North Bay Cop a Roughrider owner?

North Bay police officer Aaron Northrup holds his ownership document - proving that he owns roughly one-one thousandth of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Photo by Chris Dawson.

Aaron Northrup has never been to Saskatchewan and he considers himself a die-hard Hamilton Tiger Cats fan but, believe it or not, the North Bay Police officer is actually a part owner of the Saskatchewan Roughriders who are looking to capture their first Grey Cup title since 1989. The big game takes place on Sunday at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

“Not many people can say they are a part owner of a Canadian Football League team so when the Roughriders pull it together on Sunday and beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers it will be really exciting,” said Northrup.

But Northrup is no Jerry Jones or Mark Cuban – seeing him in his sweats and a tattered T-shirt when he’s off duty would tell you that. His part owner status is just a very small part as he is the official owner of one share of the community owned franchise.

Like a good police officer, Northrup got his share for the right reasons – to help save the life of a dying CFL franchise.

“In 2004 they had a ‘Save the Riders Campaign,’ and there was a chance that the Riders were going to go bankrupt so they asked for community sponsorship and again being a big CFL fan, that’s why I paid $250.00 and bought one share in the Saskatchewan Roughriders,“ he said.

The proof of Northrup’s ownership comes in the form of a nicely framed document with the look of an old Canadian one dollar bill – with Rider legends Roger Aldag and George Reed on the cover where Queen’s or former prime ministers would be located on Canadian currency.

“It’s an official document and it’s signed by the team president and it’s a numbered document and again with my name on it and on the back is a transfer section so I could transfer it down to my son if I wanted to at some point,” said Northrup.

Or he could transfer that document over to Constable Dave Wilson? After all, the officer on the same platoon as Northrup was born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and played college football with Riders Safety Scott Gordon.

“I find it kind of interesting,” said Wilson who didn’t believe Northrup owned a share in the Riders when he first told him.

“Aaron is highly involved in the community like being involved in Hockeyville so it doesn’t surprise me at all that he’s the type of guy that he would throw money towards a good cause like that.”

Of course it’s a good cause in the mind of a Rider fan.

Both Wilson and Northrup will be cheering hard on Sunday and if the Green Riders win the Grey Cup, Northrup may actually make his first appearance at the Saskatchewan Roughriders annual general meeting.

“I’m invited to the Annual General Meeting every year and I have one vote in relation to affairs with the team,” said Northrup, who also gets quarterly reports from the team.

“It would be a neat trip to go on I think - just one day go to Regina and drink some beer and go vote.”

But no matter what the outcome on Sunday will be, this Ti-Cat fan turned Roughrider owner will never regret getting involved with a community owned sports franchise.

“A community owned team I mean it’s working in Green Bay, it’s now working in Saskatchewan, in Lethbridge, Alberta with their WHL hockey team, I mean it would be nice to see North Bay get a community owned OHL team.”

You don’t have to be a Roughrider fan to agree with that.