Picture this: Glen Jackson, ten years old, never played any sports in his life to that point. Never even heard of the game of football. Walks by south Vancouver’s Fraserview Park and a local football coach asks him out of the blue if he wanted to play.
What are the odds that kid would go on to play football the next 22 straight seasons, including 12 with the BC Lions and become one of the best Canadian linebackers in CFL history? Jackson clearly had impeccable timing before ever picking up a football.
Early on, Jackson played at Vancouver’s Notre Dame High School—alongside future SFU and Lions teammate Lui Passaglia—and helped the school to three BC high school championships. US scholarship offers beckoned for the undersized linebacker, but he chose to play four standout seasons with SFU, earning NAIA Northwest Division All-Star selections on three occasions.
A starter with the Lions from day one, Jackson played 192 regular season games from 1976-87, snagging 23 interceptions, recovering 23 fumbles, and recording 36 sacks. Tackles? He made hundreds at a time when this stat wasn’t even recorded. One of the CFL’s most durable and dominant defensive players, six times he was named a CFL Western All-Star and three times each he earned BC Lions Top Canadian Player and Top Defensive Player honours.
Jackson also helped lead the Lions to two Grey Cup appearances in 1983 and 1985, the latter BC’s second Grey Cup championship in club history. He was selected to the BC Lions All-Time Team in 2003.
Written and researched by Jason Beck, Curator of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.
To view the 2018 Inductee career and thank you videos please visit our YouTube Channel here.