By Stampeders.com staff
It was a scene played out time after time.
The Stampeders offence would snap the ball and an array of dangerous receivers would execute their assignments.
Jeremaine Copeland. Nik Lewis. Ken-Yon Rambo. Ryan Thelwell.
Rarely would the opposition successfully blanket all four pass-catchers, but when they managed to do it, Henry Burris would cast a look to the far sideline and strong-arm a pass to a typically wide-open Brett Ralph. The sure-handed Raymond product would almost always haul in the ball, dash down the sideline for extra yardage and break the hearts of opposing defenders who thought they had all the bases covered.
For five seasons in Red and White, Ralph was the safety valve. Almost never the first option, but always a pretty solid Plan B.
Ralph finished his career with 175 catches for 2,507 yards and 12 touchdowns. His most productive seasons came in 2007 and 2008 as he recorded back-to-back campaigns of at least 50 receptions for a combined 1,419 yards and eight scores.
The product of the Raymond High School Comets football factory was also the holder for field goals and extra points and even threw a touchdown pass on a fake on July 21, 2007, against Toronto.
Despite his smallish stature — five-foot-10 and 184 lbs. — Ralph never missed a game during his career. He was a member of the Stampeders’ 2008 Grey Cup championship squad, contributing a 20-yard touchdown catch to Calgary’s victory over Montreal in the title game.
All in all, a pretty solid career for an undersized sixth-round draft pick whose primary claim to fame when he came into the league was being the kid brother of CFL receiver Brock Ralph.
There was even doubt at one point whether he would even play football as Ralph was an excellent baseball shortstop – his teammate on the Canadian national junior team was future big-leaguer Russell Martin — and attracted the attention of Toronto Blue Jays scouts.
Ultimately, football won out as he played collegiate football at Wyoming and Boise State before coming to Calgary. The wideout gave full credit to the man under centre for his success as a Stamp.
“With Henry (Burris) having a good arm,” said Ralph, “it allows the person on the wide side of the field to get some balls. In that kind of a system, if we had a quarterback who didn’t have as great of an arm, I probably would have starved a little bit more.”
Ralph probably still had plenty of catches left in him but on the eve of the 2010 season, at the tender age of 28, he chose to retire and finish his degree in education.