ROBSERVATIONS: Remembering Jearld Baylis (1962-2024) … celebrating a 10-year tenure … honouring Anne, a true fan.
The late Jearld Baylis was the rare individual who played in a regular-season game with the Saskatchewan Roughriders without having practised with the CFL team.
Signed by the Green and White on June 7, 1992, Baylis started at defensive tackle the following evening in a season-opening matchup against the visiting Calgary Stampeders.
His impact was immediate and impressive.
Baylis was named a league all-star in both his seasons with Saskatchewan.
In 1993, he became the first Roughrider to be recognized as the CFL’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player. All these years later, he is in a select group of three, along with John Chick (2009) and Rolan Milligan Jr. (2024).
Moreover, Baylis is one of only five players to receive All-CFL honours during every season he played for Saskatchewan.
See also: Lorne Richardson (1973 to 1976), Bobby Johnson (1986), Barry Wilburn (1993) and Marcus Sayles (who hopes to repeat after a superb debut season with Saskatchewan in 2024).
Baylis was also part of a landmark event when he played in the first Saskatchewan-based Grey Cup Game. He helped the Baltimore Stallions defeat the Calgary Stampeders 37-20 on Nov. 19, 1995 at Taylor Field. The 1995 season was also the fourth in which he was an All-CFL selection.
“I was saddened to hear of his passing,” says Canadian Football Hall of Famer Dave Ridgway, the Roughriders’ placekicker from 1982 to 1995.
“He was a great teammate and good team leader. He left everything he had out on the field every game and that’s why he was so dominant. Quite honestly, I never heard anything bad ever said about him.”
Those sentiments are echoed by 2005 SaskTel Plaza of Honour inductee Jeff Fairholm, who was a game-breaking slotback with the Roughriders from 1988 to 1993.
“I didn’t know him well, but he was always quiet and such a great player,” Fairholm recalls. “He was tremendous in the locker room because he had such a calming demeanour.”
Baylis was 62 when he passed away on Dec. 30. The sad news was first reported by Rick Cleveland of Mississippi Today, who lauded Baylis as “the best defensive football player I ever saw at Southern Miss, and I’ve seen them all since the 1960s.”
After graduating from Southern Mississippi, the 6-foot-0, 260-pound Baylis ascended to the pro ranks — first in the United States Football League. He suited up for the USFL’s Breakers in New Orleans (1984) and Portland (1985).
Baylis subsequently played in the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts (1986 to 1989), B.C. Lions (1991), Saskatchewan (1992 and 1993) and Baltimore (1994 and 1995). He missed the 1990 season due to injury.
Released by B.C. in October of 1991, he resurfaced in three-down football the following summer when he was signed by then-Roughriders General Manager Alan Ford.
Baylis proceeded to register what would be his two highest sack totals in the CFL — eight (1992) and 11 (1993). He was named the Roughriders’ Most Outstanding Defensive Player in each of those seasons.
Darrell Davis of the Regina Leader-Post reported earlier this week that Baylis had been voted into the Hall of Fame in 2020, but the induction was put on hold because he could not be located. A posthumous enshrinement, in 2025 or 2026, could very well take place.
“For whatever reason, Baylis rarely returned to Mississippi, living in Canada, in Baltimore, in Washington state and Oregon in his later years,” the Mississippi Today story reads in part.
“Details of his death are sketchy, but he had suffered from bouts with pneumonia preceding his death.”
According to Dan Ralph of The Canadian Press, a celebration of Baylis’s life was held on Feb. 1 in Milwaukie, Ore.
TERRIFIC 10
From the too-cheap-to-buy-a-card department: Happy 10th anniversary, Craig Reynolds!
Craig’s tenure as the Roughriders’ President-Chief Executive Officer formally began on March 1, 2015, when he assumed the reins from Jim Hopson.
Jim’s admiration for Craig was such that, during his time as the Roughriders’ Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer, he played a primary role in the team’s transition to new Mosaic Stadium.
Craig was early in his third season as the President-CEO when the Roughriders first played a game in the current facility.
Unforeseeable at the time was a global pandemic that would force the cancellation of the 2020 CFL season.
Craig guided the franchise through an unprecedented crisis and helped the Roughriders emerge with a firm financial footing.
A trusted and respected voice throughout the league, Craig played an integral role in the establishment of the team’s charitable arm, the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation.
Any planning-related discussions with staff always begin with his emphasis that fans should be first and foremost.
And, on a personal note, he is the best boss imaginable.
He encourages and empowers everyone with whom I am honoured to work, while ensuring that they have all the resources and support possible to do their jobs at the highest level.
Under his leadership, there aren’t any layers or barriers. Sometimes I have to remind myself that he is the President-CEO of an iconic franchise, because he is endlessly and enviably down-to-earth.
His sense of humour, often self-deprecating, is also appreciated by this scribbler.
To put it simply and succinctly, Craig Reynolds is the best.
There isn’t a thing I wouldn’t do for him — except, er, buy a card.
GREAT NEIGHBOURS
I grew up on Acadia Drive, next door to the Fuzesys (Laszlo, Anne, Tom, Mary).
We shared many a festive occasion with them, along with a love of football.
OK, Dad (Alan Vanstone) was the furthest thing from a sports fan, but my mother (Helen) became a devotee of the Roughriders shortly after my parents moved to Regina from Birmingham, England in December of 1956.
Two months earlier, Anne had arrived in Regina (having also made the long trek from England) and quickly took note of the fervent football fandom.
“She came here in October of 1956 and knew nothing about the Riders,” Tom recalls. “She couldn’t understand why a colleague would travel to Winnipeg to watch the 1956 Grey Cup live on TV. That was before the microwave relay arrived in Regina in 1957, allowing for live TV here.
“In 1957, she really started to get interested and by 1958, when regular-season games started to be shown on TV, she really became a fan.
“She started going to games in 1958. She got so excited by the 1963 miracle at Taylor Field (in the playoffs against the Calgary Stampeders). She quickly got babysitters for us and she and my dad drove to Taylor Field in the second quarter, when the comeback was looming.”
The 1963 season included the Roughriders debuts of Ron Lancaster, George Reed and Hugh Campbell — all of whom contributed to the landmark 1966 Grey Cup victory.
The Fuzesys, of course, made a point of welcoming home the first championship team in Roughriders history.
Anne, Laszlo, Mary and Tom soon moved to England, where they resided from 1967 to 1969 before returning to Regina and, thankfully, Acadia Drive.
“During the time we lived in England, (Anne) loved receiving letters from your mom, who would describe the exploits of the Riders,” Tom tells me. “Prior to the Internet, getting Rider information from outside Canada would be very limited.”
I was five when the Fuzesys returned to Canada. They are central figures in many of my earliest and best Roughriders-related memories.
Oftentimes, Laszlo was the driver of the Roughrider Express, Acadia Drive version.
Mom and I sat in Section 10 before Taylor Field expanded, whereupon we moved to the upper deck and Section 204.
Tom and his mother were devoted occupants of Section 11, overlooking the stadium’s north end zone. They sat in the top left-hand corner, as far back as I can remember.
Those memories, and so many more, came to mind earlier this week when I learned that Anne had passed away. She was three days shy of her 95th birthday.
To me, Anne and Laszlo were like a second set of parents. They endured the brattiest, most insolent version of yours truly, who routinely and uninvitedly invaded their home after school and on countless summer days.
Without conscience or moderation, I helped myself to and greatly depleted the Fuzesys’ reservoir of Goodhost Iced Tea. Suitably, they were always good hosts — and such a perfect fit.
Anne and Laszlo, both geologists, lived next door to the Vanstones.
ROLL CREDITS …
• Nice people who deserve a plug: Craig Reynolds, Tom Fuzesy, Mary Brick, Lisa Allison, Trudy Kennedy, Kelly Moore, Gavin Bush, Alisa Bush, Cathy Sali, Rod Fink, Marianne Fink, Terry O’Malley, Mario Alford, Godfrey Onyeka, Herb Zurkowsky, Stu Cowan, Molly Corbet, Mike McCullough, Laura McCullough, Brittany Caffet, Janice Dockham, Ken Dockham, Robby Williams, Mark Furlan, Kerry Avery, Noah Sharp, Mirabelle Crevier, Jeremy Molnar, Taylor Frei and Angela Bailey.
