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Campbell, whose father Hugh had been a star receiver with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and later a CFL icon as Edmonton Eskimos coach and executive, briefly introduced Jackson as one of the all-time great Rough Riders, a great competitor and a CFL champion. His goalwas to emphasize Ottawa’s pro football history for the players on a club entering just its second season.

“It mattered (then), and it still matters,” he says. “It’s always good to learn about the people that came before you and the history behind it. It just gives you a whole new level of respect for football in this town and this city and the fans and all that. You can’t get enough of that.

“Any time we have a chance to interact with him or (other) alumni, we’re going to take advantage of it.”

Photo by Tim Baines / Postmedia

Mark Goudie, president and chief executive officer of Ottawa Sports & Entertainment Group, says the CFL franchise owners established simultaneous goals to “cut our own swath” and chart a new course for pro football in Ottawa while acknowledging the game’s history in the capital, both good and bad, with the Rough Riders (1876-1996) or short-lived Renegades (2002-2005).

To that end, OSEG regularly features Jackson in alumni events linked to Redblacks games.

“We had polarizing views from people, whether they thought we should be the reincarnation of the Rough Riders or have our new identity, and I think we did a good job of kind of walking that line and honouring the past, but looking progressively forward,” Goudie says. “And, when we honour the past, I think Russ Jackson is the best, most visible example of what Canadian football was in our history by virtue of the fact that he is Canadian, probably the most accomplished Canadian football player in league history, such a gracious man, and had the success that he did and spent his whole career with one team, which was the Rough Riders.”