Frankly Speaking: Rams Dealing With Loss of Borlase
by Greg Urbanoski 
September 17, 2009

This has been a week unlike any other for the University of Regina Rams. 

Last Friday the Rams lost a nail-biter 10-9 to the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. On Saturday the Rams woke up to find out Spenser Borlase, a red-shirted defensive lineman, had been killed in a two-vehicle collision while en route to Prince Albert to visit his girlfriend after the game. 

“We recruited him because we had the sense he was going to be a good player,” said Rams Head Coach Frank McCrystal.  

“Academically he was strong and athletically he was very good. He was not only a football player, he was also looking at trying out for the track team. He was a confident, personable young man who was in the process of defining his place on the team.” 

Following word of Borlase’s death, counsellors were brought into the university to talk to players and coaches and practices were cancelled on the weekend. 

“With a group as large as ours, something like this will have varying degrees on impact on players,” said McCrystal. “With the younger players who attended high school with Spenser or came on the Rams the same time he did, this will affect them differently than the older players who were just getting to know him. 

“We first met as a team on August 20 and other than one day off since then have been together ever since getting to know each other. Spenser is a team-mate of theirs, part of the Rams family and this is a tragic and sad event.” 

The Rams will have Borlase’s No. 61 jersey hanging in his locker for the rest of the season and at the time of writing, there was no finalization of memorials or other such events to be announced. 

This is the second time in two years the Rams have dealt with the death of a player affiliated with the team. On April 27, 2007, receiver Alex Rodier had decided to leave the team to join the University of Manitoba Bisons and was killed in a roll-over on the Trans-Canada while en route from Regina to Winnipeg. 

“Other than what happened with Rodier, we haven’t had a lot of this happen here,” said McCrystal. “Now we have to manage through what has happened, help our players and coaches, and try to work through this as we prepare for the University of Calgary this weekend.”