OTTAWA — Henry Burris made his retirement official on Tuesday, ending his prolific Hall of Fame career after 18 seasons.

While many CFL fans watched through teary eyes and a whirlwind of emotions, Burris has a message for the REDBLACKS whose hearts he captured.

Below is the letter Burris penned to Ottawa fans following his retirement, courtesy of OttawaREDBLACKS.com:

Dear RNation,

These past three years in Ottawa have been some of the most exciting years of my career and none of it would have been possible without all of you. For that, I thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, though the words don’t seem like quite enough.

If you think I didn’t notice the cheers, screams, signs and plaid every time I stepped foot onto the field at TD Place, you couldn’t be more wrong. As athletes, that’s what fuels us. We do what we do to see the looks on your faces when Greg Ellingson catches a last-second Hail Mary in the East Final, or when Abdul Kanneh’s fingertips put us back on the path to being champions.

We’ve come a long way since that first press conference and a 2-16 record. We promised to make you proud and ultimately win a Grey Cup. Despite those early struggles, you stayed by our sides and never lost faith. Each and every time the lights at TD Place were on, you filled every seat in the building.

This journey has been the icing on the cake for my family and I! To know my kids are becoming Francophone, beginning their own journey while watching daddy finish his in one of the greatest cities on the planet – that’s why Ottawa will remain home for a long time.

I’ve never wanted anything in this game as much as I wanted to help bring a Grey Cup to Ottawa. From the young kids who took in their first CFL games this year, to the older generations who have been so patiently waiting for this moment – I’m honoured to be able to share this with you. If you sat through the East Final snowstorm, through a downpour, if you sat in the blazing sun to watch practice or if you stayed up until the wee hours in Ottawa to watch us play out west, a piece of this Grey Cup will always be yours.

And that’s all I ever wanted to do. Win. Celebrate with all of you. And we did it.

Through all the ups and downs, excitement and doubt, in the end we all R family. We always maintained our belief and never wavered. Forty years of patience has paid off. Thank you Ottawa – we R the champions!

But this is far from a goodbye. The next chapter is about to start.

See you soon.

Henry Burris