REGINA’S FLORY CALLS IT A CAREER
MONTREAL (CP) – A longtime respected voice in the Montreal Alouettes’ dressing room, Scott Flory will now put his leadership talents to work on behalf of all CFL players.
The nine-time CFL all-star offensive lineman announced his retirement Wednesday after playing 15 seasons and winning three Grey Cups in Montreal.
The move was largely expected after Flory became the new president of the CFL Players’ Association in late March.
The Regina native suffered a season-ending biceps tear July 12 in a game against the Calgary Stampeders, though he was determined to return this season if he had not won his leadership bid.
“It was a decision I made when I chose to run that I told myself that if I did win that I was going to retire,” Flory said at an Olympic Stadium press conference. “It was a way for me to segue out of football from the playing side of it but still stay involved with the game and being around the guys and trying to represent them.
“I was committed to coming back. I was training, I was doing everything, and I believe in this club and the direction that they’re going so I wanted to be a part of it.”
Flory felt that he could not do justice to either job by continuing to play while heading up the players’ union.
“I didn’t want to shortchange the players or the Alouettes by trying to do both jobs at the same time,” Flory said. “Over my 15-year career I committed myself wholly to being the best football player I could be and I want to do the same in my new role as president of the players’ association.”
The 37-year-old is currently participating in talks with the league on a new collective bargaining agreement, though he declined to comment on any of those issues Wednesday.
“I’ve been a player rep since 2002 and sometimes there needs to be a guy who is the voice of the guys, and not everybody has the ability or the strength or the desire to talk to coaches or to deal with a lot of things that players have to deal with,” Flory said.
“It was something I liked and I cared about and I wanted to serve the guys … and I was elected, and I’m thankful for that. But over my time in Montreal I was always a part of the players’ association and I believe in the players and trying to represent them the best I can.”
Twice the CFL’s top lineman (2008 and 2009), the six-foot-four, 296-pound Flory helped Montreal to Grey Cup victories in 2002, 2009 and 2010.
“When people talk about how I was able to play for so long it was because of people like Scott that took pride in protecting the quarterback,” said former Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo, who retired in January as pro football’s all-time passing leader with 79,816 yards. “They didn’t get a lot of press, a lot of accolades, but in that locker-room when I could walk away from a game with not getting hit you could see a big smile on their face and they took a lot of pride in that, so they were able to do that for many, many years and that allowed me to play for a lot of years.”
Montreal selected Flory in the third round, 15th overall, in the 1998 CFL draft out of the University of Saskatchewan. He attended training camp before returning to the Huskies, helping them win the Vanier Cup that season.
A Hall of Famer, and the greatest offensive lineman ever born in Saskatchewan.
Really? What about Aldag and Poley
Ah roger aldag, bob poley you can through him into that list aswell.
What about Gene Makowski???Doesn't he fit on the list???
Old Cuss
That was fun watching Mr Flory and his Montreal Alouettes championship team mates defeat the team who couldn't count, not once but twice back to back. Thank you Scott Flory and the rest of the Montreal Alouettes organization
Go Alouettes 2014+ !!!!!!!
9 time All Star, 2 time O-Lineman of the Year, and he could have won that more. 8 Grey Cup games, 3 Grey Cups and his QB is all time in Passing yards. The Als O-Line of the modern era is the greatest of all time.
Scott Flory is at the top of the mountain for Saskatchewan born O-Lineman, and when you get to the all time list he is in that conversation.
Gene Makowsky was serviceable, but not even the best O-Lineman on his team during certain stretches. Andrew Greene was better than Gene Makowsky, and up until the end it was Geno's Canadian status keeping him employed. Also just looking at O-Lineman from a Canadian perspective Gene wasn't in Roger Aldag's class. Not even close. You could take the Canadian tag off of Scott Flory and he still maintains his current ranking.
The first question when finding out how in the heck did a guy almost throw for 80,000 yards was who provided his protection. It starts and ends there, and to do that for 15 years is mind blowing.
Serviceable? Yawn. Always enjoy the nerds with their pointless debates about "who's the best". They were all pretty darn good, you can probably leave it at that and not bother trolling.
Let's not forget that Gene mostly played Tackle. Flory played Guard. One of those positions is tougher than the other for most guys. (and considered more valuable) Now, there are exceptions depending on body type. For example, Patrick Neufeld can play tackle but doesn't have enough road grader in him to play guard. I personally think Gene could have been an all star at guard in his prime. (I believe he played tackle for all his all star seasons). Now could Flory be an allstar at tackle? No idea and probably why these arguments are pretty much a waste of… Read more »