Former Saskatchewan Roughriders receiver Rob Bagg was one of those players who found themselves having to work exceptionally hard at every level in order to succeed in his chosen sport.
From going undrafted and making the team twice as a rookie, to fighting through a couple of devastating knee injuries that could have ended his career, to making his way and finding remarkable success despite being a undersized Canadian receiver, it was a long road for the Kingston, Ont. product.
A road that has now led Bagg to the Roughriders Plaza of Honour.
Bagg joins offensive lineman Dan Clark and kicker Paul McCallum as the 2026 inductees into the team’s hall of fame, and they spoke to the media about the honour on Thursday afternoon.
“Definitely humbling I think is a good word to describe it,” Bagg said before pointing out that having his family on hand to be part of the ceremonies made things that much more special.
“My kids certainly don't look at me as a football player, so just being able to come back here even just for a few days and show them what used to get me really excited and all the great memories that we made here, I'm looking forward to sharing that moment with them too.”
Bagg’s journey to the CFL was an interesting one. After going undrafted by the team in 2007, he signed with the Roughriders and actually cracked the roster out of training camp, but opted to return to Queen’s University for one more season. He was back in Riders camp in 2008, again made the roster, and the rest is 11 years of history.
As much success as Bagg had — including four seasons with more than 50 catches and two where he had over 800 yards receiving, on his way to 4,705 yards for his career — the Plaza of Honour was never really on his radar.
“It's not really on your goal list, it's not something certainly I ever thought would really be possible,” Bagg said. “Even just Darian Durant and all these more recent inductees, to be able to have your name alongside of them, it is incredibly humbling. I think a great lesson for anybody out there, regardless of whether it's sport or any other avenue of life, is you get to set what you can and can't accomplish. Everybody else might try and slow you down along the way, but ultimately it's up to you and if you make the right choices over and over again, you can get where you want to go.”
Bagg brought up Clark as a perfect example of that ethos.
“Just a guy that's willing to do anything in order to get where he wants to go, right?” Bagg said. “A guy that was never willing to be told that he was maybe too small. My kids will laugh when I say maybe Clarkie's too small, but when Clarkie first came into the league, you know, we had to do some work to get to where we needed to be and that was no different.”
With the Plaza honour comes a legendary status around the team and the kind of respect that few former players have. For Bagg, it’s all about living up to his end of the bargain and being a role model as much as he can when called upon.
“I look back at (former Riders standout) Jason Clermont or (Montreal and Hamilton legend) Dave Stala or some of these receivers that were before me, I certainly looked up to them,” Bagg explained. “We've seen Canadian football players in general, every crop is getting better than the last one because we've shown them what's possible and they're setting a brand new bar. You feel very proud of those guys that came behind you and anything that you could have maybe passed along that was taught to you from the guys in front of you. So it really does feel full circle, it does feel pretty surreal for sure.”
Asked to name some influential coaches in his Rider career, Bagg quickly pointed out current TSN analyst and former Saskatchewan receivers coach Paul LaPolice as helping him in his earliest years, but also had plenty of thanks for former head coach Corey Chamblin — especially after the knee injuries that nearly derailed his career.
“From a personal point of view, I'm coming off of basically no football in the last two years, a handful of games and two knee injuries, so it would have been very easy for him to come in here as a new coach and say ‘see you later,’” Bagg said. “There's definitely lots of other good players that he could have tested out, but he gave me another opportunity and continued to trust that I would get where I needed to go. And certainly without him, I think it would have likely ended there. So I know he was definitely a big piece for me.”
As mentioned, battling through hardships was kind of a theme for Bagg throughout his career, and he feels that without those tests, he wouldn’t have reached the lofty heights he finds himself at today.
“I think every single one of those setbacks, whether it was getting cut or not playing at Queens or not getting recruited into the CFL and being drafted, like every time I was told no, the hard work factor just kind of amped up again.” Bagg said.
“Eventually it ingrains itself where the more people tell you you can't do something, the more you just feel energized and determined to prove them wrong. You certainly don't want to tear your knee or you don't want to have to go through all those hardships, but it is the hardships that give you the resilience to be able to push through on just a regular basis.”
In the end, Bagg prevailed and then some. And now he’s officially a legend in an organization he simply can’t say enough good things about.
“Just first class, I think would be a decent way to describe it,” Bagg said when he and his fellow inductees were asked what the team meant to them. “We have great fans, we have great facilities now and we have great people inside the building, so I feel like it's just an opportunity to find success.
“It's the perfect environment if you're willing to come in and do the right things to find exactly what you're looking for. It's the crown jewel of the CFL in my opinion. Obviously, I'm biased, playing my whole time here, but when I think of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, that’s how it was before my time and it certainly will be after as well.”
Be sure to check back for more from Dan Clark and Paul McCallum on SportsCage.com in the coming days.
