TORONTO — The Canadian Football League is in mourning after the loss of former BC Lions defensive lineman Rick Klassen, who passed away Saturday at age 57 following a courageous battle with cancer.
The BC native was a mainstay along a talented Lions defensive line for nine seasons (1981-87 and 89-90), appearing in 142 regular season games. He was a West Division All-Star in 1985, helping anchor a tough Lions defence that paved the way to a Grey Cup title that year, the club’s second overall and first since 1964.
His 66 sacks are in the top-10 in CFL history among interior linemen and his five sacks in two Grey Cup appearances put him in the top-five all-time as well. He was also named the Most Valuable Canadian in the 1983 Grey Cup.
The SFU grad played for Saskatchewan in 1988, giving him a total of 160 career CFL games, but returned to the Lions for a two-year stint (1989-90) and later retired as a Lion.
Klassen, who was a member of the club’s 2003 Dream Team, was inducted onto the Lions’ Wall of Fame in 2012.
