Tyrone Jones; Photo John Bradley
During Black History Month this February, we once again salute some of the players who have played significant roles in the Blue Bombers’ long history.
Today: Tyrone Jones; linebacker: 1983-87; 1989-91
He could get after the quarterback and the numbers Tyrone Jones put up over his two stints with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers provide the concrete evidence — he led the team in sacks in six separate seasons and is atop the franchise’s all-time list with 98 takedowns.
Jones was a four-time Canadian Football League All-Star, was named the league’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 1985 and was inducted into both the Winnipeg Football Club and Canadian Football Halls of Fame, in 1999 and 2012, respectively.
Yet, what stands out as much as Jones’ prolific production on the field was the stuff he said before kickoff and between the whistles as one of the CFL’s all-time trash talkers and characters, earning him the nickname ‘The Mouth that roared.”
Case in point and a true story: two days before the club’s win in the 1990 Grey Cup Jones and his long-time buddy James West pulled yours truly aside to rattle off the names on their ‘All-Ugly CFL Team.’
A product of St. Marys, Georgia, Jones starred at Southern University before signing with the Blue Bombers in 1983. He made an instant impact, leading the club in sacks that season with 18. A year later he was front and center as a long championship drought ended with a win in the 1984 Grey Cup — a game in which he was chosen as the Most Valuable Defensive Player.
Jones left for the NFL after the 1987 season and returned in 1989 to play three more seasons — and win another cup, in ’90 — before ending his career with stints with Saskatchewan and B.C.
Jones, often referred to as ‘All Butt ‘n Gut’ by his teammates, battled cancer for nearly three years after a tumour was found in his brain in 2005. He told the Globe and Mail in 2006: “I’m blessed. I truly am. I’m the three-legged dog named, ‘Lucky.'”
Jones passed away in 2008 at the age of 46. Said the late Lyle Bauer at the time of Jones’ death: “Typical Tyrone — they gave him three-to-six months and that was three-and-a-half years ago.”
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