Plaza of Honour inductee Paul McCallum ‘never would have left Saskatchewan’ if not for one person

Photo courtesy: Saskatchewan Roughriders

Paul McCallum will be permanently enshrined in the place he never wanted to leave.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders announced the 56-year-old former kicker as part of their 2026 class of the Plaza of Honour inductees on Monday, alongside former teammates Rob Bagg and Dan Clark. The Vancouver, B.C., native spent parts of 13 seasons with the Riders and is often remembered for the darkest moment of that tenure, but spoke glowingly about his experience in Regina during the celebratory press conference.

“I just want to say to all the media that I’ve dealt with in Saskatchewan, you guys have always been very good to me and even in 2004, you were very respectful with how everything went down there,” McCallum said, referencing his infamous miss in overtime of that year’s West Final.

“I have nothing but fond memories. I have said this a lot to people here in B.C., when they would ask if I hated Saskatchewan: I wouldn’t have left Saskatchewan if it wasn’t for one person that didn’t want me there. To the fans and everyone else, this is very humbling for me. I just want to say thanks to everybody and the media for being kind to myself and my family.”

After the season-ending shank in 2004, McCallum’s house was egged, he had manure dumped on his front lawn, and his family was threatened. However, that wasn’t enough to sour his opinion of Riderville, as he remained there for the 2005 season and intended to re-sign were it not for some hardball negotiating tactics.

The kicker’s “one person” comment would appear to be a reference to then-Saskatchewan general manager Roy Shivers, who reportedly wanted him to take a 30 percent pay cut to remain with the team. That led to an acrimonious split between the two men as McCallum left for the B.C. Lions in free agency. Though he has remained publicly respectful when speaking about Shivers, that relationship never fully recovered, even after the GM was jettisoned by Saskatchewan and followed him to Vancouver to take over as director of player personnel in 2008.

Shivers was inducted into the Plaza of Honour in 2024, making the pair symbolic teammates in Green and White yet again. That has happened once before, when both were enshrined into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2022. The 84-year-old former executive couldn’t help himself from referencing the beef in an interview with Postmedia’s Murray McCormick at the time, quipping: “Paul McCallum? You have to be kidding me. Do you think they can move me to another year?”

Perhaps the Riders obliged that request by waiting to recognize McCallum on his own, allowing his appreciation for the organization to be the main storyline. Even after being dumped on — literally — and forced out, the legendary boot returned for another tour of duty in Saskatchewan in 2015.

McCallum will officially go into the Plaza of Honour during a special halftime ceremony at the Legends game on Saturday, October 17, versus the Montreal Alouettes. He remains second in franchise history in points (1,615) and field goals (368) and first in punts (1,116) and punting yardage (45,670).