• Pandas Field Hockey forward (1988-1991, 1992-93)
• 2-time Bakewell Trophy Winner (1992/93, 1993/94)
• 2-time CIAU National Championship MVP (1992, 1993)
• 2-time CIAU Bronze medalist (1992, 1993)
• 3-time Canada West All-Star (1990, 1992, 1993)
• 2-time CIAU First Team All-Canadian (1992, 1993)
• 3-time CIAU Tournament All-Star (1990, 1992, 1993)
• Member of Canadian National Senior Team (1991-1993)
• Competed for Canada at 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain

In sports, there are always significant firsts. First win. First Championship. First person to reach a major milestone. First Olympian. And in the case of Heather Jones, ‘93 BSc, ‘98 MD, first person to ever win multiple and consecutive University of Alberta Female Athlete of the Year awards. 

Women’s athletics at the University of Alberta dates back over 110 years. The Bakewell Trophy was first awarded in 1948. And remarkably, it wasn’t until Jones dominated the Canadian field hockey scene in the late ‘80’s and early ‘90’s did somebody win it twice. 

The University of Alberta has seen many greats in Field Hockey; Shona Schleppe, Debra Barnett, Carla Duncan. You can add Jones to that list when she set foot on campus for the first time in 1988. The speed, technical ability, and force she played with were eye catching.

“What set Heather apart was athletic ability, her development at University of Alberta, her success during national championships — which contributed to team success — and her success with the Canadian team,” said Jones’ former coach with the Pandas and SWOF Inductee Dru Marshall. “Heather’s achievements reflect a strong sense of perseverance, a desire to excel, and pure joy in reaching her potential.” 

Her first three seasons were so remarkable and noteworthy, that she made the jump from the Pandas to the Canadian National team in 1991, when she was just 21 years old. 

Her third varsity season (1990) saw Jones earn the first of her three career Canada West All-Star selections, just a glimpse at the full potential bubbling under the surface. 

In 1991, Jones helped lead Canada to a silver medal at the 1991 Pan American Games in Havana, Cuba. At the age of just 22, Jones competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, helping Canada finish seventh.

It wasn’t three months after the 1992 Olympics were over did Jones return to campus, and put together arguably the most dominant set of consecutive seasons of any UofA Athlete ever. 

She earned two more conference all-star nods. She was a CIAU All-Canadian in both 1992 and 1993. She was the national championship MVP in both seasons, a remarkable and rare feat for a student-athlete not on the championship-winning team. 

She won the Bakewell Trophy in each season — sharing the award with Deb Gaudin in 1993, before winning it outright in 1994. 

She led the Pandas to bronze medals in ‘92 and ‘93 at both the Canada West and U SPORTS Championships, the first two national medals in program history. It was a run that pushed the Pandas into the upper echelon of teams in CIAU, a program that would then go on to win two Canada West titles and a CIS banner in the coming decade.
 
“Heather was one of the fastest athletes I had the privilege to coach — and as coaches always say — you can’t coach against speed,” said Marshall. “As her technical skill developed, Heather became a force to be reckoned with. We developed many set pieces that were specifically designed to exploit teams with her speed.”
 
A CIAU Academic All-Canadian in 1993, Jones earned her undergraduate degree that same year, before remaining on UofA campus and earning a doctorate in 1998.
 
Today, Jones is a Family Physician in Halifax.
 
Heather Jones is the seventh Pandas Field Hockey alumni to be inducted into the UofA Sports Hall of Fame.