Football player Val St. Germain was born on Oct. 8, 1971 in Ottawa to a mother of Cree descent and a French-Canadian father. The 6-foot-4, 308-pound offensive lineman played four seasons at McGill and graduated with a degree in education, majoring in English and history. He was selected first overall by Hamilton in the 1994 CFL amateur draft, becoming the first McGill player to be picked No. 1 since Len Sigurdson in 1958.
A two-time all-Canadian guard with the Redmen, St. Germain played 32 games during his university career, winning 13 lineman-of-the-game awards, the Touchdown Club trophy as the team's most outstanding lineman and the Forbes trophy as McGill's male athlete of the year in 1993-94.
In his final campaign with the Redmen, he was one of two Canadians selected to play in the East-West Shrine all-star game - primarily a showcase of NCAA seniors to professional scouts - in Palo Alto, Calif.
St. Germain then embarked on an extensive 14-year career in the Canadian Football League. In total, he played 204 CFL regular-season games with Hamilton (1994-98), Edmonton (1999-01), Ottawa (2002-05), Winnipeg (2006-07) and Saskatchewan (2007).
A three-time CFL all-star (1998, 1999, 2003) he played in the 1998 Grey Cup game with Hamilton (a loss to Calgary). He earned a Grey Cup ring with Saskatchewan's in 2007 but missed the championship game due to injury.
