Jearld Baylis died not knowing he was a Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductee.
A dominant defensive tackle who played for the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, Toronto Argonauts, B.C. Lions and Baltimore Stallions, with whom he won the 1995 Grey Cup, Baylis was officially part of the Class of 2020. But the Hall couldn’t find him, couldn’t tell him, couldn’t honour him. So his induction was deferred.
“That’s not uncommon,” said Eric Noivo, executive director of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame & Museum. “Sometimes it takes weeks or months to find an inductee, but this took years.”
Helped by a security consultant who does background checks on Hall of Fame candidates and frequently helped find long-lost inductees such as Mervyn Fernandez, Tom Hugo and Marvin Coleman, Noivo recently found a newspaper article confirming Baylis’ death. According to Mississippi Today sports columnist Rick Cleveland, Baylis died last month at 62 in an unknown location.
“Details of his death are sketchy,” wrote Cleveland, who recalled Baylis earning the nickname “The Space Ghost” during his stellar college career at Southern Mississippi. “But he had suffered from bouts with pneumonia preceding his death.”
Former teammates and opponents admitted they hadn’t seen Baylis for years.
Unwanted by the NFL after leaving college, Baylis played in the USFL before spending 1986-89 with the Argonauts. Along with Hall of Fame linebacker Willie Pless, Baylis was one of six Argos traded to B.C. for Hall of Fame quarterback Matt Dunigan. An injury sidelined Baylis in 1990 and he was waived midway through the next season while Dunigan was leading the Argos to the 1991 Grey Cup.
When Dunigan played at Louisiana Tech, one of his most memorable victories came against Baylis’ squad. The rivalry continued throughout their CFL careers.
“I couldn’t shake the guy,” said Dunigan, who is a member of the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. “I had to play against him in college, then I come up here and there’s that (bleep) guy again! I have profound respect for him, which is why we put him into the hall five years ago.
“He garnered lots of attention because he deserved it, because he needed two or sometimes three guys on him. There are guys in every game who you play against, you want to know where they are. My job as a quarterback was to survey the defence and look for Jearld Baylis. I didn’t have to look very far because has right there.”
Dunigan said Baylis’ best years came in Baltimore, where his strong interior presence created space for pass-rushers like Elfrid Payton, another Hall of Famer.
“I had to retire because of concussions and my CTE in 1996,” said Dunigan. “I took a pounding. And a lot of it was because of Jearld Baylis.”
Riders head coach Don Matthews brought Baylis to Saskatchewan for two seasons, posting third-place records of 9-9 and 11-7 before losing West semfinals in Edmonton. After Baylis was named he CFL’s outstanding defensive player in 1993, together they joined the short-lived Baltimore franchise for the player’s final two CFL seasons. He played 12 Arena Football League games in 1997.
“Jearld Baylis makes me a much smarter coach,” said Matthews, a Hall of Fame coach who died in 2017, whenever he was asked about one of the CFL’s most dominant nose tackles, proficient at stopping running backs and pressuring quarterbacks.
Baylis and his wife, Lucy, organized football clinics during their time in Regina. After they left the city in 1993, several organizations and property owners contacted the Leader-Post to complain about unpaid bills. Ex-teammates told the L-P they don’t believe Baylis has been back in Regina for 30-plus years. He reportedly has lived in Hawaii, Maryland, Oregon and Washington.
Baylis was the first of three Roughriders to have won the CFL’s top defensive player award, followed by defensive end John Chick in 2009 and defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. in 2024.
Only 6-foot-0 and 265 pounds, Baylis was exceptionally quick and strong off the line of scrimmage. In 129 games through 10 CFL seasons he had 42 sacks, 213 tackles, 10 fumble recoveries and four times made the league’s all-star team.
Seven inductees have already been chosen by the Hall for 2025; they will likely be announced in March. Noivo said there are provisions that could add Baylis as an eighth inductee this year, provided the Hall can contact his family. Or Baylis will be inducted posthumously in 2026.