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Regina coaches see Jon Ryan’s influence grow

Jan 31, 2015 | 7:32 AM

Only hours remain until Regina’s Jon Ryan and the Seattle Seahawks go for their second-straight Super Bowl on Sunday against the New England Patriots.

The punter has the backing of his old high school, Sheldon-Williams Collegiate, with a marquee sign outside the school displaying words of support. His old coaches are recalling their first impression of Ryan.

“I saw this little, skinny, red-headed kid and apparently he was a good athlete. (I thought) this kid potentially might get hurt or something and quite the contrary, probably one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached,” said Tim McFadden, who was Jon’s offensive co-coordinator with the Spartans and also taught him history.

“In the back of my mind I’m thinking ‘Oh god is he small,’” echoed Ron Cherkas, who was Jon’s head coach with the football team.

“We go to spring camp and we’re running live pass skelly. Jon catches a ball coming across the middle and just gets hammered, just absolutely killed. He hits the ground, he bounces right back up, grabs his face mask, straightens his helmet on and just runs and jogs right back to the huddle,” Cherkas continued.

“That one episode proved to me he’s tough.”

McFadden believes that Ryan continues to have a huge impact on the city. That’s evident in his classroom. He said there have always been students who have worn Roughrider jerseys and even NFL jerseys.

“But now all of a sudden a lot more Seahawks jerseys,” he said.

“To some degree I think the Seahawks have kind of become Regina’s NFL team.”

He explained how minor football numbers have shot up since 2000. While he said that’s the result of many factors, he believes a lot of kids are taking Jon’s story and using it as inspiration.

McFadden is even noticing the mark Jon’s left on young kids, most noticeably on Halloween.

“I had a couple of Jon Ryan trick-or-treaters at my door with their number nine jerseys on and their football pants.”

A production crew had visited Sheldon-Williams recently on behalf of NBC to shoot a segment to air on Sunday before the Super Bowl as part of the day’s pre-game coverage. The feature will only be about one minute long featuring old coaches, family and friends.

“It’s such a good feeling to know that he set a goal for himself and he pursued that goal right until he made it,” said Cherkas, who was interviewed as part of that segment.

He hopes that special feature will show fans, especially American fans, where Jon comes from and the people that helped shape him.

“We don’t live in igloos. We play football, we play hockey. It just helps people in the United States to realize Canadians love playing sports. Hockey is our king, but football in Saskatchewan is right beside hockey.”

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