His nickname growing up was “the Jet.”

Surely then, you’d expect an individual with that kind of high-octane moniker to be a running back or a receiver or a defensive back on the football field, the kind of player who would be likely chosen to return kicks.

Instead, J.T. Hay made the kicks over a very successful 11-year career in the CFL including a decade (1979-88) with the Calgary Stampeders.

Hay didn’t get a chance to show his speed very often on the football field but he certainly did in the two main sports he played as a youngster in Lochiel, an Eastern Ontario farming community located in Glengarry County.

Hay was a standout soccer player and also played junior B hockey for the Alexandria Glens. It wasn’t until high school that Hay got his first chance to demonstrate the kicking prowess he had demonstrated on the soccer pitch in a different sport.

After high school, Hay apprenticed with the Ottawa Sooners junior squad before signing with the Ottawa Rough Riders. Hay fared quite well during his rookie CFL season (1978) as he produced 136 points.

However, the return of veteran kicker Gerry Organ to Ottawa after a year away from the sport suddenly made Hay expendable. Calgary seemed a logical destination as Cyril McFall had left for the NFL and an opportunity with the Denver Broncos but Stamps coach Jack Gotta was coy in his negotiations with Ottawa counterpart George Brancato. A couple of days into training camp in 1979, Gotta went as far as to say he no longer was interested in Hay.

“I don’t think we need him any longer,” Gotta told the media, with the Calgary coach claiming he was pleased with early camp performance of rookie kickers Mike McTague and Ed Thomas. “You’ve just got to go your own route and right now we’re happy with the people we have.”

It was rumoured the Rough Riders were interested in acquiring offensive lineman Harold Holton in return for Hay but Gotta scoffed, “Trade an all-Canadian for just a kicker? No.”

Gotta’s tough public stance notwithstanding, the Calgary boss decided less than two weeks later that he needed Hay after all and the Stamps sent defensive back Doug Falconer to Ottawa to complete what proved to be a very lopsided deal.

Falconer went on to play just four more CFL games – none of which were for Ottawa – before retiring while Hay, despite being “just a kicker,” established a Stampeders franchise record (since broken by Mark MacLoughlin) for career points and was added to the team’s Wall of Fame in 2006.

In a neat twist, on the night the Stamps officially added Hay to the Wall of Fame, Stamps kicker Sandro DeAngelis booted a 53-yard field goal on the final play of the game to give Calgary a win over the Montreal Alouettes.

“It’s quite fitting that on a day where we put a kicker on the wall of fame, one of them was a placekicker I coached many years ago,” Tom Higgins, who was then the Stamps’ head coach, said after the contest. “When there’s no time left on the clock, I would like J.T. Hay kicking field goal to win it. Now it seems we’re fortunate to have Sandro DeAngelis, who has the poise of a veteran to line up and put it through.”

Upon retirement in 1988, Hay was the Stamps’ career leader with 1,275 points, 282 field goals, 320 converts (without a single miss) and 109 singles. Including the year with Ottawa, he played in 173 regular season games, with 1,411 points, 363 converts in as many attempts, 308 field goals and124 singles.

Hay was a West Division all-star in 1986 and named to the Stampeders’ 50-year Dream Team in 1995.

Hay and his family remained in Calgary at the conclusion of his career. He works in the real estate business and remains heavily involved with the Stamps alumni association.