By Ed Tait
WINNIPEG — Each week, a Bombers player visits with Ed Tait of BlueBombers.com to reminisce about a particular game, or games, that are most memorable for them in their careers in high school, college or the professional ranks.
Thiadric Hansen background:
- A product of Flensburg, Germany, Hansen was selected second overall by the Blue Bombers in the CFL’s inaugural European Draft.
- Hansen was by far the best of the CFL’s Global players, beginning the year as a special-teams player and then transforming into a rotational player on defense. He finished the year with five tackles, one sack and two forced fumbles.
- His most memorable play came in the Bombers Grey Cup win when he destroyed two members of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with one hit on a kickoff return cover unit.
- Hansen opted out of his CFL contract with the cancellation of the 2020 season and is now playing for the Wroclaw Panthers in Poland.
“The game that stands out for me has to be the Grey Cup because it was the biggest game I had ever played in and I was really hoping to win it.
My first season in Germany, we went all the way to the finals and lost by three points. My first year with the national team, we went to the world championships and were starting great – we beat the U.S.A. – and then lost to France in the finals by one score. The whole time during Grey Cup week, I was thinking, ‘Please, it can’t be like this again.’
I also had some family issues. My grandfather died shortly after the Grey Cup. He would always ask how I was doing. He had cancer and also had a stroke shortly before the Grey Cup, so he was having a hard time.
After the game, it was like I couldn’t even remember the game, I was so far out of my head. During the game, I was into it, thankfully, but after the game, I couldn’t really go and party because I had all this stuff going on.
Then when I went home after the Grey Cup, he was in bad shape… he could barely speak. He just said he was proud of me. Everyone was just saying that’s the only thing he waited on. After that, he said, ‘I don’t want anymore to drink now and no more food.’ And then after that, he died.
His name was ‘Eckhart’ and I had his name put on my Grey Cup ring. It was a very emotional time, but I am happy that it ended like this, with him knowing we had won the championship.”