Simon Reflects On CFL Milestone

Written By Steven Chang

On June 29, 2012, our very own Geroy Simon reached the prestigious milestone of becoming CFL’s all-time leader in receiving yards. Superman broke the record on a 56-yard reception from Travis Lulay early in the fourth quarter of the Lions’ 33-16 victory over Winnipeg to kick off the 2012 campaign.

This Friday, TSN Encore will broadcast the record-breaking game on to relive the special moment of Simon surpassing fellow CFL legend Milt Stegall in the history books. You can catch it on TSN 1 and 3 at 7:30 PM Pacific Time.

FULL CFL ON TSN ENCORE SCHEDULE 

“It’s not every day that you’re playing in a game that’s over 100 years old and you set this type of record,” said Simon in a Zoom interview.

“I’ll definitely tune in and probably record it.”

Now working as a scout for the Lions, Simon still holds the league’s all-time receiving mark with 16,352 yards. On top of that, Simon is second in all-time receptions and ranks third in all-time touchdowns, hauling in 1,029 catches with 103 touchdowns in a remarkable hall of fame career.

Once on the Blue Bombers’ practice squad and playing alongside Stegall, a young Geroy Simon never imagined he would be in the league long enough to break any records.

“I just wanted to get on the field and have 1,000 yards,” Simon said.

“But to be able to break Milt’s record after he had already broken Allen Pitts’ record, it was really special to me.”

“I always looked up to Milt Stegall. He kind of taught me to be a pro from afar. Even though we only played for two years [together], I watched a lot of things he did, the way he handled himself and I learned a lot from him.”

Other legendary players who impacted Simon before he turned into a star receiver were Robert Gordon, Allen Pitts, Travis Moore, Terry Vaughn, Darren Flutie and the list goes on.

While spending some time with Stegall and Gordon early in his career, Simon saw how they prepared each week. That was one of the biggest lessons he learned how to be an elite receiver.

“When I first came in, I was a kid who had a lot of talent and I could make the roster. But I didn’t really know how to maintain that and stay on the roster,” said Simon while reflecting on his first two seasons in Winnipeg.

“The preparation each and every week and taking care of your body; I didn’t learn that until a few years into my career.”

Simon took the same mentality to B.C. as he began to rack up individual awards and winning two Grey Cups before breaking Stegall’s record in 2012

Coming off the 2011 Grey Cup victory, Simon didn’t let the celebrations and banquets distract him from reaching his goal in the offseason.

“In between all of that [celebrations], I trained my butt off. The thing is, I knew my career was coming to an end but I still prepared you know, pretty hard and pretty thoroughly,” said Simon on his recollection of his later years with the Lions.

In the back of his mind, Simon acknowledged that it was going to be another special year as he came into the 2012 season charged up for another run at the Grey Cup.

“It had been an entire offseason of waiting to break this record. I was prepared not only to break the record, but I was prepared to have a great season,” he said.

During the game, Winnipeg was doing whatever they could to push back the historic milestone for another week because all Simon needed was 67 yards to surpass Stegall.

The play occurred near the beginning of the fourth quarter and Simon recalled that the team was just trying to get a first down.

“I remember I came into motion. I can’t remember who was beside me but Arland Bruce was supposed to be on the line of scrimmage and he wasn’t on it,” he said.

As the offence broke from the huddle, Simon said he made sure Bruce was on the line of scrimmage and he just happened to get lost in the mix where he ran past the opposing defender.

“We had three guys moving and it was like a layer route. I just remember I had the deep portion of the route and it was basically for me to clear out,” recalled Simon.

“The veteran savvy side that I had, I knew how to slow play things, but defenders see one thing and not paying attention to others. So, I kind of slipped in behind the defenders.”

After creating separation between him and the defence, Simon said “I put my hand up and Travis came from the bootleg and saw me open and let it rip.”

Simon recalls that the ball took forever to come down as he knew this would be the record-breaking catch against his former team.

When asked about how the record-breaking catch was different than other significant plays Simon made over the years, he jokingly said “well, normally I would score.”

“It was just one was those plays where you know that it’s a big moment and make sure that one, you catch it and then two, do what you can afterwards.”

Just the way Stegall likely taught him years prior.