| Date of birth | (1953-06-11)June 11, 1953 (age 71) |
|---|---|
| Place of birth | Chomedey, Quebec, Canada |
| Career information | |
| CFL status | National |
| Position(s) | QB |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) |
| Weight | 200 lb (91 kg) |
| US college | University of Northern Colorado |
| CFL draft | 1975 / round: |
| Career history | |
| As player | |
| 1975 | Toronto Argonauts |
| 1976–1981 | Montreal Alouettes |
| 1982–1983 | Calgary Stampeders |
| 1984–1985 | Montreal Concordes |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
| CFL East All-Star | 1980 |
Gerry Dattilio (born June 11, 1953) is a former professionalCanadian footballquarterback in theCanadian Football League (CFL).[1]
Dattilio played his high school football with theChomedey Chiefs in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when he won a City Championship by beatingSt. Thomas High School ofPointe-Claire,Quebec. He also played in theQuebec Junior Football League with theVerdun Maple Leafs.
He attended theUniversity of Northern Colorado[2] playing for the Bears from 1972 to 1974.[3] He led the Bears in rushing as a quarterback in 1972 and 1973 and led the team in passing yards in both 1973 (1,367 yards, 18 TDs) and 1974 (1,367 yards, 14 TDs). He ranks 10th on the Bears' all-time passing yards list with 2,953 passing yards and was an All-Great Plains Conference player in both 1973 and 1974.
In 1975, Dattilio was the first territorial exemption of theMontreal Alouettes, but after a time on the injury list he was released in September[4] and then the next month he signed with theToronto Argonauts. He played a single game for the Argos and did not record any statistics. The next season, he was released by the Argonauts, rejoined the Alouettes, and served as the third-string quarterback behindSonny Wade andJoe Barnes. Also as a utility player Dattilio returned punts, but seized the chance at playing more at quarterback in 1978. While he led the team in pass attempts with 142, with 78 completions, that season, he was second in passing yards with 1120. Dattilio also had 9 interceptions and 5 touchdowns. However, in 1979 Barnes was the clear cut starter and with a run heavy offence there was not many opportunities for Dattilio to play. In 1980 that all changed when a struggling Barnes was traded to theSaskatchewan Roughriders after six games. That season Dattilio became an all star quarterback, throwing for 2892 yards and 19 touchdowns and winning theCFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award and was the eastern nominee for theCFL's Most Outstanding Player Award. He threw 5 TDs against theHamilton Tiger-Cats on September 21, 1980. The next season saw Dattilio demoted to back-up in making way forNFL star quarterbackVince Ferragamo. However Ferragamo struggled for most of the 1981 season and Dattilio played enough to tally 1095 aerial yards, including a 427-yard performance (which stood as a record for yards thrown in a game by a Canadian-born QB for more than 40 years beforeNathan Rourke eclipsed the record during the2022 BC Lions season).[5] Prior to the 1982 season he was traded to theCalgary Stampeders. That year, he threw for 2788 yards, marking the last time (until Nathan Rourke, with BC in 2022) in which a Canadian quarterback threw for over 2000 yards in a season. Dattilio completed 194 out of 387 passes, but he had only 11 touchdowns to 22 interceptions. 1983 saw him used mostly as a back-up, this time to first year quarterbackBernard Quarles, but got in enough playing time to throw for 1213 yards. In March, 1984, Dattilio was traded back to Montreal (by then re-named the Concordes) where he served as a back-up or a third-string quarterback for two more seasons.
Among Canadian quarterbacks Dattilio is second all-time in statistics with 9952 passing yards on 697 completions from 1271 attempts with 53 touchdowns and 79 interceptions. He also had 993 rushing yards on 189 carries and added eight rushing touchdowns. He appeared in three Grey Cup games: 1977, 1978, and 1979, but did not throw any passes. Instead, in 1977, he was used as a receiver and caught two passes for 39 yards in the Alouettes' victory over theEdmonton Eskimos.[6]
He is a business person inCalgary, and was inducted into Northern Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004[7] and had theGerry Dattilio Sportsfield named after him inLaval, Quebec, in honour of his greatChomedy High School playing days.[8]