YORKTON — One of Saskatchewan’s best-known football products will be among those inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame later this year.
Jon Ryan, who was born in Regina, had a 19-year professional football career spending 12 of those seasons as a punter in the National Football League, including in 2014, becoming the first Saskatchewan player to win the Super Bowl when the Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl XLVIII. Ryan spent 10 seasons in Seattle and two more in Green Bay.
Ryan began his career in the Canadian Football League with Winnipeg, before spending two seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and finally in Edmonton before retiring.
Prior to his pro career Ryan attended the University of Regina, where he played both punter and wide receiver for the Regina Rams from 2000 to 2003.
Now the extended career is being recognized, and Ryan said his initial reaction was “just happiness really,” then he added he “didn’t really expect it.”
That said Ryan said it was a thought which occasionally had crossed his mind too.
The recognition might be his, but Ryan said he looks at it almost more as a team induction as he looks back over his career.
“I have to thank the people from Saskatchewan that helped make it happen,” he told Yorkton This Week in a recent interview.
While the bulk of his pro career was in the U.S. with the NFL – he notes the Super Bowl victory is his career highlight – he was also happy to return north and finally wear the green and white of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“I think it was a dream end to my career to come back to the CFL and play for the ‘Riders,” he said, adding the Regina-based team “always meant a lot to me.”
Ryan said while he jumped at the opportunity the NFL presented, when he was a youth it was Roughrider games he eagerly remembered to attending.
Through the years Ryan said he has seen interest in football rise in his home city.
“I think it’s always been huge, but I do see the difference when I go back now,” he said, adding the increased interest has sort of went hand-in-hand with better facilities and as always dedicated coaches and volunteers.
The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame (SSHF) will install seven inductees at the 2025 Induction Dinner & Ceremony to be held at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina Saturday, Sept. 20.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Ryan, adding it will be an opportunity to reconnect with a lot of people who were part of his early football journey.
