Former Saskatchewan Roughriders offensive lineman and Grey Cup Champion Brendon LaBatte is also a stock car racing enthusiast who survived an accident after his vehicle rolled over three-and-a-half times on July 8.
“It was a wild ride. They got a bunch of rain and we rained out in Minot the night before. It's a big tour, cars come from all over the U.S. to be on this tour and after it rained out, they got that inch of rain in the morning.They were blading it, trying to do as best they could to get us a surface to race on. It was a ton of traction out there and for the first time in 24 years, I went over and it happened so fast, I didn't even have a chance to save it. We were running third, though I had a good enough car to be up front, so we were driving it hard the second time around and it went up, bicycled onto the two right side tires,” LaBatte recalled to the SportsCage.
“I hit a little rut and it was gone before I even knew for three-and-a-half rolls, finished up on the roof. That was the worst part: smelling gas, being upside down and not knowing do I pull the belts and start trying to shimmy out, then you risk the car being unstable and possibly pinching you. I was yelling at the track officials: 'I'm fine, just get me back on my wheels, flip me over.' Once they said that they had the fire truck there with all the rescue equipment so that it wouldn't go up in flames, I settled down a little bit, started undoing the gear and waited to get tipped over.”
This year, LaBatte has finished in the top five once and four times in the top ten when it comes to stock car racing. Before LaBatte went to play in the CFL, he spent his colleagiate career playing for the University of Regina Rams from 2004 to 2007.
“At that point I had three junior teams that were interested in wanting me to go out and play. Frank [McCrystal] was the only university team that had reached out. [I told him], yeah, sure, I'll come. [Then he said] 'Well, what do you want to take?' And I was like: 'Maybe I'll do education.' He's like: 'Well, you got to have this big, long essay typed up by March 1'. I was like: 'Well, that's not going to happen.' The first year, he redshirted me and it turned out to be great,” LaBatte said.
“That's when it clicked, if I can keep doing what the coaches are asking, show up and give it my all that maybe I can play this game a little longer than just college.”
The Weyburn, Saskatchewan native was selected by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the first round, sixth overall in the 2008 CFL Draft. He stayed with the Bombers until 2011 then went to Green and White in free agency, his time with the Riders lasted from 2012 to 2019.
“The Riders had been to the Grey Cup in 2009 and 2010, then 2011 was our year, but we weren't really committed to long-term success. I didn't feel like [being] there when it came to negotiations and seeing Joe Mack's plan at that time. To know what they had going on here with Jim Hopson and Brendan Taman, as soon as I could get back, that was what I was looking to do, so it made it easy,” LaBatte said.
“Then, as soon as BT went out and was able to get Dominic Picard, who I was a teammate with in Winnipeg, before he went over to Toronto, everything started to line up and it was a no-brainer to come back.”
The six-foot-four, 310 pound offensive lineman played in the CFL for 11 years from 2008 to 2019 and earned miultiple all-star nominations throughout his career. During the 2013 season, LaBatte helped Saskatchewan win the Grey Cup. He added a major individual trophy to his collection besides the Grey Cup, the 2013 CFL Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman award.
