Russell Stanley Jackson (born July 28, 1936) is a former professional

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

player. Jackson spent his entire 12-year professional football career with the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

(CFL). He is a member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the c ...

, the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about ...

, and

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...

, and has been described as the best Canadian-born quarterback to play in the CFL. In 2006, Jackson was voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players (#8) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network

TSN TSN may refer to: Science and technology * Translin, DNA binding protein involved in microRNA function * Taxonomic serial number, a stable and unique taxonomic serial number issued by the Integrated Taxonomic Information System * The Science Netwo ...

, the highest-ranked Canadian-born player on the list.

Early life and college career

Jackson went to

Westdale Secondary School Westdale Secondary School is a public high school founded in 1931 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is a school in the city of Hamilton and is located in Westdale Village, a suburb in the west-end of the city. It is administered by the Hamilt ...

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...

. After a stellar college career as both a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

and football player, he graduated from

McMaster University McMaster University (McMaster or Mac) is a public research university in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main McMaster campus is on of land near the residential neighbourhoods of Ainslie Wood and Westdale, adjacent to the Royal Botanical ...

in 1958 with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...

degree in Mathematics. He was the McMaster nominee for a

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world ...

, but did not pursue an interview for the scholarship, deciding instead to sign with the

of the

, who drafted him in the first round of the 1958 CFL Draft.

Rough Rider career

Originally signed as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

, Jackson

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

ed the Rough Riders to three

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

victories ( 48th, 56th, and 57th Grey Cups). Jackson was the dominant CFL quarterback of the 1960s. Referred to as the "

Y. A. Tittle Yelberton Abraham Tittle Jr. (October 24, 1926 – October 8, 2017) was a professional American football quarterback. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for the San Francisco 49ers, New York Giants, and Baltimore Colts, after spe ...

of the North", he was honoured many times during his CFL career. He won the CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award in the

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

, 1966, and 1969 seasons. He was also a four-time winner of the

CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award The Most Outstanding Canadian Award is annually awarded to the best Canadian player in the Canadian Football League. The two nominees for the award are the Lew Hayman Trophy winner from the East Division, and the Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy winner ...

( 1959, 1963, 1966, 1969). He was a six-time Eastern Conference All-Star quarterback (1962, 1963, 1966–1969) and the CFL All-Star quarterback in the 1966,

1968 The year was highlighted by Protests of 1968, protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechos ...

, and 1969 seasons. Russ Jackson was inducted into the

in 1973. Many consider him one of the best Canadian-born players to play in the CFL, while most consider him to be the best Canadian to play the

position. In November 2006, Jackson was voted one of the CFL's top 50 players (No. 8) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network

. Jackson ended his career with 24,593 passing yards, with 1,356 completions on 2,530 attempts (53.6%), 124 interceptions, 185 touchdowns, and an efficiency rating of 91.2. He was also a mobile quarterback, gaining 5,045 yards on the ground on 738 rushes, with 54 touchdowns. Among the few Canadian-born quarterbacks to play in the CFL, Jackson is the only one to pass for over 10,000 yards. He holds the record for throwing the most passing touchdowns in a Grey Cup game with four (set in the 1969 game) and highest career

passer rating Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leagu ...

in Grey Cup games with 118.4. ''

Ottawa Journal The ''Ottawa Journal'' was a daily broadsheet newspaper published in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, from 1885 to 1980. It was founded in 1885 by A. Woodburn as the ''Ottawa Evening Journal''. Its first editor was John Wesley Dafoe who came from th ...

'' sports editor Eddie MacCabe wrote a biography for Jackson's career in Ottawa, titled ''Profile of a Pro: The Russ Jackson Story'' and first published in 1969.

Career statistics

Post-football playing career

Teaching

After retiring from football, Jackson returned to teaching, having been a mathematics teacher from 1959–1961 and head of the Department of Mathematics at Rideau High School in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

from 1961–1966. He was the principal of Canterbury High School in Ottawa from 1973 to 1975. He later became a vice-principal and principal at secondary schools in Ottawa and Mississauga. He also became principal at Brampton Centennial Secondary School, John Fraser and T.L. Kennedy secondary schools.

Broadcasting

Jackson served as colour commentator for the CFL on CBC broadcasts from 1971–73 and again from 1977–80. From 1996 to 2001, Jackson was the colour commentator CHML-AM's coverage of the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

Coaching

Jackson briefly left teaching in 1975, spending two years as head coach of the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

. Jackson compiled a 12-18-2 regular-season record in two seasons as the Argos' head coach, not reaching the playoffs in either season. Jackson was replaced by

Leo Cahill Leo Cahill (July 30, 1928 – February 15, 2018) was an American head coach and general manager in the Canadian Football League, much of it spent with the Toronto Argonauts. Early life Cahill was born on July 30, 1928 in Utica, Illinois and ...

, in his second tenure as the Argos' head coach, prior to the

1977 CFL season The 1977 CFL season is considered to be the 24th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 20th Canadian Football League season. CFL News in 1977 The 65th Grey Cup game, nicknamed "The Ice Bowl", was held in Olympic ...

Honours

Jackson is an Officer of the

and was awarded an honorary doctoral degree in law by

in 1989. He was added to Canada's Walk of Fame in 2012. In 1986, the Russ Jackson Award was created in his honour to recognize the university football player who best exhibits athletic ability, academic achievement, and devoted citizenship. Russ Jackson was inducted into the

Ontario Sports Hall of Fame The Ontario Sports Hall of Fame is an association dedicated to honouring athletes and personalities with outstanding achievement in sports in Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located ...

in 1995.

References

*CFL Facts, Figures and Records 1987 and 2007. *Ronald A. Ferroni, The 2001 Unofficial Canadian Football Encyclopedia, Hamilton 2001.

External links

"Russ Jackson"
''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Russ 1936 births Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian Football League announcers Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Canadian Award winners Canadian football quarterbacks Canadian monarchists Living people Lou Marsh Trophy winners McMaster Marauders football players Officers of the Order of Canada Ottawa Rough Riders players Players of Canadian football from Ontario Heads of schools in Canada Sportspeople from Hamilton, Ontario Toronto Argonauts coaches