Kicker Sean Whyte back where it all started — with the BC Lions

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It’s been a long time since Sean Whyte was the BC Lions’ “guinea pig,” when he dutifully played the role of tackling dummy, stand-in scout team slot receiver or halfback in practice, back when he didn’t even know how to pull his jersey on.

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It’s been even longer since Wally Buono spotted the White Rock native booming 45-yard field goals in what happened to be his very first minor football game.

It’s been over a decade — 12 years, to be accurate — since Whyte last donned the orange-and-black. But he’s back now, and judging from the 27 times he used the word “excited” in a half-hour chat (thanks, Word search), he couldn’t be happier.

“It feels honestly unbelievable. I felt like I signed my first contract yesterday. That’s how excited and happy I was,” Whyte said 24 hours after being the first signing announced by the Lions when free agency opened Wednesday. “Man, I’m just so freakin’ excited, you have no idea. I feel rejuvenated, like… I feel like a little kid again. It lit a fire under my butt. I’ve been training already. I’m so excited. I’m just so excited. I know I keep saying it, but everything around me is looking perfect. Everything’s going better than planned so far.”

Whyte, 36, began his pro football career with the Lions officially in 2007, although he had trained with them for years earlier, after Buono saw him play on his son Michael’s minor team, the White Rock Titans.

He was the backup to team legend Paul McCallum for two years before being traded to Montreal, spending four years with the Alouettes before a six-season stretch with Edmonton.

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His time with the Elks was memorable, including a Gray Cup win in 2015 and team nomination for CFL Most Outstanding Special Teams player in 2019, but the 2022 season was a disaster from start to finish.

It began with a three-week COVID-19 quarantine in a hotel.

Said Whyte: “It was literally like prison We had like breakfast, lunch and dinner delivered to our door. We weren’t allowed out of our hotel room, we’re in there by ourselves. We were allowed 15 minutes to walk around the hotel a day. It was brutal, but again, once you start playing games, it all goes away and you realize why you love the sport.”

The 2021 slate of games ended with a 43-10 pounding at the hands of the Lions at BC Place Stadium, the third game in an unprecedented condensed week, and his time there effectively ended when the Elks cleaned house three days later after firing president Chris Presson, head coach Jaime Elizondo and general manager and vice-president of football operations Brock Sunderland.

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The Lions, meanwhile, had missed the playoffs for the third time in four years, a result the team’s inconsistent kicking game played a large part in. Whyte knew there might be an opportunity there, and with an opening for an on-call firefighter at the White Rock Hall — he did his training courses with his good buddy Michael Reilly in 2020 — everything had lined-up for him.

“Ever since I left BC, like I’ve always kept an eye on BC just to see how their kicking situation was,” he said. “I just never got an opportunity.

“The timing was perfect for me… I can keep working on my fire and I can play football. I can be around my community and give back to the community that I grew up in. When I was here last Paul McCallum was The Guy. So now I’m like ‘finally’. Finally, I got that opportunity to be The Guy and put on the orange-and-black.”

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He was hoping Reilly would stick around another season, but it’s the CFL — there’s crossover everywhere. Leos’ Tanner Doll and Garry Peters are former teammates, and Whyte figures he’s played with, or been coached by, most of the Lions’ current staff before.

And current players he hasn’t suited-up with have reached out to him. While Bryan Burnham told him about the team’s culture, it was TJ Lee who sold him on it. The Lions’ defensive back, a team captain, a veteran and longest-serving member of the team, willingly offered up his No. 6 to Whyte if he wanted it.

“The group of guys’ love seems phenomenal. The amount of people that have reached out to me and welcomed me was great,” said Whyte. “TJ Lee reached out and said, ‘Hey, man, if you want No. 6, it’s all yours.’ And I say, ‘I really appreciate that, but I gotta go back to my No. 10, my Pavel Bure number.’ I gotta rock that. And plus, my family still has my old (No. 10) jerseys from back in the day.

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“Even when there was legal tampering allowed a week before free-agency… I got a call from Neil (McEvoy), and coach Rick (Campbell) and coach Yano (special teams coordinator Don Yanowsky) right off the bat. For any athlete, it feels pretty damn good to feel wanted and important. To be welcomed home like that is phenomenal and makes you want to play even better.”

Growing up, his parents Pat and Tom would go to every game, in every different sport he played. Even when Whyte was backing up McCallum, he could turn and look up in the stands to see them.

Coming home, to be able to practice his craft in front of them and the rest of his family was huge for Whyte. The games he played as a visitor to BC Place were a tease, because all he got was a few minutes post-game to visit before hopping on the team bus.

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Now his parents, brother and sister (Jeff and Jennifer), their kids, and his girlfriend Rosanna Roop, will all be in the stands rocking No. 10 jerseys.

“You play the sport because it’s obviously (your) dream, but it’s kind of lonely when you’re not around your home and around your family,” said Whyte. “They all want to go to every single game. All the guys I work with, all my friends, are all like, ‘We’re buying season tickets again.’ This is awesome. This is what it’s all about. I’m just happy to be back and I can finally share what I do with my friends and family instead of doing it on my own.

“Family is what it’s all about now for me and I want to share it with them. They’re probably more excited than I am.”

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