Canadian Junior Football League

Photo courtesy of Honey Mustard Media

The CJFL continues to hand out the end of the year awards today.  Up next is the CJFL Rookie of the Year.

The nominees are:

Reece McCormick of the Regina Thunder - he was named the Prairie Conference Rookie of the Year with 16 tackles, 4 assisted tackles, and added 3 sacks;

Daniel Kubongo of the Langley Rams – he was named the BC Conference Rookie of the Year with 20 receptions for 634 yards and 5 touchdowns.  He also returned 19 punts for 280 yards.

Craig Gonsalves of the Quinte Skyhawks – he was named the Ontario Conference Rookie of the Year with 21 tackles, 6 sacks, 4 knockdowns, 3 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery.

The CJFL Life Member Award is saved for an individual(s) that has contributed a great deal to their team, their Conference and to the CJFL as a whole.  Today's honourees are the CJFL's power couple and have contributed hours and hours of their time to make sure the "numbers" are correct.

Terry and Ed Plant have held many roles throughout their time in the CJFL and now have the distinction of a Life Membership.

Terry and Ed have been quite a dynamic dual for football in Canada over the past two decades. Aside from being two of the most genuine, reliable, delightful, and friendly people who have the innate ability to make everyone feel welcome and valued, the two have been synonymous in keeping and maintaining the records of junior football from the historical, statistical, and administrative perspectives.

Ed has been overseeing and taking the statistics for football teams going back as far as the 90’s  with the then Edmonton Eskimos. Since 1999 Ed and Terry have been involved with junior football in one aspect or another.  Ed became the Prairie Conference’s head statistician in the early 2000s and quick after that he became the CJFL's head statistician. This entails ensuring all teams across Canada have met a standard of excellence and consistency that would allow for the accurate record keeping which is important to selecting award winners and maintaining conference records. Ed also has been a valued member of both Conference and CJFL’s board of directors.

During this time Ed and Terry, continued to complete the stats for both Edmonton Huskies and Wildcats, the statistics for the national semifinals and the Canadian bowl, all this while keeping the stats for the Eskimos.  Most folks don’t understand the commitment in keeping all these stats together and separately while also maintaining a fulltime job and have a family life. Some of the “stats” that most people don’t see is how early a statistician must arrive before the game to set up and then stay late afterwards to finish the stats and circulate to the necessary parties.  Ed and Terry did this year after year, without much fanfare and without complaint.

Terry also has dedicated a tremendous portion of her life to junior football. Aside from being part of the statistician teams, Terry has been a long-term record keeper in the role as board of directors’ secretary for the Prairie Conference as well as the CJFL. Along with usual duties that accompany this role, Terry has been the valuable and irreplaceable corporate memory of both conference and national junior football and keeping both boards focused and moving forward.

It goes without any argument or debate that without Ed and Terry’s involvement in junior football over the last two decades the quality of our game would not be at the level and standard that it is at today. Each of their contributions as individuals would warrant their induction as lifetime members, but as a couple it would be hard pressed to find anybody who has contributed more to junior football in Canada.

Given the incredible amount of time, desire, dedication, discipline and positive attitude Ed and Terry have contributed to junior football over the decades they are most deserving of the CJFL Life Member award.

Contributed by:  Randy O’Shaughnessy