Tag Archives: roughriders plaza of honor inductee 2000

Ridgway, Dave “Robokicker”

Card: All-World 1991
Acquired: TTM 1994, C/o The CFL

Small note about the Canadian Football League. Unlike the NFL, kickers roles are actually enhanced in the CFL with the aid of the ‘rouge’. If a kicker launches the ball and it goes out of the back of the endzone, but does not score a field goal, his team still receives a single point.

Drafted in 1981 by the Montreal Alouettes, Dave Ridgway’s career would be off to a bad start as he’d be unable to make the squad that season. Contacted in 1982 by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, he’d go on to become one of the most storied kickers of the CFL’s history. Ridgway would kick the game winning field goal in Saskatchewan’s exciting Grey Cup victory in 1989, and is the most accurate kicker in league history, knocking down 59 field goals in 1987, and 8 field goals in a game which are both league records as well. He’d retire in 1994, virtually in control of nearly all league kicking records.

A 6 time CFL All Star, Dave rightfully so has received numerous accolades since his retirement. His number (36) was retired by the Roughriders and he was inducted into the team’s Plaza of Honor in 2000. In 2003, Ridgway was also named to the CFL HoF, and won the MVP honor for his clutch field goal in the 1989 Grey Cup.

Dave’s name is spelled ‘Ridgway’, and he was nicknamed ‘Robokicker’ by his teammates for his ability to automatically hit field goals and the coincidence that the movie “RoboCop” had been released that year. Below is a link to the 1989 Grey Cup field goal and his final limited statistics, since the CFL does a horrid job of keeping them.

fga N/a    fgm N/a   pct .780  pts 2374