Sam Etcheverry
No. 92, 14 | |
Born: | Carlsbad, New Mexico, U.S. | May 20, 1930
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Died: | August 29, 2009 Montreal, Quebec, Canada | (aged 79)
Career information | |
Position(s) | Quarterback |
Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) |
Weight | 190 lb (86 kg) |
College | Denver |
Career history | |
As player | |
1952–1960 | Montreal Alouettes |
1961–1962 | St. Louis Cardinals |
1963 | San Francisco 49ers |
Awards | Schenley Most Outstanding Player Award 1954 Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy 1958 Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy |
Career stats | |
Samuel Etcheverry (May 20, 1930 – August 29, 2009), nicknamed "the Rifle", was a professional
Etcheverry is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, and in 2006, was voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players (#26) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.[2]
College career
Etcheverry was the son of Basque sheep farmers who emigrated to New Mexico.[3] Known as "the Rifle", Etcheverry played for the University of Denver from 1949 to 1951 where he still holds most of the Pioneers' football records for passing offense.
Professional football career
In 1952, Etcheverry joined the
Etcheverry set a single-game passing record of 586 yards in 1954 that stood for 39 years until the
A sports icon in the city of Montreal, when Etcheverry and star receiver Hal Patterson were traded to the last-place Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1960, it caused an enormous public outcry and led to Etcheverry leaving the Canadian Football League and signing with the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League, playing for St. Louis during 1961–62. During 1963 Training Camp, he was demoted to third string by the Cardinals, and asked to be released from his contract. After the Cardinals released him, he signed with the San Francisco 49ers, but was released before the 1963 season started.[4]
Career regular season statistics[5]
Statistics | Passing | Punting | ||||||||||||
Year | Team | GP | Att | Com | % | Yds | TD | Int | Lg | # | Yds | Ave. | Lg | S |
1952 | Montreal Alouettes | 12 | 235 | 140 | 59.6 | 2084 | 9 | 18 | - | - | - | - | - | |
1953 | Montreal Alouettes | 14 | 343 | 166 | 48.4 | 2714 | 24 | 32 | - | - | - | - | - | |
1954 | Montreal Alouettes | 14 | 372 | 206 | 55.4 | 3610 | 25 | 29 | 105 | 3 | 131 | 43.7 | 60 | 0 |
1955 | Montreal Alouettes | 12 | 400 | 227 | 56.8 | 3657 | 30 | 24 | 84 | 19 | 733 | 38.6 | 51 | 1 |
1956 | Montreal Alouettes | 14 | 446 | 276 | 61.9 | 4723 | 32 | 23 | 109 | 48 | 1968 | 41.0 | 56 | 3 |
1957 | Montreal Alouettes | 14 | 408 | 215 | 52.7 | 3341 | 14 | 22 | 88 | 66 | 2634 | 39.9 | 55 | 4 |
1958 | Montreal Alouettes | 14 | 423 | 247 | 58.4 | 3548 | 18 | 25 | 87 | 145 | 5668 | 39.1 | 80 | 3 |
1959 | Montreal Alouettes | 14 | 402 | 231 | 57.5 | 3133 | 10 | 21 | 80 | 131 | 4937 | 37.7 | 60 | 6 |
1960 | Montreal Alouettes | 14 | 378 | 229 | 60.6 | 3571 | 24 | 19 | 98 | 102 | 4196 | 41.1 | 61 | 10 |
1961 | St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) | 14 | 196 | 96 | 49.0 | 1275 | 14 | 11 | 78 | - | - | - | - | x |
1962 | St. Louis Cardinals (NFL) | 14 | 106 | 58 | 54.7 | 707 | 2 | 10 | 68 | 59 | 2259 | 38.3 | 61 | x |
CFL Totals | 3407 | 1937 | 56.9 | 30381 | 186 | 213 | 109 | 514 | 20267 | 39.4 | 80 | 27 | ||
NFL Totals | 302 | 154 | 51.0 | 1982 | 16 | 21 | 78 | 59 | 2259 | 38.3 | 61 | x | ||
Totals | 3709 | 2091 | 56.4 | 32363 | 202 | 234 | 109 | 573 | 22526 | 39.3 | 80 | 27 |
Coaching career
Etcheverry returned to Canada in 1964 as the head coach of the
On December 9, 1969, Etcheverry was hired to coach the Alouettes.[8] In his first season, he led the Alouettes to a 3rd place finish in the Eastern Football Conference with a 7–6–1 record (worst out of the six teams that qualified for the playoffs in the league, which had nine teams at the time that gave three spots to both conferences). They beat Toronto 16–6 to advance to the best-of-2 Eastern Finals against Hamilton. They won 32–22 and 11–4 to advance to the 58th Grey Cup championship game versus the Calgary Stampeders. In a muddy natural grass field (the last for a Grey Cup for over a decade) detested by both teams in Toronto, Montreal prevailed 23–10. The next year, they went 6–8 and missed the playoffs after Ottawa beat them on tiebreakers. They finished 4–10 the next year, but as three teams were guaranteed to make it from the East, Montreal's one game advantage over fourth place Toronto meant a playoff berth. Facing Ottawa in the semifinals, they lost 14–11 to the Rough Riders. He resigned at the end of the 1972 CFL season.[9] His overall record is 14–24–1.
In 1982, he became the general manager and president of the
Following the demise of the Concordes, Etcheverry joined a group interested in bringing an NFL franchise to Montreal.[11] He was one of the group's representatives at the 1988 NFL owners meeting.[12]
Head coaching record
Team | Year | Regular season | Post-season | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Won | Lost | Ties | Points | Finish | Won | Lost | Result | |||
Alouettes | 1970 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 3rd | 4 | 0 | Won Grey Cup | |
Alouettes | 1971 | 6 | 8 | 0 | 12 | 4th | 0 | 0 | missed playoffs | |
Alouettes | 1972 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 3rd | 0 | 1 | lost Divisional playoff | |
Totals | 17 | 24 | 1 | 35 | 4 | 1 | 1 Grey Cup |
Awards and honours
Etcheverry was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1969 and was an inaugural inductee into the University of Denver Athletics Hall of Fame upon its formation in 1996.
In November, 2006, Etcheverry was chosen 26th amongst the CFL's 50 Greatest Players in a TSN poll.[2]
Death
Etcheverry died of cancer in Montreal on August 29, 2009.[3]
References
- ^ "Pringle's No. 27 retired by Als". CBC.ca. 2005-07-02. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ a b "TSN Top 50 CFL Players". TSN.ca. 2006-11-28. Retrieved 2007-08-02.
- ^ a b "Canadian Press obituary".
- ^ "Why the Cardinals Signed Sam Etcheverry". thebigredzone.com. May 17, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2021.
- ^ "Samuel Etcheverry football statistics on StatsCrew.com".
- ^ "Spokane Daily Chronicle - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- ^ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=YTUOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=s38DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3218,1297232&dq= [dead link]
- ^ "Spokane Daily Chronicle - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- ^ "Lakeland Ledger - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- ^ "Ellensburg Daily Record - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
- ^ "Etcheverry joins group seeking NFL franchise for Montreal". February 11, 1988.
- ^ Goyens, Chrys (January 17, 1989). "Montreal a step closer to NFL?".