Willis Jacox (born March 25, 1966 in Bloomington,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

) is a former professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

player. Jacox attended the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (also known as UND or North Dakota) is a public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota. It was established by the Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishment of the state of N ...

in the mid-1980s, where he played both wide receiver and

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

. Following his collegiate career, Jacox was signed by the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

in May 1987. He played for the Roughriders in parts of the

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

and

1992 CFL season The 1992 CFL season is considered to be the 39th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 35th Canadian Football League season. CFL News in 1992 The CFL celebrated 100 years of football in Canada, commemorating the f ...

s, leading the league in kickoff return yards (1,231 yds) in 1991. After his CFL career ended, Jacox played in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

as a wide receiver for the

Iowa Barnstormers The Iowa Barnstormers are a professional indoor football team based in Des Moines, Iowa. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). They play their home games at Wells Fargo Arena, known in indoor football circles as "The ...

. He was named Second Team All-Arena in 1996.

External links

AFL statsJust Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jacox, Willis 1966 births Living people People from Bloomington, Minnesota American football wide receivers American football return specialists University of North Dakota alumni North Dakota Fighting Hawks football players Players of American football from Minnesota American players of Canadian football Canadian football return specialists Saskatchewan Roughriders players Iowa Barnstormers players Sportspeople from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area National Football League replacement players