Winnipeg’s Andrew Harris to retire as a Bomber
Posted April 5, 2024 5:47 pm.
Last Updated April 5, 2024 5:48 pm.
Andrew Harris will sign a one-day contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers so he can retire as a member of the team.
Harris made the announcement in the Blue Bombers’ ‘Handled Internally’ podcast.
The Winnipeg native was instrumental in bringing multiple Grey Cups to the city.
“When an athlete looks back at where he had the biggest impact, I think my impact was felt the most with the Bombers from when I started there to when I left,” said Harris in a chat with bluebombers.com. “That’s when I had the most stats, the most impact on a community and fan base. And it’s my hometown. It was a dream come true to be a Bomber. With all those factors, retiring as Bomber only seemed right.”
Harris started his illustrious CFL career in 2009 as a member of the BC Lions, before officially cracking their starting lineup in 2010.
In 2011, he was named the Most Outstanding Canadian, as he helped the Lions defeat his hometown team 34-23 in the Grey Cup in Vancouver.
Harris signed for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2016 as a free agent, where he ran for three consecutive rushing titles and became the Bombers’ sixth all-time leading rusher with 5,402 yards. Additionally, in 2019, he became the CFL’s all-time leading rusher and will be retiring with 10,380 yards and 51 touchdowns, while also recording 607 receptions for 5,489 yards and 32 touchdowns.
Harris led the league in rushing yards in 2019 when he and the Bombers went on to claim Winnipeg’s first Grey Cup since 1990, as they defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Calgary.
In 2021, during a shortened season due to COVID-19 restrictions, Harris once again helped the Bombers hoist the Grey Cup against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, this time in Hamilton.
Following this, in 2022, he left for Toronto in free agency.
“I have the utmost respect for every single soul in the Bomber organization and I fully respect the decision that led to me being gone. I’ve come to grips with that,” he said. “Fully understanding the whole situation and looking back at it now, if I had been on the other side, I probably would have done the same thing.
“I came into that last season in Winnipeg hurt and not in the best shape. That was the same with the majority of guys through COVID, but I was also going through a separation, and I was in a dark spot. I wasn’t fully committed and engaged to the team. When I was there in the building I was, but when I was hurt or not there, my mind was other places and sometimes that distracted me from being the best I could be for the Bombers. When I was there, I did do my job. The other side of it was too much of a distraction. Looking back at it … in my eyes, it was disrespect then. Now, in the grand scheme of things, it’s what needed to be done.”
During the 2022 season, Harris would go on to win his third-straight Grey Cup, this time as a member of the Toronto Argonauts, defeating his former team who were looking to secure their third-straight title.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers say there will be a ceremonial contract for Harris to sign on April 27 at The Met and a gala red-carpet event for the premiere of the documentary on his life – ‘Running Back Relentless.’
“The documentary, which will also be available on Apple TV this summer, is an emotionally charged journey through his childhood through to his last days with the Argos. Produced by Upper Canada Films and directed by Taylor Prestidge, the film documents his beginnings in the game with the Eastman Raiders in Steinbach, to the Grant Park Pirates, Oak Park Raiders and the Vancouver Island Raiders junior team before he turned pro,” said the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a statement.
“There is brutal honesty from Harris in the documentary, including his unsettled upbringing, the trouble he was chasing as a youth, to his frustrations and mental health struggles.”
