Darian Durant and Roy Shivers reflected on their shared Saskatchewan Roughriders history before being honoured in the club’s Plaza of Honour in October 2024. Their connection reached back to a 2006 transaction that brought Durant’s negotiation rights to Saskatchewan and eventually helped shape the team’s 2013 Grey Cup championship.
Durant’s decade in green and white
Durant joined the Roughriders in 2006 and remained through the 2016 season. He was part of the 2007 championship team and later became the starting quarterback who led Saskatchewan to victory in the 2013 Grey Cup at Mosaic Stadium.
He started three Grey Cup games for the club and guided the Riders to West Division titles in 2009 and 2010. In 2010, he led the Canadian Football League with 5,542 passing yards.
The home-field championship carried particular weight for supporters. It turned years of roster building and playoff disappointment into one of the franchise’s defining moments, while Durant became closely associated with resilience after injuries and high-pressure losses.
Shivers built the foundation
Shivers served as Saskatchewan’s general manager from late 1999 until August 2006. He inherited a three-win team and helped turn it into a regular playoff participant by 2002, with appearances in the 2003 and 2004 West Division finals.
His historical significance extended beyond Saskatchewan. Shivers had become the CFL’s first Black general manager with the Birmingham Barracudas in 1995. After arriving in Regina, he hired Danny Barrett, forming what the club described as professional football’s first Black general-manager and head-coach partnership.
The trade that connected their stories
On April 12, 2006, Shivers completed a deal with Hamilton involving the first selection in the Ottawa Renegades dispersal draft. Saskatchewan used it to obtain Kerry Joseph and also acquired Durant’s negotiation-list rights.
Both quarterbacks later delivered championships as starters: Joseph in 2007 and Durant in 2013. Shivers was no longer the general manager when those titles were won, but the transaction illustrated how personnel decisions can influence a club years after an executive leaves.
Shivers recruited or signed 11 future Plaza of Honour members and 16 players who became CFL all-stars while with Saskatchewan. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as a builder in 2022.
The 2024 class
Durant and Shivers were selected alongside Saskatchewan-born running back Steve Molnar, who was honoured posthumously. Molnar played for the Riders from 1969 to 1978 and rushed for 144 yards in the 1976 Western Conference final, helping the team reach the Grey Cup.
The club initially planned to recognize the class at halftime of its October 12 game against the B.C. Lions. Durant and Shivers appeared before the crowd during Legends Night; club records note that Molnar’s formal recognition was deferred.
Honour without rewriting history
A hall or plaza selection celebrates achievement, but responsible retrospection should not reduce team success to one person. Durant depended on coaches, linemen, receivers, defenders and special teams. Shivers operated with scouts, football staff and ownership, and later management converted inherited talent into championships.
Nor should a later title erase the pressure and criticism that accompany a long rebuilding period. The value of the induction is that it places individual contributions within a longer organizational story.
Durant represented the performance supporters ultimately saw on the field; Shivers represented the less visible recruitment and institutional change that made later success possible. Honouring them together captured the chain between identifying talent, building an inclusive leadership structure and delivering a championship that remained central to Roughrider history.
