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MIKE DEAL \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
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Decorated linebacker Adam Bighill was emotional Tuesday at Princess Auto Stadium as he officially hung up his cleats on his CFL career as a Winnipeg Blue Bomber.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It was an uphill battle from the start, but Bighill always remained undeterred. He was a star running back and linebacker at Montesano High School, but it didn\u2019t seem to matter \u2014 scouts and coaches had labelled him as too small and too slow to make it at the next level.<\/p>\n
Without any NCAA Division I offers, he had to go the Division II route and commit to Central Washington where he went on to be named the conference\u2019s co-defensive player of the year as a senior.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many people didn\u2019t think I could play college football, let alone professional football.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI just thought if you\u2019re good enough, they\u2019ll find you, and I continued working my butt off,\u201d said Bighill.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many people didn\u2019t think I could play college football, let alone professional football.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued to have critics in the CFL when he made his professional debut in 2011 as a member of the BC Lions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI show up in training camp and start making some plays, making some noise, and the first thing a reporter says to me, \u2018Well, we\u2019re surprised you\u2019re here after this first game. We thought you\u2019d be an early round cut, but you made some plays, so, tell us more,\u2019\u201d recalled Bighill, who won a Grey Cup with the Lions as a rookie.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Adam Bighill and his father Andrew while Adam played for the Central Washington University Wildcats.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI was just shocked that was the first thing they thought about when they saw me because that\u2019s not how I saw myself \u2014 I saw myself as (someone who\u2019s) gonna be one of the best to ever play the game.<\/p>\n \u201cFast forward and here we are 15 years later.\u201d<\/p>\n After six seasons with the Lions \u2014 highlighted by a 2015 campaign where he was named the CFL\u2019s Most Outstanding Defensive Player \u2014 Bighill spent 2017 with the NFL\u2019s New Orleans Saints where he played in three games. Eager to return to the CFL the following year, he took a chance and signed a deal with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n He would go on to win a pair of Grey Cups (2019 and 2021) and two more MODP awards (2018 and 2021) in his six seasons (2018-2024) in Blue and Gold, establishing himself as one of the most dominant and beloved players in franchise history.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the most fun I had playing professional football in my life,\u201d said Bighill.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should have won more, we all know that, but we won back-to-back and went to five (Grey Cups) in a row, and that was something special.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Frank Gunn \/ THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Bighill celebrates the Blue Bombers’ victory in the 2019 Grey Cup over the Hamilton Tiger Cats.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the most fun I had playing professional football in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n The six-time CFL all-star and his family have also been living full-time in Winnipeg for several years and continue to do so today.<\/p>\n His wife Kristina and their three children \u2014 A.J., Leah and Beau \u2014 were standing off to the side inside the media room at Princess Auto Stadium on Tuesday. Head coach Mike O\u2019Shea, Bombers president and CEO Wade Miller, and former safety Brandon Alexander were also there to show their support.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Nathan Denette \/ The Canadian Press files<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Bighill was named Most Outstanding Defensive Player three times in his CFL career, once with the BC Lions and twice with the Blue and Gold.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cI never thought I\u2019d be in Canada. Growing up, I was only three and a half hours away and I had never been to Canada in my life until I came to play in the CFL,\u201d said Bighill.<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t know where life\u2019s going to take you. When the opportunity in Winnipeg came, I didn\u2019t know what was coming. But all I can say is, what we\u2019ve built here and the journey we\u2019ve had to be at this point has been absolutely incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n The Bombers announced Monday that Bighill was signing a one-day contract to officially retire as a member of the club. He tore his ACL in the 2024 Labour Day Classic in Regina, and the team parted ways with him that off-season.<\/p>\n Not ready to hang up his cleats, Bighill ended up joining the Calgary Stampeders in 2025 and played in six games.<\/p>\n \u201cCredit to Kristina to holding it all down with three kids and I\u2019m gone and not one word of, \u2018Hey, I don\u2019t think you should do it because it\u2019s too hard on me,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cTotally selfless on her and it speaks to everything she is as a strong, powerful woman.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t Supplied Photo<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Adam Bighill and his wife Kristina have decided to raise their family in Winnipeg.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n He had offers on the table to keep playing, and even some opportunities to get into coaching, but after getting a taste of what it was like to be away from his young family, he decided it was time to step away.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took me a while to officially say that I was retiring,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to say to myself but it\u2019s hard to say to the world, if that makes sense. It took a while to get to this point but it\u2019s something I\u2019m definitely at peace with.\u201d<\/p>\n It helps that he\u2019s well prepared for life after football. He has poured years into starting a business, Pejovic Bighill Private Wealth, where he works as an investment advisor.<\/p>\n He\u2019s often been asked if a transition to coaching could be in the cards but, at least for now, he\u2019ll put his football IQ to good use at the amateur level.<\/p>\n All three of his kids are involved with flag football, and his oldest, A.J., has started playing tackle.<\/p>\n \u201cI know we will be around. Me and my partners have a box here at the stadium so we will be at the games and supporting. We are Bomber fans, and we\u2019re a Bomber family,\u201d said Bighill.<\/p>\n \u201cWhether I\u2019ll be coaching professionally, I don\u2019t know. I mean, I wouldn\u2019t say anything\u2019s off the table.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe are Bomber fans, and we\u2019re a Bomber family.\u201d<\/p>\n One thing is for certain: he can expect a phone call from the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in a few years.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope I\u2019m walking away with those credentials where you\u2019d say, \u2018Yeah, he was one of the best to play the game,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cTime flies when you\u2019re having fun. Now I get to spend my time focusing more on my family.\u201d<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/taylorallen<\/p>\n \n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t Taylor Allen Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree\/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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