Grey Cup champ shares story of abuse and its effects

By Jeremy Appel on September 18, 2018.

Former CFL player J.R. LaRose spoke at Medicine Hat High School on Monday about overcoming adversity as part of the local public school division's inaugural speaker series on First Nations, MŽtis and Inuit issues.--NEWS PHOTO JEREMY APPEL

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

Grey Cup champion and sexual abuse survivor J.R. LaRose spoke at Medicine Hat High School on Monday as part of a week-long tour he’s doing of the city’s public schools.

LaRose’s tour is part of the Medicine Hat Public School Division’s inaugural First Nations, Métis and Inuit Speaker Series.

“I’m a kid that grew up and didn’t know his father,” he said. “My mother was a drug addict for many years. And I was sexually abused.

“But I wasn’t going to allow my situation to become my excuse in life. My whole message is hope.”

LaRose, who won the 2011 Grey Cup as a safety for the B.C. Lions, hails from the One Arrow First Nation but was raised by his mother in Edmonton.

He told the students and teachers assembled in Hat High’s gym about how his career was nearly ended multiple times due to injuries and addiction issues, but he just kept pressing on.

LaRose was first drafted by the Edmonton Eskimos in 2005.

“They called me a hometown hero,” he said. “That somehow convinced me I could do no wrong.”

He began staying out late drinking during the week, which led to his demotion to the Edmonton Huskies.

LaRose was “absolutely crushed,” but knew this wasn’t a testament to his athletic skills but his issues off-field.

“In 2005, the Edmonton Eskimos went on to win the Grey Cup Championship. I wasn’t part of that team because of the stupid choices I had made,” he said.

The safety was invited back to training camp next year and was back in the CFL by 2008, when he snapped his leg in half.

“The break was so loud you could hear it echo throughout the stadium,” said LaRose.

The team doctor told him he would never be able to play professional football again.

LaRose spent the 2009 season as a free agent, thinking his athletic days were over, before the B.C. Lions gave him another chance, with whom he ultimately won his Grey Cup.

He allowed the students to look at his championship ring and pass it around as tangible proof of his path to redemption.