Michiko Araki
With a nickname like ‘Death Roh’, you’d think that the person you’re about to interview would be a little intimidating. However, after a few minutes with first year Lion Craig Roh, you learn that there’s more to him than that ‘Death Roh’ persona.
“Well, Roh is my last name, and I realized one day that ‘Death Roh’ would be a cool nickame,” he explains. “I realized this in senior year of high school. I had an interview right after that for a Michigan website and I told them that my nickname was ‘Death Roh’, and it stuck ever since.”
For Craig, having an on-field persona is important, but not as important as remembering who you are off of the field.
“I’m definitely not a ‘death row’ type personality,” he laughs. “But the nickname is cool. You gotta have a different persona on the field – you can’t always be who you are in civilian life. On the field, you gotta be violent, you gotta be aggressive. Off the field, you have to be loving, charismatic, and gentle.”
These are the two sides that the Scottsdale, Arizona native showcases well both on and off the field.
On the field, Craig currently leads the team in sacks with five so far this season. He’s definitely athletic, aggressive, and a player to keep an eye out for – especially if you’re the opposing team’s quarterback.
“It’s awesome. It’s truly a blessing,” he says about his Lions journey so far. “I came out here just wanting to keep playing football. Vancouver has been an awesome city, the BC Lions organization has been so fun to get to know, my teammates are awesome, the D-line is awesome, and I’m really happy up here.”
With the team, he has already created a lot of memories that will last a lifetime. His favourite memory so far with the Lions this season was the first home win against Saskatchewan that had everyone getting out of their seats at BC Place. Another favourite memory of his happened a few weeks ago after the pre-game walk through at BC Place, where he had the chance to propose to his girlfriend, Chelsea – and of course, she said yes! Now, Craig has two different yet football-related memories that he’ll always cherish from his memorable first season with the Lions.
Off the field, Craig is a very religious person and exemplifies what it means to be a good Samaritan. Despite a busy season, he takes time to volunteer with a local church for bible study and helps serve food at a place for refugees and people with mental disorders.
When he isn’t playing football, spreading positive messages, or lending a helping hand, Craig also takes the time to build on his future for when his playing days are over. Currently, Craig is working on a business venture which involves selling genotype diets for a company called EliteGene Health. What’s a genotype diet, you ask?
“A genotype diet is a lot like a blood type diet, so it’s based off of your genetic makeup,” he explains. “It’s an anti-inflammatory diet. So what you do is you get tested, and you get put into one of five genotypes. Depending on what genotype you’re in, you have foods that are ‘superfoods’ for you, foods that are ‘neutrals,’ and foods that are ‘avoids’. The whole idea is to eat the ‘superfoods’ to lower your inflammation. When you eat an ‘avoid’ food, your body sees it as a virus and creates inflammation. The average person is carrying about 5 pounds of inflammation. So it’s good for weight loss, but they’re eating the same amount of macronutrients that they were before, but they’re just eating the right foods, which is really cool. It’s also good for athletics. Before, I would get sick for about a month straight, twice a year. After I went on this, I don’t really get sick anymore. It’s really been great for my athletic performance.”
One thing’s for sure – Craig is more than the nickname that has stuck with him since his high school playing days.