Diane Jones, Huskiette pentathlete, running the 60 metres hurdles on an indoor track. Jones broke the indoor world pentathlon record on 8 March 1975 in Edmonton, raising it from 4490 to 4540 points.

Bio/Historical Note: Diane Helen Jones-Konihowski was born in 1951 in Vancouver and raised in Saskatoon. In 1967 she represented Canada internationally for the first time as a high jumper and javelin thrower. Jones won her first international medal, a high jump bronze, at the 1969 Pacific Conference Games. She represented Canada in the pentathlon at the Munich Olympics in 1972. Jones was a gold medalist in the pentathlon at the 1975 Pan American Games in Mexico City; that same year she was named Canada’s Female Athlete of the Year. Jones graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 1976 with a BEd. In 1978 she won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton and was named Canada’s Female Athlete of the Year for the second time in her career. Jones married fellow athlete John Konihowski in 1977; the wedding ceremony was carried live on CFQC-TV. In 1979 she won her second Pan American Games gold medal. Forced to miss the Moscow Olympics of 1980 due to the boycott that Jones-Konihowski strenuously opposed, she seriously considered going to the Soviet Union to compete as an athlete without a flag or nation. Jones-Konihowski eventually decided it was safer to not attend and athletically made her statement two weeks later at a pentathlon in Germany, winning gold, and beating all the Moscow 1980 Olympic medalists. During her career Jones-Konihowski ranked first in the world twice. Jones-Konihowski was awarded the Order of Canada in 1979 and inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1980. She was the recipient of the YWCA Woman of Distinction Sport & Recreation Award in 1988. In 1996 she was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Sports Hall of Fame. Jones-Konihowski has remained active in Canadian sports, having worked as a coach and sports administrator for many national athletic boards including Fair Play Canada, the Coaching Association of Canada, the Canadian Olympic Association, as well as the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport. In 2000 Jones-Konihowski led Canada’s Olympic Team to the Sydney Olympics as the Chef de Mission. She was presented with an honourary Doctor of Laws degree from the U of S in 2002. In 2005 Jones-Konihowski was elected to the board of directors of the Canadian Olympic Committee. Jones-Konihowski is a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame (2020) and the Canada West Conference Hall of Fame (2021).

Head and shoulders image of Dr. Pat Lawson, instructor, School of Physical Education.

Bio/Historical Note: Dr. Patricia A. Lawson was born on 18 November 1929 in Saskatoon and attended Caswell Elementary School. Lawson won every track and field event she entered while attending Bedford Road Collegiate. She won provincial titles in six different sports and five Canadian titles in three sports. She broke records for the 220- and 440-yard events in speed skating, and became Canadian intermediate ladies champion in 1947 and Canadian senior ladies champion in 1949 and 1954. While attending the 1947 Canadian track and field championships, she won gold in shot put, the first time she had competed in the event. Lawson won two Canadian basketball championships; one with the Vancouver Eilers in 1956 and one with the Saskatoon Adilman Aces in 1959. She was one of five Aces to represent Canada at the 1959 Pan Am Games in Chicago. Lawson had similar success as a golfer: she was a five-time winner of the Saskatchewan Senior Women's championship, Lawson represented the University of Saskatchewan on 13 teams over 4 years (basketball 4, swimming 4, tennis 3, track and field 2). She graduated with a BA (1950) and a BEd (1953). In 1956 Lawson joined the faculty of the College of Physical Education at the U of S, where she was a teacher, coach and administrator before being named women’s athletic director. She coached the Huskiettes basketball team from 1956-1964 and again in 1967-1968. In 1966 she was named coach of Canada’s national women’s basketball team. Lawson completed an MA in physical education at the University of Oregon (1959) and a PhD at the University of Southern California (1967). Lawson retired from the U of S as Professor Emerita in 1990.
In 1984 Lawson became president of the Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (CAHPER). She was also president of the Canadian Women's Intercollegiate Athletic Union, which improved opportunities for women in intercollegiate athletics, and served a term as chairperson for the National Advisory Council on Fitness and Amateur Sport. Lawson was named a Fellow in the North American Society Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport and Dance. She was honoured with the Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (CAHPER) Honor Award. Lawson was a member of the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame for golf, basketball, and with the Adilman Aces basketball team that won the Canadian Championship and competed at the 1959 Pan‐American Games. The Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame inducted Lawson as a multi‐sport athlete to recognize her provincial championships in six different sports: swimming, track and field, tennis, basketball, speed skating and golf. The U of S has honoured her twice as a member of the Athletic Wall of Fame. Lawson was also recognized by the College of Kinesiology as one of the “First and Best” in 1996. She competed nationally as a member of Saskatchewan golf teams seven times in the Amateur Women’s and 12 times in the Senior Women’s. She was provincial Senior Champion five times, and runner‐up four times between 1980 and 1994. Lawson was the first woman elected to the Riverside Country Club Board of Directors. She won the Waskesiu Ladies’ Lobstick five times over four decades from 1968 to 1991. Lawson was also a member of the Bedford Road Collegiate Hall of Honour and the Saskatchewan Golf Hall of Fame; Additional recognition included being recipient of the College of Arts and Science "Alumni of Influence Award"; and the U of S Alumni Achievement Award in 2018. Lawson died of lung cancer in Saskatoon on 10 October 2019 at age 90. She was survived by partner Barbara Dorsey, former professor of Physical Education at the U of S.