Burke Dales’ professional football career almost never happened.

In 2002, a tryout with the National Football League’s Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t work out. He did make an impression with the Steelers though by using the old-school, straight-on toe style as a placekicker rather than the modern soccer technique.

“The (Pittsburgh) special-teams coordinator hadn’t even seen it before,” says Dales.

In 2003, Dales came very close to making the Montreal Alouettes roster.

“They ultimately wanted a kicker to do both jobs and I was released right before the first game, ironically against the Stampeders,” says the Concordia alum.

Though an Ontario native, Dales had a friend who offered him a business opportunity in Calgary and so he flew to the Stampede City and prepared for life after football.

A couple of years later, however . . .

“I still had that itch to play,” he says. “I didn’t want to be sitting around in my sixties wondering what could have been. I had an epiphany one night, I had a dream and woke up the next day and I told my business coach and mentor at the time and he said, ‘If you still have that itch, why don’t you make that phone call right now?’

“He kind of forced me to pick up the phone and I called Craig Dickenson (then the Stampeders’ special-teams coordinator). We met for lunch, I told him I wanted to play and then I went out and had a tryout with maybe seven or eight other punters.”

The audition went well and, without much in the way of negotiation, Dales found himself with a one-year contract to punt for the Red and White.

“I believe I took minimum wage,” he chuckles. “I asked, ‘What’s the minimum salary?’ and I think (Stamps general manager Jim) Barker said, ‘It’s 37K.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll take it. I’m not here for the money.’ ”

Dales arrived just as the Stamps franchise was turning the corner. A local group had purchased the club and long-time CFL man Tom Higgins took over as head coach after a 4-14 campaign under Matt Dunigan in 2004.

“It was a whole new regime,” Dales recalls. “I really loved that ownership group. I think they did a tremendous job with the team and they really brought football back to Calgary. I was very happy to be a part of that movement and we had a pretty damn good team, to boot. And it just got better with time.”

In 2008, the Stamps were Grey Cup champions.

“That was the first year (John Hufnagel) came in,” he says. “Nobody was an individual, nobody was playing for himself. You were playing for the man beside you. We were all unified and we were such a cohesive group.

“We just knew we weren’t going to lose. You just get that feeling. Huff did a great job.”

Dales excelled in his specialty, earning West all-star honours four times and making the CFL all-star team twice. He played a total of seven seasons with the Stamps — including one season in which he combined with Rene Paredes to comprise an all-Concordia kicking combo — before being replaced as punter by Rob Maver in 2012.

Dales signed with the Edmonton Eskimos and also had a stint with the Alouettes before the city of Calgary called to him again. This time, the job offer was from a company.

“They put an offer on the table,” Dales explains, “and a wise man once told me that we always sleep on a major decision. So I slept on it, woke up the next day and I called my friend Tony (Spoletini) at Spolumbo’s and said I would be announcing my retirement.”

Dales now works in a business development role for Morton and Jagodich, a civil, structural and geotechnical engineering firm, and sister company Subsurface Construction.

“It was just time,” he says. “I felt it in my stomach. I probably could have played another three or four years but I always make decisions with my gut and my gut was telling me to turn the page. I accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish — I got my all-star awards and my Grey Cup ring and met a lot of good people — and it was just time for me to turn that page.”

Still, he missed the game.

“Yes, of course,” he says. “It’s still a major part of my life and one I will always cherish. You miss the boys, you miss the locker room, you miss the road trips. We had a pretty cohesive group when I went through those years. Coming to Calgary was one of the best things that ever happened to me.”