Heavy Hearts Aplenty as Stampeders Honour Fallen Teammate Mylan Hicks
- Updated: November 25, 2016
They may be entering Sunday’s Grey Cup with a plethora of confidence, but the Calgary Stampeders also enter said game with heavy hearts as the team, despite their success on the field, were forced to deal with tragedy away from it in 2016.
In the early morning hours of September 25, Stampeders defensive back Mylan Hicks was fatally shot at a Calgary nightclub. Hicks, a native of Detroit, MI, was just 23 years old.
Photo courtesy of the CFL
Since then, the Stampeders have paid homage to their fallen teammate by keeping his No. 31 jersey – as well as his equipment — in his stall. They have traveled with the team to Toronto this week as the Stampeders are dedicating this year’s Grey Cup to Hicks’ memory.
On Wednesday morning, Stamps’ head coach Dave Dickenson spoke of the tragedy’s aftermath for his team.
“There were some tough moments and there still are,” Dickenson said. “I mean, it’s not over, but I didn’t have a template. I didn’t know what to tell the coaches, the players. It’s just, to me, and you don’t want to get on a political soapbox, this shouldn’t happen.”
There was a story in the Calgary Sun earlier this week, however, indicating that Renee Hill, Mylan’s mother, will be attending this weekend’s Grey Cup – a contest she was adamant that her late son would have played in and one he longed to play in.
Photo credit: Calgary Stampeders/The Canadian Press
“He would have played in the Grey Cup, no doubt — he would he have played. No doubt. No doubt at all,” said a convinced Hill, speaking to the Calgary Sun’s Michael Platt on the phone from the family home in Detroit.
To read the story in its entirety, click here.
While their 15-2-1 record certainly helps, some could suggest that the Calgary Stampeders are the favourites this weekend for more sentimental reasons, and that includes playing for a fallen teammate.
Entering Grey Cup weekend, the Stampeders find themselves in an uncommon — not to mention unenviable — situation as they play for the honour of Mylan Hicks. Yet, while the Stamps have certainly had to deal with this tragedy, they have flourished on the field in spite of that. Don’t look for Sunday to be any different — even if they do come out on the losing end.
Should the Stampeders capture their second Grey Cup in three years this Sunday, you can be certain that the legacy, the life of Mylan Hicks will be celebrated to the fullest.
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