Esks’ all-time leading scorer to hang up his cleats after 16 CFL seasons, three Grey Cup rings
By John MacKinnon,
Edmonton Journal
Sean Fleming didn’t want to scoop his own retirement announcement.
But in the heat of battle, as it were, at the Edmonton Eskimos annual dinner, goaded on by former CFL opponents Jock Climie and Chris Schultz, when the question was teed up, ‘Are you retiring?’ the veteran kicker split the uprights:
“Yes,” Fleming told the crowded banquet room at the Shaw Conference Centre.
At 37 years of age, after 16 CFL seasons, five Grey Cup appearances and three championship rings, Fleming will retire at season’s end. An open secret since training camp, that decision now official, whether his last kicks come following the Eskimos’ final regular-season game in Hamilton on Nov. 3, or whenever the playoffs are concluded. In the highly unlikely event the Eskimos advance that far, that.
He will leave as the leading point-getter in the history of the Eskimos. With three games remaining this season, Fleming had 138 this season, fourth in the CFL. He has amassed 2,534 points in his career, fifth all-time behind Lui Passaglia, Mark McLoughlin, Paul Osbaldiston and Troy Westwood.
Fleming was named the Outstanding Canadian at the 1993 Grey Cup, when he tied a Cup record, making six of seven field goals and scored 21 points overall in a 33-23 Eskimos victory.
This season was meant to be the final hurrah for Fleming, with him mentoring young Warren Kean, the club’s draft pick from ConcordiaUniversity in Montreal.
“We agreed on certain criteria for me to come back,” Fleming said. “One of them was bringing in a Canadian kicker like Warren.”
The veteran kicker became a tad emotional when asked if he had been at peace with his decision for a while.
“Yeah, it’s still tough,” Fleming said. “No matter what they say, it’s tough at the end of the day.
“I’ve thought about it for a long time, I thought about it last year. I know I can still play, still perform. I’ve had my best year punting so far. On field goals, I’ve made the kicks I’ve needed to make, meaning when we’ve needed a kick to win the game, three out of four times this year, I’ve made it.”
The only miss was in the team’s opening game at home against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, a 47-yard miss that led to a 39-39 overtime tie instead of a win.
“Overall, I’m happy, but I know that I could still come back and play. And I know that they want me to come back and play. So that’s what makes it tougher. But I also know that what’s happening outside of the football field, in business, I can’t afford to play another year.”
Fleming, a business consultant specializing in corporate restructuring for Price-WaterhouseCoopers, has devoted much of his off-field time this season upgrading his skills.
Last month, Fleming missed a week of practice to take a business course in Ottawa. He kept sharp working out with the football team at the University of Ottawa and rejoined the Eskimos in Montreal for their game against the Alouettes.
“My other career, right now, it’s been flexible for me for six years,” Fleming said, fighting to control his emotions. “So, how long (can I ask them to do that)?
“I have been playing football here for 16 years, four years in college, three in high school. That’s 23 years of playing a sport.
“It’s almost like you’re leaving home for the first time to go to university for the first time,” Fleming said of retiring. “Or you’re leaving a job, or you’re leaving a city for another new city.
“It’s the unknown, althought I’m pretty stable outside of the football field. But it’s like the first day of school where you’re really nervous. It’s interesting to see how I feel about it.”
Twice during his career, Fleming tried out for jobs in the NFL, with the Washington Redskins in 1996 and in 1999 with the Kansas City Chief. Both times he was released and rejoined the Eskimos.
The six-foot-four, 210-pound Fleming was often a target of the demanding Eskimos fans. And he had his slumps, including one two seasons ago that prompted head coach Danny Maciocia to bring in ex-NFL kicker Hayden Epstein to give Fleming a bit of a competitive jolt. But when the Eskimos won the Grey Cup that season, Epstein was long gone. It was Fleming doing all the kicking in the third-place club’s somewhat improbable march to the Grey Cup, every playoff game won on the road.
“He’s a pro,” said Eskimos scout Ed Hervey, a longtime teammate of Fleming’s. “Now that he has finally made his decision official, I think prople are going to sit back and realize what they had in Sean Fleming.
“Winning kicks, missed kicks — whatever. He has been the one constant we’ve had here in Edmonton and I’m glad to call him my friend.”
In the summer of 2005, it was Fleming who agreed to carve $15,000 off his salary in each of two seasons so the club wouldn’t lose the speedy, sure-handed Hervey to free agency.
Fleming leaves with plenty more pop his leg, but content he’s ducking out of the party at the right time.
“I’ve always wanted to leave on my own terms,” Fleming said. “I wanted to leave two or three years before they want to get rid of you.
“And you also want to leave the organization in a good situation, meaning as good as or better than when you joined.”
