Inductees

"The hardest losses often build the strongest champions".

 

Few careers embody that sentiment better than that of Ryan Jones BSC'01, Saint Mary's Huskies starting quarterback from 1997-2001, who enters the Huskies Hall of Fame as one of the most accomplished players in the storied history of Huskies football, with a five-year career that culminated in winning the 2001 National Championship and Vanier Cup MVP honours.

In 1999, Jones and the Huskies took their first major step toward realizing their potential. Saint Mary's finished the regular season 7-1 before defeating Acadia on a last-second field goal to capture the program's first Jewett Trophy as Atlantic champions since 1994. After defeating the Waterloo Warriors on home field to capture the Atlantic Bowl, the Huskies faced the powerhouse Laval Rouge et Or in their first Vanier Cup appearance since 1992. Despite Jones playing well on the National stage, completing 20/32 passes for 251 yards, the Rouge et Or defeated the young Huskies 14-10 in a defensive battle.

 

"We really grew as a group in that 1999 season, and that Vanier loss was pretty painful, but none of us had been on that National stage before." recalls Jones. "I think people felt that we overachieved that season, and still didn't really take the Atlantic champions that seriously, but our losing seasons in 1997 & 1998 helped us understand how to win our conference, and losing that Vanier in 1999 helped us understand what it took to win a National Championship."

 

Unfortunately, Jones and the Huskies would have to wait another season to get back to the National Championship game. In 2000, Jones was named AUAA Most Valuable Player and a first team all-star, quarterbacking the Huskies to a dominant 8-0 regular season where they outscored their opponents by more than 30 points per game, and won their second straight Jewett Trophy. But the Huskies were upset in the Atlantic Bowl on home turf, losing to the Regina Rams by a score of 40-36.

 

"That was a devastating loss, we really expected to win it all in 2000," said Ryan, who was nominated for the 2000 Hec Creighton Trophy as CIS Most Outstanding Player. "Some of my teammates and I went to Toronto for the Awards Banquet and they gave us tickets to the Vanier, but we left after five minutes, we were so upset to not be playing in that game."

 

The heartbreak of coming up just short of a National Championship in back-to-back seasons created motivation for the 2001 Huskies, who have since been called the best football team in Canadian University history. The Huskies dominated the Atlantic conference at an unprecedented level, going 8-0 and outscoring their opponents by over 55 points per game. Jones led the country with 21 passing touchdowns, and was named a Second Team CIAU All-Canadian.

 

After defeating the Acadia Axemen for their third straight AUAA Championship, the 2001 Atlantic Bowl saw a rematch of the 1999 Vanier Cup, with the Huskies dominating the Laval Rouge et Or in a 48-8 win in front of a raucous crowd of over 7,000 fans at Huskies Stadium, completely shutting down the high-powered Laval offence, and punching their ticket back to the Vanier Cup.

 

Despite their record breaking season to that point, the Huskies were considered underdogs against the Manitoba Bisons at the Skydome. But Jones and the Huskies had been to that stage, and understood that perfection is achieved with hard work, persistence, and learning from your failures. Even when the Bisons took a 13-12 lead late in the second quarter, the Huskies were unfazed, taking the lead back on a Jones touchdown pass moments later, and outscoring the Bisons 30-3 over the rest of the game on their way to a convincing 42-16 win for the second Vanier Cup championship in school history.

 

In his final game in Maroon & White, Jones completed 19/32 pass attempts for 290 yards and three touchdowns, and was honoured with the Ted Morris Memorial Trophy as the Vanier Cup Most Valuable Player.

 

"Winning that game was a tremendous sense of relief," recalls Jones. "We were all business that season, there were no new experiences at that point, we truly treated that trip to Toronto as a business trip, and all that mattered was winning that game. I had a lot of friends and family in the building, but the most special part of the post-game celebration was bringing the trophy to Larry Uteck. He took a chance on me in bringing me to SMU, and now myself and the other fifth years on the team were able to bring the Vanier Cup to him, and that was an incredible moment that I'll never forget."

 

Jones' Huskies career ended with a remarkable list of accomplishments: 2001 Vanier Cup Most Valuable Player, 2001 CIAU Second Team All-Canadian, 2000 AUS Most Valuable Player and a two-time AUS All-Star. He remains among the top three quarterbacks in program history in career passing completions, passing yards and passing touchdowns. Yet his legacy is about more than statistics. Jones was the quarterback of an all-time team that experienced the losses, learned from them and ultimately reached the pinnacle of Canadian university football. 

 

Ryan settled in Halifax following his playing days at Saint Mary's and is proud to call the city home. He and his partner, Beth, are raising their three children; 11-year-old Bo, 16-year-old Clara, and 18-year-old Eli, who is a freshman receiver on this year's Huskies football team. Ryan has stayed involved in football, coaching several flag football teams, including the Nova Scotia U18 Girls' Provincial team, where his daughter Clara is starting quarterback.

Professionally, Jones has built a successful 23-year career with Stryker, a surgical equipment manufacturer, where he serves as a Regional Manager.

 

Twenty-five years after his final game with the Huskies, Jones' legacy lives on at Huskies Stadium. For his outstanding accomplishments as a student-athlete, his leadership at quarterback and his contribution to the greatest chapter in Huskies Football history, Ryan Jones is a deserving inductee of the Saint Mary's Athletics Hall of Fame.