Rams Langley Bound with new Head Coach Tyson St James

After over 60 years of operations in Surrey the Rams Junior Football club is moving its operations to Langley’s McLeod Stadium.

The Canadian Junior Football League Club, along with the Township of Langley, will hold a media event at McLeod Stadium on December 5, during the BC Minor Football Provincial Championships, to unveil the clubs new logo and officially introduce the Langley Rams Junior Football Club to the community.

At the same time the Langley Rams will also proudly introduce its first Head Coach, Tyson St James, to the media and public. St James’s appointment as the Rams new bench boss is effective immediately.

Tyson was selected first over-all by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the 2000 CFL Draft and played for three seasons in Regina before joining the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, where he played two seasons before injuries cut his career short.

Tyson played Junior Football in Abbotsford in the mid 1990’s, where he was coached and mentored by current SFU Head Coach Dave Johnson, with whom he keeps close contact with and still considers one of the most influential coaches in his football career.

St James went on to have a stellar four year CIS career at UBC, where he was a 2 time CIS All Canadian defensive lineman and helped the Thunderbirds win the Vanier Cup in 1997.

Tyson still has a close relationship with his UBC Vanier Cup winning quarterback; former Rams great and current UBC Head Coach, Shawn Olson.

Tyson has numerous CIS guest coaching appearances under his belt and spent the past few seasons as a member of the Lord Tweedsmuir High School Football coaching staff.

Tyson is a native of Langley BC, where he still resides with his wife and four young children.

Rams president Gord Querin is very excited about his new Head Coach, “We had some very qualified coaches apply for the position but in the end Tyson was unanimously considered the best overall fit for our football club.” said Querin.

Querin is confident that St James’s profile in the football community, along with his coaching and recruiting skills, will take the Rams football club to another level “Tyson is very well respected in the football community, we were all impressed with his energy and passion for the game and feel that he has the drive, ambition and ability to put us in a position to challenge for a National Championship right away”, he added.

St James has already started preparing for the 2011 season; beginning with the process of interviewing coaching staff and returning Rams players.

Surrey Rams Notes

The Surrey Rams origins date back to the late 1940’s when the then Cloverdale based team played exhibition games versus teams from BC’s Junior Big 4 league as well as club teams from Washington State.

The Rams joined the BC Junior Tier 2 loop in the early 1960’s, won a BC Championship in 1969 and advanced all the way to the National Championship game in Montreal in 1974, dropping a 3-1 decision to the Lakeshore Flyers in
a blinding snowstorm.

Nick Kawaza took the Rams program over in 1981 after re-joining the Tier 2 loop and made the Rams one of the top teams in the division for six straight years, Kawaza’s Rams were granted entry back into the BCFC in 1988 as an expansion team along with the Abbotsford Air Force.

The Rams went 1-8 in year one but made the playoffs in 1989 have been in the post season in each of the 22 seasons since, winning BCFC Championships in 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 2005. The 1992 Rams also defeated the Regina Rams to win the Western Canadian Championship, they went on to Ottawa for the National Championship game but dropped a 35-17 decision to the Sooners, much like the Rams of 1974 this game was played in a second half blizzard.

Chris and Andrew Butschler took over as Rams co-Head Coaches in 1999 and the team became known as the South Fraser Rams, Andrew left to coach at UBC in 2002 and Chris stayed on as Rams head coach from 2002 to 2004 and again from 2006-2010.

Tyler McLaren took over the Head Coaching duties in 2005 and led the Rams to a BCFC Championship victory.

The Rams last appearance in the BCFC Championship game was in 2009 vs VI Raiders.

The Rams operated out of Surrey’s Bear Creek Park from the early 1970’s until 2006 when they moved to South Surrey Athletic Park with the prospects of improved facilities that unfortunately never materialized.

The Rams have an impressive list of Alumni who turned pro, including Paul McCallum, Sean Whyte, Davis Sanchez(CFL/NFL), Will Loftus, Scott McCuaig, Doug Hocking, Chris Hoople, Jermaine Haley(CFL/NFL), Scott Robinson, James Ellingson, Cam Yeow, Mike Casic, Clay McEvoy, Terry Bailey, Kevin Thompson, Tom Clancy and Dan Payne.

Other prominent Rams Alumni include current UBC Head Coach Shawn Olson, Neil McEvoy, who is the current BC Lions Player Personnel Coordinator & Assistant to GM Wally Buono and Surrey-White Rock MLA Gordon Hogg.

Chris Swartz
VP – Media / PR
Langley Rams Junior Football Club