Hughes, Joseph heading into Riders’ Plaza of Honour

A pair of teammates from the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 2007 Grey Cup-winning team are to be honoured by the franchise in 2019.

Neal Hughes and Kerry Joseph are to be inducted into the CFL team’s Plaza of Honour on Aug. 22. The dinner and reception are to be held on the field at Mosaic Stadium for the first time in the event’s 33-year history.

For Joseph, being inducted alongside a former teammate makes the accomplishment special.

“Neal was a great teammate and a great person,” Joseph said Friday from Lake Charles, La. “He did a lot of good things not just for the football team and the organization but also for the community, so I know it’s going to be great to go in with a guy like that.”

Hughes, 38, and the 45-year-old Joseph will join the 129 individuals and three teams — the 1966, 1989 and 2007 Grey Cup-winning entries — previously inducted into the Plaza of Honour.

That latter team included Hughes (a fullback and special-teamer) and Joseph (the team’s starting quarterback).

Hughes was born in Regina and played in the Regina Minor Football ranks and at Thom Collegiate before joining the Regina Rams junior team. When the Rams moved to the university ranks, Hughes went along.

Despite a standout career at the U of R, Hughes wasn’t selected in the 2004 CFL draft.

“We were all upset and bummed out, but I got a call right away from my agent and he said, ‘There’s two teams interested in you and one was the Riders,’ and I didn’t even want to hear the other team,” Hughes said during a media conference at Mosaic Stadium.

He subsequently signed as a free agent with the Roughriders and embarked on an 11-year career with them.

“When I first played in my first game, I remember it to a T,” Hughes said. “Running out onto the field against the Toronto Argonauts, we had one of the Canadian running backs (or fullbacks) get hurt and I remember looking around and being like, ‘Holy crap, is this really happening?’ I still have that feeling to this day.”

He appeared in 140 regular-season games, 14 playoff contests and four Grey Cup games (2007, ’09, ’10 and ’13). He won titles with Saskatchewan in ’07 and ’13.

Hughes recorded career regular-season totals of 70 carries for 277 yards and eight touchdowns, 46 catches for 505 yards and six touchdowns, 18 kickoff returns for 246 yards, one punt return for 21 yards, and 100 special-teams tackles.

“(I) never expected to be (inducted into the plaza),” Hughes said. “My family said in the past, ‘Neal, you’re going to go into the Plaza of Honour some day,’ and I’d always say, ‘No, I’m already in the plaza with two Grey Cup teams so that’s fine with me.’ So to be chosen is pretty surreal.”

Joseph, who hails from Greenwood, S.C., began his CFL career with the Ottawa Renegades in 2003. His Roughriders career began in 2006, after they selected him with the first pick overall in a dispersal draft after the Renegades folded.

Joseph played in 40 regular-season games with the Roughriders over the 2006, ’07 and ’14 seasons, registering 8,097 passing yards (ninth-most in franchise history) and 50 touchdown passes (eighth in team history). He also rushed for 1,365 yards and 18 TDs.

His best season in Saskatchewan was 2007, when he threw for 4,002 yards and 24 TDs and rushed for 737 yards and 13 majors. His 27-yard quarterback draw for a TD in a 31-26 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Labour Day Classic remains a memorable moment for the team’s fans.

That season, Joseph was named to the West Division and CFL all-star teams and won the award as the league’s most outstanding player. Three days after earning that last honour, he helped Saskatchewan defeat Winnipeg 23-19 in the Grey Cup game.

On Friday, he credited Kent Austin and Ken Miller for making him an MOP.

“That was a special deal, having those guys as the head coach (Austin) and as the offensive co-ordinator (Miller),” Joseph said. “Just the way they game-planned and the way they attacked different defences, it taught me a lot about the game of football from behind the centre.”

Joseph was traded to Toronto the following season and also had a stint with the Edmonton Eskimos before returning to Saskatchewan late in the 2014 campaign. He retired after that season.

Five years later, he’s joining the likes of Ron Lancaster and George Reed in the Plaza of Honour.

“To be mentioned with those guys is truly a blessing,” Joseph said. “You always bow down to them because the Saskatchewan Roughriders wouldn’t be what they are without those guys. To join that company is truly an honour.”

Tickets for the Plaza of Honour ceremony can be purchased through the Roughriders’ ticket office (1-888-474-3377) or through any member of the Plaza of Honour committee.

— With files from 980 CJME’s Jamie Nye and Britton Gray