Canadian Football League Hall of Famer Jon Cornish is Canada's youngest university Chancellor
March 2, 2023
While playing football and pursuing a Psychology degree at the University of Kansas two decades ago, Jon Cornish interacted quite a bit with late Chancellor Robert Hemenway who took tremendous pride in making the institution more student-focussed during his 14-year tenure.
“I built a relationship with him and figured it would be cool to be Chancellor someday,” he recalled.
Busy excelling in academics and on the gridiron, Cornish didn’t give much thought to the idea until last March when advised he was on a shortlist to be the next Chancellor of the University of Calgary.
“The news was awe-inspiring and I told my wife I was not going to let the opportunity slip by,” the 38-year-old former Canadian Football League (CFL) star said. “I did a lot of research and preparation for the interview.”
Putting in the hours paid off for Cornish who was named the university’s 15th Chancellor last April.
In the next four years, he will chair the senate, sit on the Board of Governors and preside over degree-conferring ceremonies at convocation. The Chancellor also serves as an ambassador in advancing the interests of the university and the post-secondary education sector in general.
Knowing how to take advantage of an opening, Cornish – who rushed for 8,510 total yards from scrimmage in the CFL -- told graduates in his installation address during last November’s convocation that universities are opportunity generators.
“There is an opportunity to be blind to colour and income and open only to ability and promise,” he said. “That is why I helped found the Calgary Black Chambers (CBC) that provides scholarships to Black students, including eight that were awarded to the University of Calgary. Why was that needed? The truth is 98 per cent of Black students believe they can finish and graduate university, but only half can afford to go. So we said yes to helping more of them realize their potential through the amazing and exciting opportunities that a degree provides, those very same opportunities which you are about to seize to help somebody learn, to help improve someone else’s wellbeing and to make the world more sustainable.”
Though Cornish is a CFL Hall-of-Famer with two Grey Cup rings and a Lou Marsh Award winner as Canada’s top athlete in 2013, becoming the sixth Black Chancellor of a Canadian university and the youngest ever, he noted, is his greatest honour so far.
“It seems like every time I get an honour, I am working on something else that end with good results,” the four-time Calgary Athlete of the Year awardee said. “Once you are moving in the right direction and building positive momentum, these things happen. Whatever the next honour is will be the biggest for me.”
Born in New Westminster, British Columbia, Cornish has been a Calgary resident since 2007 when he signed with the Stampeders after going undrafted in the National Football League.
In 152 games over nine seasons before retirement in 2015, the running back broke Normie Kwong’s 56-year-old single-season record for a Canadian with 1,457 rushing yards in 2012, broke his own record a year later with 1,813, finished as the Stampeders fourth leading rusher with 6,844 yards, won three rushing titles and was a four-time Western All-Star and three-time CFL All-Star selectee.
Over the years, Cornish’s love affair with the Alberta city has been reciprocated in many ways.
In addition to becoming Chancellor, Avenue Calgary lifestyle magazine named him among their Top 40 Under 40 list in 2022.
“I really appreciate Calgary for some of the opportunities it has given me,” he said. “It is a place where there is a lot of talent and opportunity and I have made a lot of friends. It is an environment I want to be in.”
A strong presence in the community, Cornish and his wife, Kiran Seetal, take great pride in volunteering.
In 2020, they and other community members started CBC that seeks to increase Black leadership capacity, forge opportunities for Black professionals to further their development and give back to community and provide scholarships for young people pursuing post-secondary education.
“My wife and I have volunteered with the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, the Calgary Foundation, the Calgary Opera and the Ballet,” he said. “We are all over the place all the time and she suggested we do our own thing. Child poverty among Blacks is almost three times higher than any other ethnic group and only about 50 per cent of Black students have the financial means to go to university and graduate. I approached Black leaders in the community asking if they wanted to join me at the Calgary Petroleum Club and about 55 people responded. That is how the Calgary Black Chambers got started. We have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support Black students, we gave out Achievement Awards and we are seeking mentors for Grades 11 and 12 students.”
The CBC co-founders include Nigerian-born lawyer Kene Ilochonow who, three years ago, became the 116-year-old Law Society of Alberta first Black Bencher.
Before moving to Calgary, Cornish spent five years at the University of Kansas. Redshirted, he did not see significant playing time until Earle Mosley joined the staff as running backs coach in 2005.
“It was a tough time at first,” he admitted. “As a young college student, I saw what the worst could be and how good it could be. It was tough for me to get reps and I was asked by coach Mark Mangino if I thought I could ever be a starter. My response was ‘maybe’ and he said I was eighth on the depth chart. When coach Mosley came in, I got the opportunity to play. He told me I had potential and needed to harness it.”
In 2006, Cornish led the Big 12 in rushing yards with 1,457 which remains the all-time most rushing yards in a season by a Jayhawk, rushing attempts with 250 and yards from scrimmage with 1,651. He won the John Hadl Most Valuable Offensive Player awards in his junior and senior seasons.
He was attracted to the Jayhawks program when Mangino took the head coach job in December 2000 after serving as offensive co-ordinator at Oklahoma that defeated defending champions Florida State Seminoles in the 2000 national championship game.
“I felt there was an opportunity there after Mangino won a championship and was bringing in a new team,” said Cornish who studied piano in high school. “I also had some family in Kansas City and Iowa and that made my time there much better. But the biggest thing was I wanted to play Big 12 football because I grew up watching Oklahoma and Nebraska play and I thought it would be cool to play against them. I was also aware that Kansas had a 56-year losing streak against Nebraska.”
The drought ended in November 2005 with him playing a pivotal role. Taking a delayed handoff, he ran 72 yards up the middle for a touchdown to help Kansas win 40-15.
Most athletes have a difficult time adjusting after their professional sports careers end.
Not Cornish.
He was a bank teller before stepping away from football.
While playing the sport, Canada’s leading energy-focussed investment bank co-founder Jim Davidson gave his mentee a list of things to do.
“He told me to start working at a bank, become an adviser, get your financial securities license and chartered financial analyst certification, seek out a wealth management position and then become an investment manager,” he said.
Cornish is an Investment Advisor with RBC Wealth Management.
As a teller, he met former wrestler Dan Kroffat who invented the ladder match that is a staple in the sport.
“He does so much for the community and he wanted to help me retire,” said the financial adviser and inclusion advocate. “He helped me understand I had a shelf life after football and that retiring sooner was better than later. Those two mentors put me where I am today.”
Even after stepping away from the sport he enjoyed and had much success in, Cornish was able to stay close to the Stampeders.
President Gordon Norrie and Vice-President Mike Franco created a Game-Day Ambassador role for the CFL six-time Outstanding Canadian of the Week honouree.
“That gave me an opportunity to build relationships and learn how to interact with people of all colour and backgrounds,” said Cornish. That experience led me to volunteer with the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation and become a more confident public speaker. It is because of all of that and the support I got from the Stampeders that I am now Chancellor.”
Early last year, he publicly talked for the first time about his father.
A trained accountant in Barbados, Michael Forde migrated to Canada in the 1980s in search of better opportunities. Unable to find a job in his field after a four-year search in Vancouver, he returned to Toronto and had a long-distance relationship with his son.
While seeking a transfer from UPS where he was employed so he could be closer to his son in Kansas, Forde succumbed to a diabetic coma in 2003 at age 51.
“He and I never had a relationship that I was super conscious of,” said Cornish. “We hung out a little bit when I was three, he left and I never saw him again and then he passed away. It was tough because he intended to come and join me when I was in university. I thought that would have been cool, but we never got that chance. However, his death provided me with an opportunity to understand what some of the systemic issues are in the health care system.”
Blacks are at a higher risk of developing diabetes because of barriers that could lower the likelihood of them getting it.
Cornish’s mother, Reverend Margaret Cornish, is a cancer survivor and retired Anglican rector.
