Key decisions helped shape Scott Deibert’s career in football, life | News, Sports, Jobs

The first decision came as a teenager and would lead to him being forever immortalized in the Minot State Athletics Hall of Fame. The second such choice he can thank the guidance of his oldest sibling, because it led Deibert to become a football champion playing for his childhood team in his home country of Canada.

Well before he ever stepped foot on the Minot State campus or donned the Beaver uniform for the first time in 1994, Deibert was familiar with the Magic City. Growing up in Moose Jaw, Sask., Canada, his family would make the roughly 5.5-hour drive down to Minot during select holidays and do some shopping while either camping or staying in a hotel. Little did he know he would be etched into the school’s football record books years later.

“Minot was a big part of my life,” Deibert said. “The four years I went to school there, I spent the summers there also. The education was a big part of moving forward in life. College quite honestly was the last time I thought I would be playing football, but I wound up playing another eight years after that, but the football was awesome. I look back on those days very fondly.”

Like many Canadians growing up, Deibert originally played hockey, but when he decided to hang up the skates at a young age, he pivoted to both football and track. Ultimately, he didn’t choose running back, the coaching staff at his high school did when they witnessed his speed. It turned out to be the correct decision. Deibert said he also ran track because he liked running races and being the fastest, so it was a natural fit.

Scott Deibert

Deibert originally wasn’t planning on coming down to the United States to play college football, but instead stay in Canada and play football and get his education there. A year later, that’s when Deibert made his first major life-altering decision.

“I played junior football up in Calgary and I got recruited out of there,” Deibert said. “I had made the decision to just stay in Canada and go play university ball and just get an education here, and after my first year I felt like I wanted to give south of the border a shot, so I called coach (Dave) Hendrickson because he called me the year before and I said, ‘Are you still interested?’ and he told me to come down for a recruiting trip. I came down and met with him, they took me over to the Dome, made me run a 40 and everything kind of took off from there.”

If there were long-distance charges related to that phone call, they would be more than worth the cost for Deibert, as it led to a four-year career that still stands the test of time in the program’s history books. Deibert joined the Beavers in 1994 and made an immediate impact as a freshman. That season, he set three single-season records that still remain intact 31 years later. Deibert holds the program record for most rushing yards in a season (1,036), most points scored by a single individual in a season (122) and highest average individual scoring per game (11.09). But Deibert doesn’t like to take credit for it himself but rather believes those are thanks in large part to the entire offense.

“My name might be on the record, but it’s contributed to the offensive line,” Deibert said. “That’s contributed to the receivers and quarterback. That’s everybody on the field doing their job. I just happen to be the guy carrying the ball at the time.”

That 1994 team went on to capture the North Dakota College Athletic Conference title and defeated the University of Sioux Falls in the first round of the NAIA playoffs before falling by two points to Northwestern Iowa the following round. The Beavers finished the season 8-3 overall and that 1994 will be inducted into the MSU Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday, Sept. 12, making Deibert a two-time MSU hall of famer.

Scott Deibert

What Deibert remembers the most of that 1994 season was ruining U-Mary’s homecoming. The Beavers had suffered their first loss of the season the week before – a 37-9 drubbing at the hands of Western Montana. Minot State went into Bismarck and knocked off the Marauders, 31-24

Deibert went on to be a four-time all-conference selection and four-year letterwinner in football as well as a three-year letterwinner in track and field, winning the 1998 NDCAC Indoor Track champion in the 55-meter dash.

What awaited the decorated running back at the end of his senior season was what he thought was going to be a fulfilling career in sports broadcasting. He was all set to remain in Minot after graduation and begin working for KMOT. He had his Visa to stay in the United States and planned on working in Minot for a couple years, get some experience under his belt and then move on when the right opportunity to advance his career emerged. In his mind, Deibert was done playing football.

“I love sports, so anything around sports was fun,” Deibert said. “Once I got into Minot, Neil Roberts took me under his wing and showed me the way and made sure I was on track. Honestly, the thrill of covering sports and broadcasting sports to me was the coolest thing in the world. I got a rush from it. I loved doing it and I worked hard at it.”

Life had other plans, however, as when he returned home after essentially being hired at KMOT in May of 1998, there was a message on his answering machine. He had just been drafted by the Edmonton Eskimos in the third round of the Canadian Football League draft. Deibert had been aware that he was being scouted by the league, but never thought much about the idea of playing in the CFL. He wasn’t required to put his name in the draft to be draft eligible.

Deibert was still leaning toward his new career in sports media, but then he got some quality family advice that once again changed the trajectory of his life.

“I had a chat with my oldest brother and he told me, ‘What’s the worst that can happen? If you get cut, you can go back and make your career happen, but if you make it, maybe it can open some doors up and you can still do it. How many people get a chance to do this? You’d be crazy not to do it,’” his brother told him.

Deibert listened and reported to Edmonton to begin what would become an eight-year career in the CFL with three teams. He spent 1998-2000 with the Edmonton Eskimos, part of 2000 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and 2001-05 with the Calgary Stampeders, his childhood team, before retiring for good from the game in January 2006.

Deibert reached the pinnacle in his first season with the Stampeders, winning the 89th Grey Cup against Winnipeg on Nov. 25, 2001.

“That was pretty cool because growing up in Canada we watched the CFL,” Deibert said. “Grey Cup Sunday is in November. Obviously Super Bowl Sunday is a big thing in the US and it’s a big thing in Canada too, but for the CFL, Grey Cup Sunday was a pretty big deal. We used to always watch it as kids and to be able to play in that game and win it was awesome. My family was out there, my wife was out there – she wasn’t my wife at the time as we were just dating at the time. We all got to enjoy it together.”

Much like the Stanley Cup, players got a full day with the Grey Cup. His mother-in-law hosted a party, with the Grey Cup being the most popular guest. He also took it to a couple of his favorite bars around the Calgary area.

Deibert finished his CFL career with 111 carries for 524 yards and seven touchdowns. He caught another 28 passes for 303 yards and one touchdown, playing in 131 games. Defensively, Deibert did most of his work with the special teams unit. Fifty of his 54 career tackles came on special teams. He also forced a fumble, recovered three others and blocked a punt.

Following his CFL career, Deibert dabbled briefly in sports journalism, working the sidelines as a reporter and serving as a color commentator on the radio, but ultimately ended up working as a sales account manager with Alberta Tubular Products, a company he and a few of his coworkers will soon take over the leadership. He has been married to his wife Krista since 2002, with whom they have two daughters.

Deibert’s life had a lot of twists and turns he didn’t see coming, but one thing is for sure in his mind.

“I have no regrets,” Deibert said. “I would have liked to do broadcasting. It would have been neat to see what happened with that, but I have no regrets with how things turned out. I have a great family who I wouldn’t have met had I stayed in Minot. I have a great job. I have a great career. I have no regrets.”

Deibert said he will be in Minot for homecoming this season to take part in the Hall of Fame festivities. Even before learning that the 1994 team would be inducted, he and a number of former players had already made plans to make the trip down to Minot this year. Deibert said he has seen the campus recently, as he drove through the area on his way to Wisconsin to visit his daughter in college. He got a look at the new turf as well as the new bubble and was quite impressed by the facility upgrades, wishing they had had those facilities during his playing days.

Deibert is excited to return for homecoming and to see the 1994 team receive the recognition he believed they always deserved.

“Football is a team sport. To go in as a team is awesome,” Deibert said. “Going in as an individual is pretty cool, but anybody in their right mind understands that whatever success one person had isn’t their success; it’s the success of the team. I look at it as that was a team honor, too.”