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“What was he — 46 when he retired? I’m going to try it,” said the 38-year-old Whyte, who’s in the best stretch of his own 15-year CFL career right now
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Published Jul 12, 2024 • Last updated 2 days ago • 5 minute read
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B.C. Lions kicker Sean Whyte. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG
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Lui Passaglia kicked footballs for the B.C. Lions until he was 46 years old. Sean Whyte has his sights set on shooting past that mark.
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Whyte’s current two-plus season run hammering home field goals with the Lions is arguably the best stretch of his 15-year CFL career. The 38-year-old from White Rock insists he has lots left in his leg and is aiming to have more candles on his birthday cake when he retires than Passaglia did when he finally hung up the cleats in 2000, ending his 25-year playing stint with the Lions in the process.
Whyte is slated to suit up for his 210th career game Saturday at B.C. Place when the Lions (4-1) host the Saskatchewan Roughriders (4-0).
BC Lions Sean Whyte (10) and Stefan Flintoft (41) practice at the team’s Surrey, BC training facility Oct. 26, 2022. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG
His 3-for-3 performance on field goals in last week’s 44-28 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats gives him 32 successful attempts in a row dating back to last season. It ties him for the third-best consecutive field goal mark in CFL history, and last week gave him the Lions club record in that category, bettering the 30 straight that Paul McCallum made good on in 2011.
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Whyte also has the consecutive field goal standards for the Edmonton Elks (25, in 2016-17 and then again in 2019) and Montreal Alouettes (24, in 2011).
Whyte signed with the Lions as a free agent ahead of the 2022 season. He has connected on 100-of-106 field goal attempts in this B.C. stint. That’s a 94.3 per cent success rate. His career mark is 88.1 per cent.
“I’m going to keep playing until my leg falls off,” the ever-personable Whyte said after practice earlier this week. “I feel really good. I know my body. I know how to train. I just have to stay consistent and stay healthy and I should be okay.
“I’m going to try to beat Lui Passaglia’s record. What was he — 46 when he retired? I’m going to try it. I get paid better now than I would in the fire department and I’m still kicking good. Why not?”
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Whyte told Postmedia’s J.J. Adams back in 2022 that being a firefighter was “my dream. Second would have been an athlete.” He comes from a family of firefighters, including his father and uncle. He completed the necessary courses and received his certification to become a firefighter during the COVID pandemic and was hired as an auxiliary firefighter in White Rock in 2022, giving him extra duties to go with his Lions commitments.
Auxiliary firefighters supplement the services of full-time staff by responding to calls as needed, according to a job description posted on the White Rock city website.
This past off-season, Whyte bumped into former Lions coach Wally Buono at Morgan Creek Golf Course. Buono was instrumental in Whyte becoming a CFLer — he played minor football with Buono’s son Michael. The connection remains, with Buono a reference on Whyte’s resume to this day.
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Buono asked Whyte how the firefighting pursuit was going. Whyte talked up how much he liked it, but also said he didn’t think he was close to retirement with the Lions either.
Buono told him simply: “You play football for as long as you can.”
“And I’m like, ‘Done.’ I called White Rock the next day and said that I’m going to have to take a step back,” Whyte continued. “I’m playing well. I’m on an awesome team. My family is enjoying it. I’m having the time of my life right now.”
The family factor is paramount in this. Whyte says dad Tom and mom Pat are the “best parents you could possibly imagine…if it wasn’t for them I’d probably be dead in a ditch somewhere.”
Whyte played his first two years in the CFL with the Lions, but then spent five season with Montreal and and then five with Edmonton, and his parents would see him play two or three times a season in person, at best. Now that he’s back in a B.C., his family has a suite for Lions’ home games.
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“I wave to my mom every pregame, and my dad … I can see the popcorn flying past his face,” Whyte reported.
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There are even more family ties to all this. Whyte and wife Ranna are expecting their first child in September. Their baby reveal in April — with Sean’s punting of a mini-football producing a cloud of pink smoke — was on social media platforms, and Whyte took to X to announce that their daughter will be named Mya Rose Whyte.
He wants her to remember him as a player. He wants her to be able to “come out on the field and enjoy it as well, so she has to probably be at least six years old.”
It all speaks to how intent he is on having the Lions’ field goal chores locked down for some time to come.
“I always feel like I have room to improve. I’m never satisfied,” Whyte said. “I want to be the greatest to ever do it. I have to keep working and work harder and harder every day.”
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Calgary Stampeders kicker Rene Paredes, 39, and Montreal offensive lineman Kristian Matte, 38, are the only two players currently in the league older than Whyte. Matte is a couple of months his senior.
Paredes also had a stretch of 32 consecutive field goals in 2016. His 39 makes in a row in 2012-13 is the second-best mark in league history, behind the 69 consecutive that Lewis Ward produced with the Ottawa Redblacks in 2018-19.
Punter Bob Cameron was the oldest player ever in the CFL, retiring after the 2002 season with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at the age of 48. He’s second in games played (394) to Passaglia (408). Passaglia leads in points (3,991), while McCallum (3,145) is second. Whyte is 19 points shy of being the 11th player in league history to get to 2,000 points.
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sewen@postmedia.com
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Fitnessnacks – #CFL #Sean #Whytes #sights #set #playing #longer #Lui #Passaglia
Courtesy : https://theprovince.com/sports/football/cfl/bc-lions/bc-lions-kicker-sean-whyte-aims-to-play-longer-than-lui-passaglia