Dedrick Mills has spent the 2026 season carrying the Calgary Stampeders on his back. The Herm Harrison Memorial Award recognizes what he has done whenever he has put the football down.
The Stampeders named Mills this year’s recipient of the award for outstanding community service, honouring a running back whose impact has stretched from Calgary classrooms and football fields to hospital rooms and charity events.
The recognition arrives during a defining week on the field. Calgary has won three straight games to reach 8-8 but remains fourth in the West Division, directly ahead of a road game against the 7-8 Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday at 5 p.m. MT. A victory at Princess Auto Stadium would clinch a playoff berth for the Stamps. A loss would keep the race alive entering Calgary’s Oct. 17 regular-season finale against the BC Lions at McMahon Stadium.
Mills has helped put Calgary in that position despite missing time with injuries. Through 13 games, he led the CFL with 943 rushing yards andfour touchdowns, giving the Stampeders a powerful, patient runner who can turn a crease into a long evening for defenders.
Now in his fifth season with Calgary, Mills has become the offence’s dependable answer. He led the CFL with 1,340 rushing yards in 2025, then returned determined to chase the title again. Injuries have interrupted this season, but they have not erased his value. Calgary can hand him the ball between the tackles, use him as a receiver or trust him to close a game when everyone knows what is coming. His running style is not complicated: find daylight, lower the pads and make the first tackler regret volunteering.
His work away from the huddle has been just as steady.
“I was very excited. It’s a nice award to get because I like to go out and give back to the community, going to see kids, going to the children’s hospital or even just visiting an old lady, just to make her day,” Mills told Stamps TV after receiving the award.
Mills made community work a larger priority after staying in Calgary during the off-season. He participated in every major team appearance available and placed a particular emphasis on connecting with young people.
“This year, I really took everything way more serious,” Mills told Stamps TV. “I was here in the off-season, able to get in a lot of the community service work, and even now, I’m still doing it.”
His schedule included Football 101 sessions at local schools, flag-football programs, minor-football camps, CGY Crew sessions and the Stampeders Football initiative. He read to students in classrooms and traded shoulder pads for sneakers during Stampeders Basketball Program games against high-school teams.
Mills also joined Every Yard Counts visits at Alberta Children’s Hospital, supported the Brakemen Foundation’s Zero Hungry Kids event and walked in the Calgary Dream Centre’s Coldest Night of the Year fundraiser. He attended the Calgary Flames Ambassadors’ Celebrity Poker Tournament and connected with children at the Calgary Hitmen’s TELUS Be Brave #EndBullying Game.
The assignments mattered to Mills. Sometimes community service meant coaching. Sometimes it meant reading. Sometimes it simply meant showing up and listening.
“I love their reactions. I love the talks I have with them,” Mills told Stamps TV. “It’s a different perspective on life when you talk to other people. I just love the talk and the interaction I get from everybody else.”
The award has carried that spirit since 2013. Harrison arrived in Calgary from the United States, played tight end for the Stampeders from 1964 to 1972 and remained an active part of the community after retiring. He won the 1971 Grey Cup, earned six West all-star selections and entered the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1993.
General manager and head coach Dave Dickenson said Mills has followed a similar path by arriving without Calgary ties and making the city home.
Mills made that official with one more Stamps TV announcement.
“Oh yeah, I’m a Calgarian,” Mills said. “I just bought my house out here too, so we in the game now.”
It fits. On Saturdays, Mills runs through contact for Calgary. The rest of the week, he keeps finding reasons to run toward the community.
Previous Herm Harrison Memorial Award winners
2013 – Rob Cote
2014 – Randy Chevrier
2015 – Bo Levi Mitchell
2016 – Bo Levi Mitchell
2017 – Joshua Bell
2018 – Rob Maver
2019 – Rob Maver
2021 – Kamar Jorden
2022 – Colton Hunchak
2023 – Reggie Begelton
2024 – Marken Michel
2025 – Jalen Philpot