
In the aftermath of Ontario’s decision to no longer support provincially-funded supervised drug consumption sites, a potential path forward is emerging for the London Ont., based Carepoint Consumption and Treatment Service.
A group of children in the St. John’s neighbourhood of Shea Heights were playing outside last spring, when they made a shocking discovery.
Erin Sheppard's family was excitedly waiting Saturday afternoon to take a direct flight from Halifax Stanfield International Airport to Cancun, Mexico.
N.B. Power's ongoing rate hearing has been told that plans to spend $88.4 million over three years on outside experts to help fix chronic reliability problems at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station might not show results immediately but will pay off eventually.
As the province doubled down on its “tough on crime” measures and calls for federal bail reform this week, rates of violence across Ontario jails — both inmate-on-inmate and inmate-on-staff assaults — are rising, according to an analysis of data shared with CBC News by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU).
Finance Minister Eric Girard is set to table Quebec’s provincial budget on Wednesday — less than a month before the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) chooses a successor to Premier François Legault.
Manitoba's finance minister says the NDP is funding education adequately, yet won't acknowledge some school divisions are raising taxes because they feel provincial funding hasn’t kept pace.