{"id":101128,"date":"2025-08-27T15:47:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T15:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/101128\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T15:47:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T15:47:18","slug":"longtime-cfl-scout-craig-smith-dies-at-the-age-of-69-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/101128\/","title":{"rendered":"Longtime CFL scout Craig Smith dies at the age of 69"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Smith became the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 player-personnel director in 2010 and was part of the organization\u2019s 2013 Grey Cup-winning squad. Smith remained with the Riders through the 2015 season before joining the hometown Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n<p>\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cdn.socastsrm.com\/application\/theme\/images\/loaders\/indicator-big.gif\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Smith was a national scout with Winnipeg when it was announced in October 2017 that he was stepping away after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. <\/p>\n<p>Smith went into remission following a stem-cell transplant but endured a number of health complications, including congestive heart failure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCraig was a respected football mind, a valued colleague, and a cherished friend to so many across the CFL community,\u201d the Blue Bombers said in a statement. \u201cHis passion for the game, his generosity of spirit, and his kindness left a lasting impact on everyone who had the privilege of working alongside him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe extend our heartfelt condolences to Craig\u2019s family, friends, and loved ones during this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In March, Smith and his wife attended the CFL combine, which was held in Regina.<\/p>\n<p>In a story on the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 website, Smith said growing up he knew the roster of every CFL team by heart. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy mother used to go crazy with all the pieces of paper I would have all over the place,\u201d he told Rob Vanstone, the Riders senior journalist. \u201cI tried to keep on top of everything.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Smith became the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 player-personnel director in 2010 and was part of the organization\u2019s 2013 Grey Cup-winning&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-101128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}