The 36-year-old Victoria resident goes out a Grey Cup champ, after his 10th and final season in the CFL, winning the historic trophy as a member of the Edmonton Eskimos.
A former rugby player and graduate of Reynolds Secondary, Ramsay attended University of New Mexico after stops at Rocky Mountain College in Billings, Montana, and then Butte College in Oroville, California. He was eventually drafted in the fifth round by the Toronto Argonauts in 2006. He remained there until moving to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 2010.
The six-foot-eight, 310-pound offensive lineman spent the past five seasons with the Eskimos. He was released by the club to start the 2015 campaign, but brought back a month later due to injuries. He played 11 games but was not in the lineup for the championship game, instead placed on the injury list, but will receive his Grey Cup ring in Edmonton in May.
A chartered accountant at KPMG in Victoria for close to nine years, Ramsay started his new career with the CFLPA a week ago Monday.
“They’ve been fantastic with me throughout my career and they’re actually sub-letting me an office, down the hall,” he said of his KPMG co-workers. “I’m pretty excited about this next step. It’s going to keep me in the business, which I’m pretty thrilled about and the fact that I can stay here, close to the family, is awesome.
“I’m excited to stay in the game. There’s always a shelf life as a player and when this opportunity came up, I was excited to think I can continue in a game that you’re really passionate about.”
Ramsay was a player rep through his career and the last two years he was a member of the CFLPA executive.
He now has the memory of being part of a Grey Cup team to end his playing career.
“I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel when I knew I wasn’t dressing for the game. I was almost set for retirement before that and then I remember saying to my wife while I was down on the field while the confetti was falling down, ‘This is fun. We have to do this again.’
“But then you get out of bed as a 36-year-old in January and February and you realize, yeah, there’s a reason there’s that shelf life in sports.”
His wife, Sheri, was back home on the Island with their three children — Leah, 6, Kole, 3 and Jane, 1 — with 60 to 70 family members watching the Grey Cup on TV.
Ramsay had his chance to bring Lord Earl Grey’s mug back to his West Saanich home.
He and his brother Dave, a former national team rugby player and a member of the James Bay club, walked on the ferry and picked up the cup from a trio of Eskimos who reside in the Vancouver area.
“We had this monster case that was getting in the way. There were kids looking at the tags and looking at us, so we took it out and plunked it on a table in the cafeteria on the ferry and the whole cafeteria filled up. It was a good day,” recalled Ramsay.
He brought it home, the kids were already asleep and he left it in the hall for them to wake up to. It was on the kitchen table for breakfast and he then went off to school for show and tell before stops at KPMG and the Crooked Goose.
“Sheri and I were sitting on the couch and there were dents and gouges in [the cup]. We talked about where it had gone over the years.”
And now he’ll forever be remembered as a Grey Cup champion and will have the ring to prove it.
“I’ll be happy to have my four desserts, be with the guys, get my ring and wish them well the next day,” he said with a laugh, knowing he won’t have to go through camp after the ring ceremony in the Alberta capital.
Instead he will be part of the CFLPA team.
“It’s so awesome for Brian,” his former training partner, Tim O’Neill of Metchosin, said of Ramsay’s new career path. “I am so happy for him. He’s a great guy and I’m sure that ring is going to look good on him. He’ll be busy with the union stuff.”
