Burris, Brock, Childress and Hufnagel among 2020 Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees

Four members of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2020 have ties to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Offensive linemen Clyde Brock and Freddie Childress, quarterback Henry Burris and builder John Hufnagel — who currently is the Calgary Stampeders’ president/GM — all spent time with the Green and White at some point in their CFL careers.

Brock spent his entire 12-season career (1964-75) with the Roughriders, playing offensive tackle in 169 games, 27 playoff matchups and four Grey Cups (including the 1966 Grey Cup victory). He was named a CFL all-star from 1966 to 1969 and was named a West Division all-star from 1965 to 1969.

Now 79, the product of Los Angeles was inducted into Saskatchewan’s Plaza of Honour in 1995.

Childress played with the Shreveport Pirates, Birmingham Barracudas, Stampeders and Roughriders across 13 seasons, appearing in 185 regular-season games, 14 playoff matches and three Grey Cups.

Now 53, the product of Little Rock, Ark., won two Grey Cups with Calgary (1998, 2001) and was named the league’s most outstanding offensive lineman in 1998. He played his final three seasons (2004-06) with the Roughriders.

Hufnagel, who is going in as a builder, was a quarterback for the Roughriders during two separate stints (1980-83, 1987). In all, he spent 12 years as a player before becoming a coach for 15 years, including seven as the head coach of the Stampeders.

He holds a regular-season head-coaching record of 102-41-1 and a winning percentage of .712 — the highest mark among CFL coaches with more than 100 games.

He won the Grey Cup five times, including once as a player (1984), once as an assistant coach (1992), twice as a head coach-GM (2008 and 2014) and once as a GM (2018).

Burris played in the CFL from 1997 to 2016, including stops in Saskatchewan in 2000 and ’03-04. He is a two-time CFL all-star and was named a division all-star on four occasions.

Burris won two Grey Cups with Calgary and one with the Ottawa Redblacks. He was named the league’s most outstanding player in 2010 and 2015.

He retired with 63,639 passing yards to rank third in CFL history, as well as 373 touchdown passes and a passer efficiency rating of 93.6.

The late Larry Uteck, the former head coach/athletic director at Saint Mary’s University, was also inducted as a builder and former University of Calgary Dinos quarterback Greg Vavra is going in as an amateur player.

Burris, 45, got the nod in his first year of eligibility, becoming just the 21st player ever to do so but second in as many years after Calgary running back Jon Cornish in 2019.

Burris’s family — wife Nicole and sons Armand and Barron — had known of his induction since February but managed to keep quiet about it until about 2 1/2 weeks ago when the Hall of Fame informed Burris.

Even then, the Burris clan was very nonchalant in asking the former quarterback to take in what he thought was a run-of-the-mill video.

Instead, Burris watched Hall of Famer Damon Allen outline his pro football journey to Canada, which drew a rather bewildered look from Burris. Then Allen detailed Burris’s stellar CFL career before Mark DeNobile, the Hall of Fame’s executive director, delivered the big news.

And the player, affectionately dubbed Smilin’ Hank because of his outgoing personality, was lost for words as tears streamed down his face.

“Yeah, they got me good,” Burris said with a chuckle. “What’s funny is whenever I’ve told the boys to keep anything quiet, they’ve always gone back to their mother and yet they didn’t say a peep about this.

“I was lost for words just because to hear it shows you that people appreciated the things you did throughout your career. This is the way for the league and all the organizations and the fans saying, ‘Thank you,’ and for me I’m humbled by it … There’s so many guys in (the Hall of Fame) who I looked up to and now to be able to join them is a dream come true.”

Burris, a product of Spiro, Okla., played 20 pro seasons, 18 in the CFL with the Stampeders (1997-99, 2005-11), Roughriders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2012-13) and Redblacks (2014-16). He also spent time with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers (2001) and Chicago Bears (2002).

Burris retired shortly after leading Ottawa to a thrilling 39-33 overtime Grey Cup upset win over Calgary in 2016. He threw for 461 yards and three TDs despite suffering a knee injury during warmups.

Burris said his Hall of Fame induction is as much a testament to his family’s resilience and perseverance as it is his on-field accomplishments.

“I had to take my wife all over Canada, drag my kids all over Canada and force them to make new friends just for Dad to be able to play this game called football,” said Burris, whose family still calls Ottawa home. “And for them to understand and see just the emotions that ran through me … it just shows how big that moment is, just kind of when your whole life flashes before you.”

Burris and the other inductees will have to wait for their day in the sun due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 class will be honoured alongside the 2021 inductees next August.

When Burris is formally honoured, he’ll be joined by former teammate Childress and Hufnagel, who served as Calgary’s head coach during Burris’ tenure with the team. Burris won Grey Cups with both (’98 with Childress, ’08 with Hufnagel).

“Calgary is a machine right now and it all started in 2008 when Huf came in and we got that Grey Cup in his first year,” Burris said. “Calgary has always had double-digit wins and been in the playoffs each and every year Huf has been there, they’ve always been a strong contender for the Grey Cup and there’s one reason why.”

Hufnagel, a 68-year-old from Coraopolis, Pa., spent 12 seasons as a CFL quarterback with Calgary (1976-79), Saskatchewan (1980-83, 1987) and Winnipeg (1984-86) before getting into coaching. He also earned a Super Bowl ring as an assistant with the New England Patriots (2003).

He was named the CFL’s coach of the year twice (2008, 2014).

Vavra, 59, of Red Deer, Alta., helped the Dinos win the Vanier Cup in 1983, his final season at the school. That year, he also became the first player in the program’s history to capture the Hec Crighton Trophy as Canadian university football’s top player and still holds the U Sports record for most passing yards in a game (627).

Vavra was drafted by the Stampeders in 1984 and also spent time in the CFL with the B.C. Lions (1986-87) and Edmonton Eskimos (1988).

After playing seven CFL seasons as a defensive back with Toronto (1974-76), B.C. (1977), Montreal (1978-80) and Ottawa (1980), Uteck became an assistant coach at Saint Mary’s in 1982. He was promoted to head coach the following year, a position he held until 1997.

Over that span, Uteck was named the Atlantic University Athletic Association coach of the year five times and twice Canadian university football’s top coach.

Uteck served as athletic director from 1995 to 2002 and the Huskies captured two Vanier Cups (2001-02). The product of Thornhill, Ont., passed away Dec. 25, 2002 of Lou Gehrig’s disease at the age of 50.

The Atlantic Bowl was renamed the Uteck Bowl in 2003.

With files from Dan Ralph of The Canadian Press