'Engrained in every part of this province': Sask. remembers Rider great Jim Hopson
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Saskatchewan is remembering former Roughriders player and executive Jim Hopson.
Saskatchewan is remembering former Roughriders player and executive Jim Hopson.
According to Hopson’s family, he died surrounded by family and friends on Tuesday, April 2.
Hopson was first diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in April of 2021 and announced in January 2024 that he was no longer undergoing treatment.
Regina Leader-Post columnist Darrell Davis co-authored ‘Running the Riders’ with Hopson.
“When you asked him who he was he would say, ‘I’m just a Regina guy who’s lucky enough to have played all my football here,” Davis recalled.
Born in Regina in 1951, Hopson played high school football for Thom Collegiate. After graduating, he moved on to the Regina Rams junior football team and eventually the Saskatchewan Roughriders, where he was an offensive lineman for four seasons from 1973 to 1976, playing alongside the likes of Ron Lancaster and George Reed.
Hopson announced his retirement as a player following the 1976 Grey Cup game.