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| No. 92, 14 | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Quarterback | ||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1930-05-20)May 20, 1930 Carlsbad, New Mexico, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||
| Died | August 29, 2009(2009-08-29) (aged 79) Montreal, Quebec, Canada | ||||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||||
| College | Denver | ||||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||||
| 1952–1960 | Montreal Alouettes | ||||||||||||||||
| 1961–1962 | St. Louis Cardinals | ||||||||||||||||
| 1963 | San Francisco 49ers | ||||||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||||
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| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Canadian Football Hall of Fame (Class of 1969) | |||||||||||||||||
Samuel Etcheverry (May 20, 1930 – August 29, 2009), nicknamed "the Rifle", was a professionalAmerican andCanadian football player andhead coach. Etcheverry played the quarterback position, most famously with theMontreal Alouettes of theCanadian Football League, and was named Canadian football'sMost Outstanding Player in 1954. Etcheverry's jersey #92 is one of sevenretired by the Alouettes.[1]
Etcheverry is a member of theCanadian Football Hall of Fame, and in 2006, was voted one of theCFL's Top 50 players (#26) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports networkTSN.[2]
Etcheverry was the son of Basque sheep farmers who emigrated to New Mexico.[3] Known as "the Rifle", Etcheverry played for theUniversity of Denver from 1949 to 1951 where he still holds most of thePioneers' football records for passing offense.
In 1952, Etcheverry joined theMontreal Alouettes of theInterprovincial Rugby Football Union (which became part of theCanadian Football League in 1958 and was renamed theEastern Football Conference in 1960). As his team'squarterback, he was twice voted "Most Outstanding Player" of the eastern union and was named an eastern all-star six times (1953–1957,1960). In 1954, Etcheverry was awarded theSchenley Award (most outstanding player in theCanadian Rugby Union).
Etcheverry set a single-game passing record of 586 yards in 1954 that stood for 39 years until the1993 CFL season. He also set a season passing record in 1954 of 3,610 yards that was not only a CFL record but also eclipsed theNFL record set in the1947 NFL season byPro Football Hall of FamerSammy Baugh of theWashington Redskins. He led the CFL inpassing from 1954 to 1959. In 1956, he became the first professional quarterback to pass for over 4,000 yards; his record of 4,723 passing yards would stand until 1981 when it was passed byDieter Brock andDan Fouts. Etcheverry still holds the record for most passing yards in aGrey Cup game with 508 set in a loss to theEdmonton Eskimos in the1955 game.
A sports icon in the city ofMontreal, when Etcheverry and star receiverHal Patterson were traded to the last-placeHamilton Tiger-Cats in1960, it caused an enormous public outcry and led to Etcheverry leaving the Canadian Football League and signing with theSt. Louis Cardinals of theNational 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 theSan Francisco 49ers, but was released before the1963 season started.[4]
| Statistics[5] | 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 | ||
Etcheverry returned to Canada in 1964 as the head coach of theQuebec Rifles of theUnited Football League.[6] The league folded at the end of the season and Etcheverry remained out of coaching until 1967 when he became an assistant atLoyola College in Montreal.[7]
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 the58th Grey Cup championship game versus theCalgary 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 the1972 CFL season.[9] His overall record is 14–24–1.
In 1982, he became the general manager and president of theMontreal Concordes. Etcheverry was fired shortly before the start of the1983 season and head coachJoe Galat replaced him as general manager.[10]
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]
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Points | Finish | Won | Lost | Result | |||
| Alouettes | 1970 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 15 | 3rd | 4 | 0 | WonGrey 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 | |||
Etcheverry was inducted into theCanadian Football Hall of Fame in 1969 and was an inaugural inductee into theUniversity of Denver Athletics Hall of Fame upon its formation in 1996.
In November, 2006, Etcheverry was chosen 26th amongst theCFL's 50 Greatest Players in aTSN poll.[2]
Etcheverry died ofcancer in Montreal on August 29, 2009.[3]
