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Brett Lauther’s name is now above George Reed’s in the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ record book – though the kicker said he doesn’t feel like he belongs there.
With his three field goals in the team’s 20-16 loss to the Montreal Alouettes, Lauther now has 828 career points in green and white, passing the famous fullback’s total of 823.
“My name shouldn’t be near George’s in anything. He did it the hard way. I kind of did it the easy way to get there,” Lauther said.
“It’s definitely surreal, and something that’s pretty cool.”
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Reed’s wife Angie and daughter Georgette met with Lauther after Tuesday’s practice as the two families swapped jerseys – a number 34 for Lauther and an autographed number 12 headed to the Reed household. The number 34 was retired by the Riders way back in 1976 as a tribute to Reed, who is widely considered one of the CFL’s greatest players.
“It was great. It’s always good to run into them and they have been huge supporters, along with George, ever since I’ve been out here,” Lauther said.
Reed spent all 13 seasons (1963-75) of his career as a member of the Riders, retiring as the game’s all-time leading rusher with 16,116 rushing yards and 134 career rushing touchdowns.
Reed died last year at the age of 83.
George Reed passed away just one day shy of his 84th birthday, in Regina, October 2, 2023. His statue stands outside Mosaic Stadium. (Gillian Massie/ 980 CJME)
“I definitely miss him and those conversations,” Lauther said.
“I miss seeing him at the games and the crowd going crazy every time they showed him.”
Lauther has connected on 221 field goals for the Riders since joining the team in 2018, to go along with 148 one-point converts. He trails Dave Ridgway (2,374), Paul McCallum (1,615) and Jack Abendschan (863) on the team’s career scoring list.
Despite expecting to play in his 100th game this season, Lauther said he is “never going to touch” the top two.
While the Truro, N.S., product sees his name on the all-time Riders’ scoring list, he said he knows it’s not just an individual effort to get points on the board.
“It might be my name, but there’s a lot of people there that are highlighted in my name – my family and my friends,” Lauther said. “I’ve had Jorgen (Hus) snapping the whole time, Adam (Korsak) holding, guys blocking throughout the years, the offence getting you in good locations, the defence has been unreal all year and always been great here.”
Saskatchewan has also turned into a home for Lauther, who now also lives in the province. Prior to joining the Riders, Lauther had only played four games with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats back in 2013. He bounced around some CFL practice squads between those years and was out of football in 2016 completely.
But since signing with Saskatchewan in 2018, he’s been the team’s go-to kicker.
“I guess if you reflect a little, it’s what you always worked for and believed you could do. For it to happen, it’s a bit surreal,” Lauther said.
“When I’m done playing I’ll look back and think it’s pretty cool, but for now I’m just trying to keep my head down, work as hard as I can, be a great teammate and try to lead by example for these guys and try to win a Grey Cup this year.”
The Riders’ next game is on Saturday against the Edmonton Elks. Kickoff for the game is set 5 p.m.
