Rob Bagg, Dan Clark, Paul McCallum to join Saskatchewan Roughriders Plaza of Honour

Three former Saskatchewan Roughriders will be inducted into the team’s plaza of honour this fall.

Wide receiver Rob Bagg, offensive lineman Dan Clark and kicker Paul McCallum are set to join the 143 other members of the plaza in a halftime ceremony during the team’s home game against the Montreal Alouettes on Oct. 17.

While Clark and Bagg were long-time teammates from 2009-17, McCallum joined the Riders for another stint in 2015, where all three of them shared a locker room.

“It’s been an incredibly humbling experience to find out this news,” Bagg said. “Finding out it was Clark and Paul, it just makes it all that much better. Dan and I went to war many times together and as O-lineman, they are big brothers in some senses on that side of the ball. He was just a guy who I would go to war with tomorrow if he told me he had one more in him.

“He’s a lifelong friend and, ultimately, as I look back on my time in Saskatchewan, I like to think I gave everything I possibly could to the club but the more time I have away from the game, the more time I have time to reflect what the province and the community and organization gave to me, I’m not sure it was a balanced trade. It was just such an incredible experience down there.”

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Bagg signed with Saskatchewan as an undrafted free agent in 2007, but chose to return to college for an additional year before his first CFL season in 2009. He amassed 27 career touchdowns and four seasons with more than 50 receptions, and won the Grey Cup with the Riders in 2013.

He was selected as the Riders’ most outstanding Canadian in 2009 and 2015, and sits sixth in the team’s history for catches (364) and 10th in receiving yards (4,706).

“Everyone always talks about talent … but I think it’s understated when it comes to effort as being a talent. I think it’s a tangible thing that some people bring to the table naturally,” Bagg said. “From a young kid all the way until I got to the Riders, it was every setback I had that ultimately provided me the strength I needed for the next challenge.

“By the time I got to the Riders as an undrafted, relatively unknown receiver. I think that was the perfect motivation. I’ve always been the type who likes to be pushed and challenged. When I feel like someone else deems themself to be better than I, that’s when it’s game on.”

Clark, who was also a member of the championship Roughriders squad in 2013, became the team’s starting centre in 2015 and continued in that role through the 2022 season. Born in Regina, Clark was named the All-CFL centre in 2019 after the team posted a 13-5 record for the top spot in the league’s West Division.

He was chosen as the team’s most outstanding offensive lineman in both 2019 and 2021, and won the league’s Jake Gaudaur Veterans’ Award in 2022.

Clark also had to consistently prove himself when he took the field, first practicing with the team in 2009 as a territorial junior from the Regina Thunder.

“At a very young age when I first got into football, my dad looked at me and said, ‘When you step on that field, you’re the baddest man on the planet.’ No matter where I came in, no matter when I was the 19-year-old kid that walked in the first time to practice with the Riders, I had the belief in myself I could overcome anything,” Clark said. “Everybody on this call knows I’m not the most talented individual but I’m going to give you everything I have.”

McCallum, who was inducted into the CFL’s hall of fame in 2022, played for 24 seasons in the league, suiting up for the Riders in 13 of them. In 2001, McCallum kicked a 63-yard field goal for the Green and White, setting a new record for the Roughriders. During his time with the team, he kicked 29 field goals longer than 50 yards, and holds franchise records for punts (1,116) and punting yardage (45,670), while he’s in second place in the team’s record book for points (1,615) and field goals (368).

The kicker was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2022.

“Time flies by so fast. When things like this come upon me, I start to reminisce about the things that have happened in my career with the Riders. ” It’s just an amazing journey I have been on and I’m happy I get to share it with these guys,” McCallum said.

This will be the second consecutive year that all inductees into the plaza of honour are Canadians, the team noted, and the first time since 2004 that all of the inductees have been Canadian players.

Inductees are selected by a committee including former players, journalists, board members and the team’s historian.