THE CANADIAN PRESS
As someone who got the privilege to get to know Henry Burris during his most recent seven-year run with the Calgary Stampeders, I can’t tell you how happy I am to see him finish his career in the fashion he did. In pro sports, it is so rare to do two things: to go out on your own terms and to go out on top. With Burris announcing his retirement, he gets to accomplish both in one fell swoop, and I can’t think of anyone more deserving.
All told, Burris spent nine years of his professional career with Calgary and the impact he made both on and off the field is still being felt more than five years after he left. Burris was instrumental in stabilizing the Stampeders on the field after a period of extreme turmoil and, maybe more importantly, he left a lasting impact in the community.
The Stamps are the team Burris started with going back to the 1997 season, but it was his second stint in red and white when he made his biggest impact. After some time in the NFL and with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Burris returned to Calgary for the 2005 season and he did more than just give the team a good quarterback.
If you remember, and many Stampeders fans like to forget, there was a rather dark time in the organization in the years leading up to Burris’s return. Michael Feterik, Fred Fateri and Matt Dunigan had all helped sink the Stamps to depths the city hadn’t seen from its football team in decades. Then new ownership came on board, as did a new coaching staff and management group, and things started turning the corner.
RELATED: BURRIS ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT
CFL.ca has sideline-to-sideline coverage of Henry Burris’ retirement including exclusive interviews, columns, rare photos and more.
> Burris 1-on-1: Hank Reflects on Career in Exclusive Interview
> Top of His Game: This is the only way Henry should exit Football (by Don Landry)
> Hero to Villain: Examining Burris’ love-hate relationship with Riderville (by Jamie Nye)
> The Calgary Years: Burris lifted Stamps on and off the field (by Pat Steinberg)
> Hank restores Tabbies in short order (by Marshall Ferguson)
> A who’s who of Henry Burris pass-catchers (by Jim Morris)
> Burris by the Numbers: A look back at a stellar career
Henry Burris celebrates the Stampeders’ Grey Cup win in 2008 (The Canadian Press)
One of the first orders of business for new GM Jim Barker and new head coach Tom Higgins was to find their franchise quarterback. By signing Burris, they did just that. Getting Burris to sign a contract in Calgary was a big deal at the time because it signified to fans of the Red and White how things really were changing. The dark period between 2003 and 2005 was tough, so getting a highly sought after free agent like Burris was seen as quite the coup.
Burris’s first season back with the Stampeders was the best season he’d had to date. He posted new career bests in completion percentage, quarterback rating and more as he led Calgary to a turnaround 11-7 season. Burris stabilized things on the field by giving the Stamps top end play at the position for the first time since Dave Dickenson left town following the 2000 season.
Not long after his return to Calgary, Burris started making his presence felt in the community, too. Big Brothers and Big Sisters (BBBS) in the city were the largest benefactors of Burris’s charity work as he partnered with the organization shortly after arriving back in the city.
The Henry Burris All-Star Weekend became a fundraising highlight in Calgary during the 10 years he put it on. And this wasn’t an event Burris just slapped his name on, either. He was the driving force behind planning and executing the event and it raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for BBBS in Calgary. Furthermore, it’s a testament that Burris brought the All-Star Weekend with him to Ottawa.
When Burris goes into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, he’ll be doing so on the strength of a CFL career spent with four different teams. Burris had great success at different times with the Riders, Tiger-Cats, and obviously the REDBLACKS. But for many, his time with the Stampeders will be what they associate most with his career.
For fans in Calgary, they’ll never forget what Burris meant to the team on the field when they needed someone to help right a ship that looked completely off course. Burris’s legacy off the field will be just as long lasting.
