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Burris pens article for ‘ The Players Tribune’; details injuries & silencing naysayers

CFL

If you watched Henry Burris long enough, you knew that under those pads sat two shoulders riddled with chips.

He never tried to hide this. You could ask him at any time: The first day of training camp; a sunny walkthrough day in July; under a foot of snow on the Monday of a Grey Cup Week and Hank would, true to his name, smile wide, lean back in his chair and let you know who and what was on his mind and why.

There were coaches or GMs that cut him, writers that wrote him off, fans that turned on him when the zip wasn’t on the ball, or when it found its way into defensive backs’ hands. Last year, the entire TSN panel caught his ire — at halftime of a game he was playing in — and he let them know what he thought, then doubled down in the post-game interview, after his REDBLACKS beat Edmonton 23-20.

Future Hall of Famer Henry Burris wrote the first ever CFL-exclusive article for The Players Tribune — a multi-national sports content company founded by former New York Yankee Derek Jeter — on his career, path to the CFL and the obstacles that he faced along the way … READ ARTICLE.

After years of watching him, these chips were obvious. What we didn’t know was that one of Burris’ greatest battles was the one he was fighting against himself.

In his Players’ Tribune letter, Burris goes into great detail about the three knee injuries he suffered that all threatened to ruin his career. There was a non-contact injury in Week 5 of the 1999 season. There was a game with NFL Europe in Barcelona in 2003, where a routine throw gave way to that familiar pop — like someone snapping their fingers behind your knee, he said — and his season was scrapped, along with his plans to propose to his girlfriend that night after the game.

Amidst the hailstorm of doubters that Burris saw around him throughout his career, his knee was that one that was always there in the background, casting its own doubt within him, always ready to give way at the least opportune time. Of course, that familiar pain returned in the warmups of the 104th Grey Cup last year, with Burris readying to write the storybook ending to his career against an all-time great Calgary team that was heavily favoured and five-years removed from releasing him.

Pop. “Same knee,” Burris said in the piece. “Proposal knee. Thirteen years later.”

Of course, right?

The most amazing thing about Henry Burris’ career, though, was that despite his age, despite his knee and the critics — perceived and those actually saying it was too late, that he was too inconsistent, and that his team was too regular a David up against the strongest of Goliaths — he got the storybook ending. He numbed his knee, stunned the Stampeders and silenced everyone with a 461-yard, three-touchdown, one interception performance that might be the greatest one a Grey Cup game has ever seen.

People shake their heads at athletes that age and cling to the belief that they’ve still got it, that they can still lead a team and still win. More often than not, those people are right. Regular folks and pro athletes alike, our bodies find incredibly humbling ways to fail us as we inch toward and beyond 40. All Burris did in his late 30s was play in two more Grey Cup games with Hamilton and get to two more with Ottawa before taking down the Stamps.

His pockmarked shoulders and his hobbled walk cast something of a funny silhouette as he goes into the sunset, but Burris left the game on top, overcoming that nagging knee that tried and failed three times to spoil one of the CFL’s most remarkable stories.

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