Two-time Grey Cup champion Chris Best, Alex Smith to be inducted into Riders’ Plaza of Honour

Courtesy: Saskatchewan Roughriders

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have chosen two-time Grey Cup-winning offensive lineman Chris Best and long-time assistant coach Alex Smith Sr. as the 2025 Plaza of Honour inductees.

Best won two Grey Cup championships in 2007 and 2013 with the Riders. In 2007, he was part of an offensive line that protected quarterback Kerry Joseph during a season in which he was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player. In 2013, the Canadian was a starting guard in the first home-field Grey Cup win in franchise history. He helped Kory Sheets rush for a Grey Cup-record 197 yards while being named the game’s MVP.

Smith Sr. was on coaching staffs that helped the Roughriders win four West Division titles and one Grey Cup in 2007. He is the longest-serving coach in Roughriders history, having worked for the team full-time for 16 seasons from 1997 through 2012. He was the Riders’ special teams coach during both seasons (2002, 2005) when Corey Holmes was named the league’s Most Outstanding Special Teams Player.

Also in 2025, the Plaza will formally enshrine the late Steve Molnar, whose induction was announced last year. The induction was deferred due to an illness in the family. Molnar played for the Roughriders from 1969 to 1978. Replacing the retired George Reed at fullback in 1976, Molnar proceeded to lead the Roughriders in regular-season rushing yards with 822. Most memorably, he rushed for a career-best 144 yards to power Saskatchewan to a 23-13 victory over Edmonton in the 1976 West Final at Taylor Field.

The selection committee meets each spring to discuss and vote on each year’s Plaza of Honour induction class. The committee is made up of eight members, including chair Steve Mazurak, fellow Roughriders alumni Alan Ford (who also served as GM from 1989-1999), Cleveland Vann and Wes Cates, journalist and broadcaster Don Hewitt, Roughrider board member Terri Strunk, former Board Chair Barry Clarke and Roughrider Historian Rob Vanstone.

Best, Smith Sr. and Molnar will be formally enshrined into the Plaza of Honour during a special ceremony at halftime on Saturday, September 13, when the Roughriders host the Montreal Alouettes.