Playing in CFL gives Covington deeper appreciation of father’s achievements

B.C. Lions defensive lineman Christian Covington looks on during the CFL football team's training camp in Kamloops, B.C., on Monday, May 13, 2024. (Darryl Dyck / The Canadian Press)

Christian Covington has always been aware of his Hall of Fame father’s many football achievements, but he now has a deeper appreciation of them.

Covington is heading into his second season with the B.C. Lions, signing with the hometown team last year following a nine-year stint in the NFL.

Having one CFL campaign under his belt has given the 31-year-old from Vancouver a more intimate understanding of the illustrious career his father, Grover, put together to earn a spot in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2020.

“What he was able to accomplish is mind-boggling,” Christian Covington said. “It really is insane what he was able to do and his body of work.”

The elder Covington, now 69, was a nightmare for CFL offensive tackles and quarterbacks from 1981-91, amassing a league-record 157 sacks over that span. He was a division or league all-star a combined 11 times (league four times, East seven times), helped Hamilton win the Grey Cup in 1986 (while being named the game’s top defensive player) and two years later was the league’s outstanding defensive player after registering a staggering 25 sacks.

Grover Covington began his CFL career with the Montreal, signing with the franchise as a free agent before being dealt to Hamilton. There, Covington would record double-digit sacks his first nine CFL seasons with the Ticats.

But Covington endeared himself to Hamilton for much more than his football prowess. In 1985, he became the inaugural recipient of the Charlotte Simmons humanitarian award, presented to the Ticats player who has contributed the most to the community.

Christian Covington’s first CFL season with B.C. was a solid one as he registered 29 tackles, six sacks -- two off the league lead -- and two forced fumbles. Both Covingtons are listed at six foot two, but Christian’s listed playing weight of 285 pounds is some 50 pounds heavier than his dad’s.

Although both are defensive linemen, Christian Covington plays predominantly tackle while Grover Covington lined up at defensive end.

“He was quick enough to beat you from the outside but then could use his strength when he had to,” Christian Covington said of his dad. “And he did what he did at a time when if you forced a fumble by the quarterback, you didn’t get credit for a sack.

“Now, you can get me on the record, I know he had over 200 sacks, I know that for a fact. He told he about one game against the Ottawa Rough Riders and in the first half he sacked the quarterback five times but he fumbled every time. He finished that game with no sacks, no tackles and no forced fumbles but whoever recovered the ball got credit for the recoveries.”

Playing for the Lions presented Covington with the benefit of being able to play games with his family in the stands. And when Covington registered his first CFL sack in the Lions’ home-opening 26-17 victory over Calgary on June 15, he mimicked his father’s sack celebration.

“Yeah, it took till the fourth quarter for me to get that first sack, but a sack is a sack,” Covington said with a chuckle. “But to do that in front of the family and him and do his little sack dance too, yeah, that was very special.”

And there’s no doubt in Covington’s mind regarding what drove his father.

“No matter what he achieved, it was never enough,” Covington said. “It wasn’t from an ego point of view, he just wanted to be great, he wanted to be the best and that’s what motivated him, that’s what drove him.

“That work he put into the off-season, it was with that mindset of, ‘I don’t want anyone touching me. The only thing stopping me from getting to the quarterback is me.’”

This report by Dan Ralph of The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2025.