Not too long ago, Greg Mayer never suspected that his future would be up in the air.
This accomplished Athletic Therapist presumed that his customary mode of travel, at least vocationally, would be a bus — and certainly not an airplane.
But then he joined the Saskatchewan Roughriders, after spending 26 years in the Western Hockey League, and was introduced to the routine of road trips that took him more than 30,000 feet above the ground.
Now preparing for his second CFL season, Mayer was asked if he had ever calculated how far he had travelled on a bus while employed by the Moose Jaw Warriors (1997 to 2004) and Regina Pats (2004 to 2023).
“I figured that, conservatively, I’ve ridden around the equator of the Earth 30 times,” the Roughriders’ Head Athletic Therapist replied.
Not only that, he often rode around the equator, so to speak, in the dead of winter.
And guess what? He loved every minute of it.
When the 2022-23 WHL season began, Mayer hadn’t given a moment’s thought to working outside of hockey. He loved his job, his colleagues, and all the people in general.
But then, as mid-season approached, his phone went DING!
The Pats had just completed a three-games-within-three-days whirlwind that began on a Friday night in Prince Albert, resumed on a Saturday when the Calgary Hitmen visited Regina’s Brandt Centre, and concluded on a Sunday evening in Winnipeg.
“On the bus ride home, I’m kind of staring out the window around Virden and I get this text message saying, ‘Hey, would you be interested in meeting with Jeremy O’Day?’ ” Mayer recalled.
The Roughriders were looking for a Head Athletic Therapist. Mayer was eminently qualified and therefore recommended to the CFL team.
A meeting with O’Day — the Roughriders’ Roughriders’ Vice-President of Football Operations and General Manager —
was soon scheduled.
Leading up to the discussion, Mayer figured he would ultimately decide to stay put in the major-junior ranks. That all changed when he listened to and was impressed by O’Day and the Roughriders’ organization.
“It wasn’t like I was looking to get out of hockey,” Mayer recalled. “It was just the right opportunity at the right time.
“I’m kind of on the back-nine of my career. I’m not quite on the 18th green, but I can see the clubhouse. It’s a lot closer than it was 27 years ago when I started in Moose Jaw.”
It all started for Mayer in his hometown of Kelowna, where he was born in May of 1968.
“I played hockey until AAA (in the under-18 division) and played football in high school,” he said. “I always loved sports.
“Like a lot of people, when I graduated from high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I had a Mustang and I just wanted to drive around and listen to hair metal.
“So I just worked for a number of years and then, as I started to get into my early 20s, I kind of had a better idea of what I wanted to do.
“I really liked to work out. Originally, I wanted to be a strength and conditioning coach in hockey, so that’s kind of what I went back to school for.”
Hence the move to Vancouver, where he enrolled at the University of British Columbia, from which he graduated in 1995 with a degree in Human Kinetics.
“Like any university student, you need experience and you need to volunteer and follow people,” Mayer continued. “One of my friends in university was playing Junior B hockey. They needed somebody and I had taken taping courses and first-aid courses and some sports-injury courses, so they asked me, ‘Would you come out and help us?’
“So I did that and then, at the gym I worked out at in Vancouver, there were a bunch of former B.C. Lions players, like John Henry White and Tyrone Crews. Those guys were coaching the Vancouver Trojans, a junior football team. After hockey season was done, they said to me, ‘We’re looking for someone. You know how to tape and you know how to do all that stuff. Would you come out and help us?’
“That’s kind of how I got into that. Then, the next year, I got a job with Langley in the B.C. junior (hockey) league. The next year, all of a sudden, I was in Moose Jaw.”
During Mayer’s time as the Warriors’ Athletic Therapist/Strength and Conditioning Coach, he worked with Hockey Canada at the 1999 world under-18 championship and the 2001 world junior tournament.
As a member of the Pats, he earned another opportunity with Hockey Canada and was part of the 2010 national junior team when the world championship’s gold-medal final was held in Saskatoon.
The United States ended up winning 6-5 on an overtime goal by John Carlson, who scored before an overflow crowd of 15,171.
The Americans had led 5-3 before back-to-back goals by Pats star Jordan Eberle in the final three minutes of regulation time necessitated OT.
“It was unbelievable, because it was so loud,” Mayer marvelled. “When Ebs scored to tie the game, the people behind our bench were hanging off the Plexiglas. The glass behind our bench was bent over top of us.
“When we were in the dressing room waiting for overtime to start, the crowd was cheering so loud and stomping. You felt like a train was coming through. It was unbelievable.
“When Carlson scored, it was like being on a freight train and slamming the brakes. There was all the emotion in the crowd and then there was just …”
Silence.
Sadness.
Mayer did emerge with his second world junior medal — a silver, to accompany the bronze he had received in Russia nine years earlier.
In 2019, he was presented with the WHL’s Milestone Award, which recognizes outstanding achievements. At the time, he had 1,500-plus games of service, spanning his time with the Warriors and Pats.
Now, with hockey in the rear-view mirror, Mayer covets another keepsake — a Grey Cup ring. Or, preferably, multiple Grey Cup rings.
But first things first. The Roughriders’ rookie camp is only 2½ weeks away and preparations for an extended stay in Saskatoon are the immediate priority.
“I feel way more comfortable going into my second (CFL) season,” Mayer noted. “A year ago today, I felt like I was on the Titanic and I was bailing it with a coffee cup, because everything was brand-new.”
Well, sort of.
Mayer boasted one game of CFL experience before joining the Roughriders.
Back in 2010, the Lions were poised to oppose the Roughriders in Regina when a member of the B.C. training staff became ill.
The Lions reached out to Ivan Gutfriend, who was then the Roughriders’ Athletic Therapist, and asked if he knew of anyone who could fill the temporary void.
To this day, Mayer is grateful to Gutfriend, who is a mentor, friend and “someone who taught me so much of what I know.”
Fittingly, Gutfriend recommended Mayer to the Lions and a full-circle experience was the result.
Mayer had followed the Lions as a youngster and,
in fact, used to attend the team’s training-camp workouts when they were held in Kelowna.
“So my first CFL regular-season game was actually working for B.C., here against the Roughriders,” Mayer said. “The Rider fans will be happy to know that they kicked the Lions’ rear ends.”
By a 37-13 count, to be precise, on Aug. 12, 2010.
“It was a perfect convoluted thing, because my parents were actually visiting from Kelowna,” Mayer said with a chuckle, “so they got to come to the game and see me work for the Lions.
“Before the game, my buddy from Vancouver told me, ‘Make sure you stand beside (Lions Head Coach) Wally Buono. You’ll get lots of TV time.’ ”
Mayer also gained first-hand CFL experience while helping out the Roughriders at a number of training camps, the culmination of that association being a text message he received near Virden, Man., on Dec. 11, 2022.
The aforementioned meeting with O’Day ensued, as did a job offer.
Mayer soon discussed the career change with his wife (Shannon) and two daughters (Joselyn and Samantha).
With the family on board, Mayer became a Roughrider. The announcement was made in February of 2023.
“For the first road trip last year, we went to Edmonton on the opening week,” he said. “I got on the bus at the stadium and, five minutes later, we were at the airport in Regina. I thought, ‘I could get used to this.’
“Coincidentally, the driver for us that day was one of the drivers with the Pats. I said, ‘Geez, Brent, that’s the best trip you’ve ever given me — a five-minute bus ride.”
The contrast in modes of transportation also occurred to Mayer on Sept. 22, following the Roughriders’ game in Ottawa against the REDBLACKS. That was also the night of the Pats’ regular-season opener, against the Brandon Wheat Kings.
“I got a text from (Pats play-by-play announcer) Dante De Caria,” Mayer said. “We were just about to take off and the Pats were leaving Brandon.
“We landed in Regina and we got on the bus to the stadium. Our bus and the Pats’ bus pulled up in the (REAL District) parking lot at the same time.
“We had flown halfway across the country in the same time that it took the Pats to drive to Regina from Brandon.”
Just like that, Mayer’s previous and current employers intersected, following an overnight flight.
“Hockey people are awesome,” he reflected, while expressing his appreciation for the way he has been treated by members of the football community since joining the Roughriders.
“It’s just the relationships, at the end of the day, that I’ll remember.”
