Jay Roberts played basketball and football and was a high jumper at Kansas University.

Jay Roberts played basketball and football and was a high jumper at Kansas University.

Ottawa, Ontario ? Mario Chalmers’ three-pointer that sent the 2008 NCAA men’s basketball title game into overtime truly was a shot heard ’round the world.

Proof is Jay Roberts’ reaction north of the border.

“I drove everybody nuts. I went off the deep end,” former Kansas University football/basketball/track athlete Roberts said.

He jumped for joy while watching KU’s 75-68 victory over Memphis on TV in his Ottawa, Ontario, home.

“I said early in the game I was confident we’d win because of our speed. It’s hard to get guys that size to run that fast. I was impressed with the speed. I was blown away,” Roberts said of the Jayhawks.

KU fans had a similar reaction to Roberts’ brightest moment in a two-year hoops career. The 6-foot-4, 220-pounder’s 12-foot jumper with three seconds left gave KU a 90-88, four-overtime victory over rival Kansas State in the finals of the 1962 Big Eight Holiday Tournament at Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Mo.

KU has played just two four-OT games in history, the other a 68-64 loss to Oklahoma State in 1965 in Stillwater.

“I barely remember the shot,” Roberts said. “I remember Nolen (Ellison) had an incredible game that night. He was supposed to shoot the last-second shot. He had three guys on him and threw it to me. You get the ball in that situation, you shoot it out of reflex, not skill.”

Ellison finished with 32 points that night, while Roberts tallied six of the 29 points he scored in his entire KU career.

KU honored Roberts’ accomplishments by presenting him with a No. 55 jersey with his name on the back before Sunday’s exhibition game against Ottawa University in Ottawa.

At KU, Roberts also competed in the high jump in track and was a tight end/defensive end in football, playing on the 1961 Bluebonnet Bowl team.

“During the whole time I was there, it was just Steve Renko and myself (playing more than one sport),” Roberts said. Renko was a baseball/football standout.

“I did it as a way to stay out of trouble. I was from Des Moines, Iowa, and didn’t have a car, and if I wanted to go home, I’d have to rely on somebody else to get a ride. So I stayed in Lawrence a lot. I had a lot of spare time on my hands.”

Roberts’ best sport turned out to be football. Upon graduation, he fielded a phone call from the Ottawa Roughriders’ general manager who asked him if he wanted to try out.

“They said they’d give me a $500 signing bonus. I didn’t know where Ottawa was. I drove up and had a great time and stayed on,” Roberts said.

He played in the CFL from 1964 to ’70 and helped the Roughriders to three Grey Cup appearances, two resulting in championships.

Roberts, in fact, caught an 11-yard touchdown pass in Ottawa’s 29-11 victory over Saskatchewan in the 1969 Grey Cup, Canada’s equivalent of the Super Bowl.

After playing his last down, Roberts elected to remain in Canada. He started out in sales, gained dual citizenship, and currently is a consultant working with Aboriginal communities and organizations.

He loves it up north.

“Ottawa is a very nice city, growing rapidly like many places. It was 250,000 people when I first came here (now 1,200,000),” Roberts noted. “There’s a real international flavor to the city with all the embassies in the world here.

“Oh my, there’s a little bit of everything here. You can go 30 miles in any one direction and you’ll be in almost a completely different culture than Ottawa.”