CALGARY – University of Calgary Dinos receiver Saboor Zeeshan has been named the Canada West football Student-Athlete Community Service Award recipient, the conference announced Thursday.
In his first Canada West season, Zeeshan exemplified leadership, citizenship and selfless service, principles at the heart of the Russ Jackson Award. The first-year receiver from Calgary is also a standout in the classroom, carrying a perfect 4.0 GPA in kinesiology at the University of Calgary.
His community work spans healthcare, youth mentorship, concussion prevention and international humanitarian efforts. In his volunteering efforts, Zeeshan has acted as a Patient Experience Volunteer at South Health Campus Hospital, keeping company with senior patients and training new volunteers. In 2025, he completed a four-week pre-medical internship in Mombasa, Kenya, with International Medical Aid, where he assisted doctors at Coast General Teaching and Referral Hospital and taught health classes to local students.
After returning home, Zeeshan founded a University of Calgary chapter of International Medical Aid, approved for the 2026-27 school year, which plans to raise money for equipment at the Kenyan hospital where he volunteered. He is also vice-president of external affairs for Children's Health Advocates, the university's 2025 Club of the Year, and vice-president of community outreach for the first Hemoglobal chapter outside of Ontario.
Zeeshan has also helped lead research and awareness around sport safety. He is football's representative on a youth advisory committee for the university's Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre, works as a research assistant in a concussion lab, and delivered a TEDx talk in 2024 on stigma around injuries in contact sports. Before joining the Dinos, he captained the Calgary Colts and received the Canadian Junior Football League's 2025 Past Commissioners Award for community service and leadership.
"Saboor is a student-athlete who understands that his greatest contributions may be measured not by what he does on the football field, but by the positive impact he has on the lives of others," said Dinos head coach Ryan Sheahan.
On the field, Zeeshan appeared in all eight games in his first season with the Dinos and finished with 19 catches for 267 yards and two touchdowns. He scored his first touchdown on a 12-yard pass from Jet Zakrzewski against the University of Alberta Golden Bears at McMahon Stadium, and his second from a 38-yard catch from David Jordan on Calgary's opening possession at UBC.
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