Meet the Regina woman with 150 Saskatchewan Roughriders jerseys

“Welcome to my Riderville,” Donna Ryhorchuk said with a smile as she walked down the stairs and into a basement overflowing with four decades of green-and-white memories.

The Regina woman is a Saskatchewan Roughriders fan, born and bred, and her Rider pride is difficult to measure.

You could try counting the games she’s attended, the seasons she’s held tickets or the players she’s cheered for.

Or you could just count the jerseys.

Read more Saskatchewan Stories with Brittany Caffet:

• Before he was a Roughriders star, Trevor Harris was a dancer
• Large and in charge: What it takes to eat like the Riders’ O-line
• Hidden talents of the Saskatchewan Roughriders revealed

Ryhorchuk thought she had about 130.

We counted. She was 20 short.

There are 150 Saskatchewan Roughriders jerseys in her collection, enough to make the words “big fan” feel like a bit of an understatement.

Most people store their Rider jerseys in a closet. Regina’s Donna Ryhorchuk needs a whole basement! (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

But this collection isn’t really about the number. It’s about what each jersey represents.

The story begins more than half a century ago with a five-year-old girl at an airport.

Ryhorchuk’s parents took her to greet the Roughriders after they won the 1966 Grey Cup. She was little, the crowd was big and from where she stood, she couldn’t see a thing.

The men around her heard her cries and lifted her over their shoulders, carrying her to the front of the crowd.

And there, in the sea of green and white, five-year-old Donna found herself beside George Reed.

“I got to hold George Reed’s hand for about five minutes, and that started it all,” she reminisced.

It’s hard to imagine a better beginning to a lifelong love affair with the Riders.

Listen to this Saskatchewan Story:

Ryhorchuk grew up watching football with her parents and hearing stories about her older brother going to games at the old Taylor Field. She was always frustrated that she was too young to tag along.

Once she was old enough, she didn’t waste any time getting into the stands herself.

By the age of 25, she became a season ticket holder. She’s 65 now.

“You do the math,” she said.

That’s 40 years of season tickets.

Forty years of sitting in the stands, watching players come and go, seasons rise and fall and finding new reasons to cheer every year.

“I love the Riders, and I love to support them,” Ryhorchuk explained. “So I feel that one way of supporting them the best is to buy jerseys and to wear jerseys.”

And so she did. For four decades, the collection has grown.

Donna Ryhorchuk said she frequently loans out jerseys to friends and family, but would never consider selling them. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

Some jerseys are favourite styles from particular seasons. Some are from players she especially wanted to support. Some are signed. Some are game-worn. Some are personalized with her name and a player’s signature. And some are simply too precious to wear.

“I have about 15 of those,” she said of her game-worn jerseys. “They don’t come out of the closet!”

Among her treasures are a signed Ron Lancaster jersey, several signed George Reed jerseys and a Jim Hopson jersey from his playing days.

The collection also includes players who have a special connection to Saskatchewan.

“I like to get our Saskatchewan boys,” Ryhorchuk said proudly.

That includes Dan Clark, Brendon LaBatte, Mitch Picton, Logan Ferland and Jackson Ford, among others.

Every year she picks new favourites to cheer on.

This year, A.J. Ouellette and Marcus Sayles are among them, along with Jermarcus Hardrick, whose jersey investment has become something of a family affair.

Her jersey says ‘Yoshi.’

Her husband Ralph’s says ‘Hardrick.’

“So when we’re together, it’s Yoshi Hardrick,” she laughed.

Hardrick gave the couple permission to use his nickname on a jersey, and they even have a picture of him standing between them, both wearing their jerseys.

One of Donna Ryhorchuk’s most recent jersey signings was with Logan Ferland. She met him in the elevator room following a game. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

This may be a collection of uniforms, but interestingly enough, the jerseys aren’t really the story.

The people, memories and connections are.

When Ryhorchuk bought defensive back Marcus Sayles’ jersey, he happened to be in the Rider store with his wife and young daughter. She told him she had ordered his jersey, and he promised he would sign it.

That’s another important part of Ryhorchuk’s Rider ritual.

She has season tickets and access to the AGT Lounge. Getting to the lounge means taking an elevator. It happens to be the same elevator area the players use to go to and from the locker room.

So after games, if she has a jersey waiting for a signature, she waits.

It isn’t unusual to find her standing in that elevator room post-game with a jersey in hand, hoping to catch the player whose name is on the back as he leaves the stadium.

And over the years, those signatures have transformed pieces of fabric into pieces of history.

“A lot of them say ‘To Donna,’ on them, and then the player’s signature,” she said of her many personalized jerseys.

Donna Ryhorchuk’s collection includes many limited edition jerseys. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)

While she does loan them out to friends and family now and then, she insists that no matter how many collectors might want them, her jerseys are not for sale.

“No, I wouldn’t sell them. I wouldn’t sell them,” she declared.

Craig Reynolds, president and CEO of the Roughriders, has apparently floated a different idea.

Ryhorchuk says they’ve talked about finding a wall at Mosaic Stadium where she could display the collection.

“Just call it ‘Donna’s Wall of Jerseys.’”

Now that we know there are 150, the idea seems considerably more plausible.

A wall covered in four decades of Rider history.

Names from different generations. Game-worn jerseys. Signed jerseys. Saskatchewan boys. Personalized messages. Pieces of the team she has spent a lifetime supporting.

She isn’t ready to part with them, but she could imagine sharing them.

“I would work with Craig Reynolds to put them up on a wall at Mosaic Stadium,” she said, smiling at the possibility.

Donna Ryhorchuk wears green and white not because she has to, but because she wants the world to know where her heart is.

“Those are my boys,” she said, eyes scanning the collection that has grown alongside her love for the team. “That’s my way of honouring the Saskatchewan Roughriders.”

And maybe that’s what true fandom looks like. Not a number. Not a jersey.

But a lifetime of memories stitched together in green and white.

Welcome to Donna’s Riderville.

There are 150 jerseys.

And every single one has a story.

Donna Ryhorchuk thought she had about 130 Saskatchewan Roughriders jerseys. We counted. There are 150 — each one carrying a story, a favourite player’s name and a little piece of Rider history. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)