‘I’d rather be at a Rider game:’ Winnipeg family honours late father, grandfather with trip to Queen City

A Winnipeg family took a special road trip to Regina to watch the Saskatchewan Roughriders take on the Ottawa Redblacks.

Last weekend, D’Arcy Lussier travelled to the Queen City with his mother, wife and two daughters to spread some of his father’s ashes at one of the places he loved most — Confederation Park, just outside Mosaic Stadium.

Lussier said family was the biggest thing in his dad’s life, but the Saskatchewan Roughriders definitely took second place.

“I don’t even know where to begin,” Lussier said when asked about his late father. “He was funny, he was definitely a people person.”

Antoine “Tony” Lussier — who would go on to become a professor and dean of Indigenous studies and the head of the University of Saskatchewan’s Indigenous studies department in the early 80s — grew up in the small town of St. Eustache, Man., just outside of Winnipeg.

“When he was a kid, for whatever reason, even though he was born and raised in Manitoba, he gravitated toward the Saskatchewan Roughriders as his CFL team,” Lussier explained. “When he was in his preteen phase, he latched on to Ron Lancaster as sort of his star player.

“That’s how long his fandom for the team went.”

Lussier’s own interest in the CFL didn’t begin until his teenage years, but said he found a photo of his second- or third-grade self proudly wearing a Rider’s shirt that he’s sure his dad was responsible for.

Despite developing his interest in football a bit later on, Lussier remembered watching games with his dad through his teen years, into his marriage and kids.

It was when his kids made Tony a grandfather that his Rider’s obsession really went into overdrive.

“Once he became a grandpa, then it was, oh my gosh, (he was) starting to get the different Riders kids shirts and hats and touques and stuff at Christmastime,” Lussier remembered fondly.

A lifelong Riders fan, Tony was dedicated to his team. He attended games in Winnipeg, including Banjo Bowls, and was infamous for his love of the Green and White in his neighbourhood.

“He was kind of known … as the Rider guy because everything he wore was green and had a Rider logo on it,” said Lussier. “He loved bugging Bombers fans, it was just his thing.”

Despite a lifetime of cheering for the Riders, however, Lussier realized his father had never actually attended a game in the team’s home stadium. In 2014, Lussier and his dad decided to road trip with their family to Regina to catch a game.

That trip was the first time Lussier — who was initially a Montreal Alouettes fan — decided to “don the green” and cheer alongside his dad.

“Ever since then, I’ve kind of jumped on his bandwagon,” Lussier said. “I’ll cheer for the Alouettes in the east but the Roughriders will be my team in the west now.”

Lussier said they had an “amazing time,” so much so that they continued the tradition annually, bringing the family with them again in 2015 and travelling to the Queen City just Lussier and Tony in 2016 and 2017.

Antoine Lussier at the last Saskatchewan Roughriders game he attended in Regina in 2019 before he passed. (D’Arcy Lussier/Submitted).

“It became an annual thing of us going out there,” Lussier said.

“It was so different seeing him there because … people were a big deal for him and he loved people, he loved talking with people and just socializing and connecting. When he was around all these other people who had this same passion for a sports team that he did, who shared that commonality, then he just connected with them so well and he always came back from those trips on such a high.”

In 2018, the Lussier’s were unable to travel because Tony underwent triple bypass surgery and was not strong enough to make the trip. Their final trip was in 2019 before Tony passed away in September.

Obituary for Antoine Lussier, written by himself. (D’Arcy Lussier/Facebook)

“He actually wrote his own obituary,” Lussier remarked. “It was very short and to the point. He didn’t want a funeral, he didn’t want a gravestone or any sort of marker, he just wanted us to take his ashes and spread them in his hometown. But he said in his obituary, ‘I’d rather be at a Rider game.’”

Tony’s full name remains etched on the Mosaic Stadium fan wall to this day. His connectedness to the Regina stadium sparked Lussier’s idea for one of his father’s final resting places.

D’Arcy Lussier (left) with his mother, daughter Skylar, wife Michelle and daughter Sadie (left to right) after spreading some of his father’s ashes around a tree in Confederation Park. (D’Arcy Lussier/Submitted)

“I thought, how cool would it be for a place that meant so much to him and a team that meant so much to him in his life, but also a reminder for us of the family memories that we have … if we took a small amount of his ashes, went to Confederation Park and spread a little bit of them there so we have this place that we as a family can continue to come to, year after year, and celebrate him. And do it in a way where it’s fun and joyful, which are things he would’ve wanted for us.”

COVID-19 was a “tough” time for the Lussier’s. The pandemic hit a few months after Tony’s death, not only leaving them to grieve but to do so without the comfort of one of his favourite things — CFL football.

“COVID … it was heavy, but then on top of it, just thinking, ‘Will there be CFL again? Are we going to have the same sports teams back? … Thinking about my dad, it’s also something that I see people rallying around and bonding around together and there is a positive relational aspect to it.”

Shortly before COVID-19 hit, Lussier tried to spread some of his dad’s ashes, but his plans were foiled by none other than a Winnipeg sports team.

“My dad was not a fan of any team in Winnipeg … so it turned out that was the weekend of the Heritage Classic where Winnipeg was playing Calgary and they had actually fenced off Confederation Park so nobody could get access because they were setting up,” he recalled.

Antoine Lussier’s name on the fan wall at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. (D’Arcy Lussier/Submitted)

“It was kind of poetic,” he said with a chuckle. “It turned out for the best, because it gave us an opportunity as a family to go out there and have that special moment.”

Though Lussier’s daughters aren’t particularly interested in football, his eldest daughter joined him in watching the Riders take on the Redblacks in memory of her grandfather last weekend.

It was a historic game. In all the trips Lussier and his dad took to Regina to watch the Riders play, they’d never witnessed a Roughrider victory.

Last Saturday’s 23-10 win over the Redblacks was something Lussier called “fitting.”

“He was looking down,” he said.