Anthony Calvillo

Calvillo with theMontreal Alouettes in 2023
Montreal Alouettes
Title	Offensive coordinator Quarterbacks coach
CFL status	American
Personal information
Born	(1972-08-23)August 23, 1972 (age 53) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school	La Puente
College	Utah State
NFL draft	1994: undrafted
Career history
Playing
Las Vegas Posse (1994) Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1995–1997) Montreal Alouettes (1998–2013)
Coaching
Montreal Alouettes –Receivers coach (2015) –Offensive coordinator (2015–2016) –Quarterbacks coach (2016–2017) Toronto Argonauts (2018) –Quarterbacks coach Montreal Carabins –Assistant head coach (2019) –Offensive coordinator (2021) –Quarterbacks coach (2021) Montreal Alouettes –Quarterbacks coach (2022–present) –Offensive coordinator (2023–present)
Awards and highlights
4×Grey Cup champion (2002,2009,2010,2023) Grey Cup MVP (2002) 3×Most Outstanding Player (2003,2008,2009) 7×Terry Evanshen Trophy (2002–2004,2008–2011) 5× CFL All-Star (2002,2003,2008,2009,2012) 10×CFL East All-Star (2000,2002–2004,2006,2008–2012) 4×CFLPA Pro Player All Star Team (2002, 2003, 2008, 2010)[1] 4×CFL passing yards leader (2003–2005, 2011) 5×CFL passing touchdowns leader (2003, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2011) Second-team All-Big West (1993) Montreal Alouettes No. 13 retired CFL records Most career passing yards (79,816) Most career touchdown passes (455) Most career pass completions (5,892) Most career pass attempts (9,437) Most career passing yards in Grey Cup games (2,470 yards)
Stats at CFL.ca (archive)
Canadian Football Hall of Fame (Class of 2017)

Anthony Calvillo (born August 23, 1972) is an American professionalfootball coach and formerquarterback who is currently theoffensive coordinator andquarterbacks coach for theMontreal Alouettes of theCanadian Football League (CFL). He wasprofessional football's all-time passing yards leader from 2011 to 2020, and is first inall-time CFL passing yards. In his career, he passed for 79,816 yards and is one of ten professional quarterbacks to have completed over 400 touchdown passes (the others beingBrett Favre,Warren Moon,Peyton Manning,Dan Marino,Tom Brady,Drew Brees,Philip Rivers,Aaron Rodgers, andBen Roethlisberger). His passing-yards reign ended in 2020 when Brees surpassed his record.^[2]

Calvillo won threeGrey Cup championships in2002,2009, and2010, and namedGrey Cup Most Valuable Player in 2002. He also won theCFL's Most Outstanding Player Award three times, in 2003, 2008, and 2009, which ties him for second all-time behindDoug Flutie. Calvillo announced his retirement on January 21, 2014.^[3] Calvillo was an assistant coach for the Alouettes from 2015 to 2017 and with theToronto Argonauts in 2018.^[4]

Calvillo was born inLos Angeles, California. While attendingLa Puente High School, he was a two-sport standout infootball andbasketball. He is ofMexican-American descent. Calvillo grew up with an alcoholic and abusive father; sports were his escape from his turbulent childhood.

Calvillo spent two seasons atMt. San Antonio College before transferring toUtah State University in 1992. After a solid junior year as startingquarterback, he had a terrific senior season in 1993. He set a school record with 3,260 yards of total offense in the regular season, and he also set a school record with five touchdown passes in a single game (he did it twice). With Calvillo leading the offense, USU won theBig West Conference championship for the first time since 1979. The Aggies finished the year with a 42–33 win overBall State in theLas Vegas Bowl; Calvillo passed for 386 yards and threetouchdowns to win MVP honors.^[5] It was Utah State's first-ever bowl victory.

After not being drafted by an NFL team, Calvillo started hisCanadian Football League career in1994 with the US expansionLas Vegas Posse.^[5]

After the Posse folded a year later in theCFL U.S. expansion experiment, Calvillo was selected first overall by theHamilton Tiger-Cats in thedispersal draft. While in Hamilton, Calvillo served as a backup quarterback to players such asSteve Taylor andMatt Dunigan.

In1996, Calvillo threw for 518 yards against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on October 6. This was a Hamilton single game record. On October 25 against the Montreal Alouettes, he threw for 542 yards, which was the highest passing yardage total in the CFL that year, and rewrote the Hamilton single game record.

In1998, Calvillo signed as a free agent with theMontreal Alouettes, where he became one of the most outstanding quarterbacks in history. He led the Alouettes to the2002 Grey Cup, their first in 25 years, where he was named themost valuable player in the game.

During the2003 CFL season, Calvillo broke numerous Montreal Alouette passing records, completing 408 of 675 passing attempts for 5,891 yards and 37 touchdowns. In2004, with 6,041 passing yards, Calvillo became the fourth quarterback in CFL history to pass for more than 6,000 yards in a single season (Doug Flutie,David Archer, andKent Austin being the other three), earning him theEast Division nomination forMost Outstanding Player for the third consecutive year.^[6] With Calvillo quarterbacking the Alouettes' offence, the 2004 Alouettes became the first team in CFL history to have four players with over 1,000 yards receiving in the same season: Ben Cahoon (1183 yards), Jeremaine Copeland (1154 yards), Thyron Anderson (1147 yards), and Kwame Cavil (1090 yards). In 2005, Calvillo and the Alouettes repeated the feat of four receivers over 1,000 yards: Kerry Watkins (1364 yards), Terry Vaughn (1113 yards), Ben Cahoon (1067 yards), and Dave Stala (1037 yards).

The2008 CFL season saw Calvillo hit a number of career milestones. On June 26, in a game against theHamilton Tiger-Cats, Calvillo surpassedDanny McManus to become the second-all-time leading passer in theCFL. On July 31, in another game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Calvillo became the fourth quarterback in league history to reach 300 career touchdown passes. On August 15, 2008, in a game against theToronto Argonauts, Calvillo became the second quarterback in CFL history after Damon Allen to reach 4,000 career pass completions. With 5,633 passing yards and 43 touchdown passes, Calvillo won the 2008 Most Outstanding Player award.^[7] Calvillo led the Montreal Alouettes to the2008 Grey Cup final, which the Alouettes lost 22–14 to theCalgary Stampeders.

In2009, Calvillo added to his club records while reaching more CFL milestones. On July 23, 2009, he surpassed Canadian Football Hall of FamerRon Lancaster's 334 career touchdown passes to move into second place all time. He sat out two games during the regular season, but still accumulated 4639 yards while posting a remarkable 72.0% completion rate, the second best single-season completion rate in CFL history behindDave Dickenson's 73.98% mark set in2005. Calvillo led Montreal to a 16-point fourth quarter comeback victory in the97th Grey Cup on Nov. 29, when the Alouettes defeated theSaskatchewan Roughriders 28–27 on a last-second field goal known as the "13th Man" finish.

Calvillo won his third Grey Cup on November 28, 2010, at98th Grey Cup inEdmonton, Alberta where he defeated theSaskatchewan Roughriders 21-18 for the second year in a row. He added to his record total of passing yards in Grey Cup games with 2470 yards, as well as setting the record for Grey Cup starts with eight. As of the2010 CFL season, Calvillo is 3–5 in Grey Cup Championship Games.

In a post-game interview, he revealed that he would be undergoing off-season surgery to remove a lesion on histhyroid that was discovered after he injured his sternum during the season.^[8] On December 21, 2010, it was reported that Calvillo had successful thyroidectomy surgery to remove a cancerous lesion.^[9]

On July 15, 2011, in a game against the Toronto Argonauts, Calvillo completed his CFL record 395th career touchdown pass toÉric Deslauriers.^[10] On August 4 of that same season, and again against the Argonauts, Calvillo completed his 5159th pass completion toBrandon London to move pastDamon Allen to become the leader in that category as well.^[11] Then, on October 10, 2011, Calvillo completed a touchdown pass toJamel Richardson to become professional football's all-time leading passer, in the Alouettes' third and final game against the Toronto Argonauts that year.^[12] In 2012, Calvillo became the only player in football history to pass 5,000 yards seven times in his career.^[13] He reached 4,000 yards passing eleven times in his career (a CFL record); onlyPeyton Manning of theNFL has reached the 4,000 mark more times in his career with fourteen 4,000 yard seasons. He also set another CFL record having 8 consecutive 300+ passing yards games in a single season, breaking the record he shared with Doug Flutie.

Calvillo signed a two-year contract on December 13, 2012, with the deal keeping him with the Als through the 2014 season. In Week 8 of the2013 CFL season, Calvillo left the game after taking a hit from Saskatchewan'sRicky Foley. Three days after the game, it was announced that he had suffered a concussion, and missed the Week 9 game against theBC Lions and the Week 10 game against theToronto Argonauts.^[14] On September 4, 2013, the Als placed Calvillo on the 9-game injury list.^[15] On October 18, 2013, the Montreal Alouettes general manager and head coachJim Popp announced that Calvillo would not be returning to play for the remainder of the 2013 season.^[16]

On January 21, 2014, Calvillo announced his retirement from professional football. Before his retirement, he was offered the offensive coordinator position with the Alouettes but declined.^[17] On October 13, 2014, Calvillo's jersey number, #13, was retired in a halftime ceremony at McGill Stadium. Upon his retirement, he was the last active player that played for an American-based CFL team during its expansion to the US in the mid-1990s.

On December 15, 2014, the Montreal Alouettes announced that Calvillo would be joining the team as an offensive coach in 2015.^[18] On January 29, 2015, Calvillo was appointed as the receivers coach.^[19] After the firing of Alouettes head coachTom Higgins, Calvillo was named the quarterbacks coach for the Alouettes on August 22, 2015.^[20] After a few weeks, the team'soffensive coordinator,Turk Schonert, was fired and Calvillo was named co-offensive coordinator along withRyan Dinwiddie.^[21] Going into the2016 season, Calvillo was named offensive coordinator withJacques Chapdelaine as his special advisor as he grew into the role.^[22] After head coachJim Popp resigned and Chapdelaine was promoted to that position, Chapdelaine also took over play-calling duties from Calvillo.^[23] For the2017 season, Calvillo was announced as the quarterbacks coach.^[4]

On March 19, 2018, the Argos announced the hiring of Calvillo as their quarterback coach.^[24] The hire reunited Calvillo with his former general managerJim Popp, and head coachMarc Trestman.

On December 19, 2018, Calvillo was named as the assistant head coach for theMontreal Carabins football team inU Sports.^[25] The move reunited Calvillo withDanny Maciocia, who was an offensive coach with the Alouettes from 1996 to 2001. He was promoted tooffensive coordinator andquarterbacks coach and served in that capacity for the2021 U Sports football season.^[26]

On January 6, 2022, it was announced that Calvillo had re-joined the Alouettes' coaching staff as the team'squarterbacks coach.^[27] In early December 2022 it was reported that Calvillo was one of five finalists for the vacant Alouettes head coaching job.^[28] In 2023, Calvillo was the Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach, winning his first Grey Cup as a coach.

• 2011 Pro Football record all-time leader in passing yards
• 2002, 2009, 2010Grey Cup Champion
• 2003, 2008, 2009CFL Most Outstanding Player
• 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011East Division Most Outstanding Player
• 2002Grey Cup Most Valuable Player
• 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009 CFL All-Star team
• 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 CFL East Division All-Star team
• 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010 CFLPA All-Star team
• 2004 CFLPA East Division All-Star team
• 2004Fans' Choice Award

In 2012 in honour of the100th Grey Cup,Canada Post used his image on a series of commemorative postage stamps. The image was also used on presentation posters and other materials to promote the Grey Cup game and other celebrations associated with the centennial.

On October 13, 2014, the Alouettes organization retired Calvillo's number 13 in a half-time ceremony.^[29]

He was inducted into theCanadian Football Hall of Fame in 2017.^[30]

Calvillo and his wife Alexia have two daughters and reside year-round inMontreal,Quebec.^[31] Calvillo became a Canadian citizen on November 19, 2021.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAnthony Calvillo.

• Montreal Carabins bio
• Anthony Calvillo, Greatest QB You Have Never Seen
• Anthony Calvillo of the C.F.L. is Pro Football's Top Passer
• An unlikely pass master

• 1972 births
• Living people
• American emigrants to Canada
• American football quarterbacks
• Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners
• Canadian football quarterbacks
• Hamilton Tiger-Cats players
• Las Vegas Posse players
• Montreal Alouettes players
• Montreal Alouettes coaches
• Players of American football from Los Angeles
• Utah State Aggies football players
• Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees
• Toronto Argonauts coaches
• People from La Puente, California
• Players of Canadian football from Los Angeles

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