‘I’m just going to miss my friend’: Craig Reynolds remembers Jim Hopson

Craig Reynolds lost more than a mentor and colleague in Jim Hopson; he lost a friend.

Hopson, who was the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ president and CEO before Reynolds, died Tuesday at the age of 73. He had been diagnosed with colon cancer in April of 2021.

“I’m just going to miss my friend. I’m going to miss being able to talk to him and know I’m able to reach out to him,” an emotional Reynolds said Thursday at Mosaic Stadium.

“(I’m) just going to miss that he was always there. I’d pick and choose (when to talk to him) but I just knew he would be there. I’m just going to miss my friend.”

Mosaic Stadium’s video board had an image honouring Jim Hopson after his death Tuesday. (Britton Gray/980 CJME)

Reynolds said Hopson’s wife Brenda told him earlier in the week that Jim had not been doing well.

“You’re sort of prepared to hear it but I don’t know if you truly are. It probably didn’t hit me right off the bat because I just knew I wanted to get back here,” said Reynolds, who was in Phoenix at the time.

“It hit me (Wednesday) pretty hard we had lost him. It was amazing to see all the tributes to him and every one of them he is deserving of.”

Hopson played for the CFL club from 1973 to ’76 before he left football to become a teacher. He returned to the club in 2005 when he was named its first president and CEO.

He transformed the Riders from lovable losers into the flagship franchise of the CFL, and during his tenure, the team won two (2007, 2013) of the franchise’s four Grey Cups. Saskatchewan won the 2013 championship at Mosaic Stadium in Regina.

“He changed the course for this club forever. He’s the first to admit he didn’t do it alone. The board made a courageous decision to hire Jim in the first place. They certainly hired the right person,” Reynolds said.

“He brought a change in attitude and a belief this club could be great and it could be what it is today. It’s debatable if we would be in this amazing facility without Jim.

“He did so much for this club. No matter how many accolades we bestow upon him, it’s still not enough to thank him for what he did and the leadership he showed throughout his tenure here.”

The Roughriders paid tribute to Hopson by renaming the auditorium at Mosaic Stadium in his honour.

During his time at the helm, Hopson hired Reynolds to be the team’s chief financial officer, bringing the Foam Lake product back to his home province.

“I was extremely excited and grateful when he gave me that opportunity to come home to Saskatchewan,” Reynolds said. “I had always thought about coming home and I love this team so much and Jim loved this team so much.

“I just thought he was someone I could learn a great deal from, someone I would enjoy coming to work with every single day, and I can say that was the case – I loved every second I worked with Jim. He was an incredible mentor, I learned so much from him and I cherished every moment I spent with the man.”

In 2015, Reynolds was hired as Hopson’s replacement as the team’s president and CEO after Hopson retired.

“I wish I could remember a specific nugget of advice (from him). He might have said, ‘Don’t screw it up’ in a typical Jim way. One thing I do remember is he said, ‘Just be yourself.’ He said there’s a reason why he believed in me and he just said, ‘Be yourself,’ ” Reynolds said.

Reynolds said that even after Hopson was diagnosed with cancer, that didn’t change how he interacted with people.

“It was amazing,” Reynolds said. “It was funny because you would talk to him and he would describe his day and a lot of those days were really tough and then he would end it with, ‘But it was still a great day.’ He was still positive at the end of it. He would end with positivity.

“That was just him. He had this optimism and positive spirit. I would get off the phone and I would be like, ‘That didn’t sound like a good day,’ but Jim made you feel like it was. That’s just the way he was. He might be the most optimistic person I’ve ever met in my life. He had a real positive mindset and I think that served him very well with his cancer diagnosis.

“The last time I got to see him in person was a couple weeks ago at his place and he was still positive then and you could tell he wasn’t doing well. But he was the same old Jim.”

The Riders said they have spoken with Hopson’s wife Brenda and instead of flowers, donations can be made to the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation, Saskatchewan Cancer Foundation or Regina Minor Football.