Harry
ASFN Consultant and Senior Writer
Also it's too early for the Redbirds season opener, so I thought I'd take you down memory lane. I was noting some of the posts about taking a round 1 QB and that led me to previous quarterback attempted solutions. One of the most interesting was Sam Etcheverry. He was a CFL MVP and came with a great nickname, "The Rifle." Sam had destroyed the CFL record book and had a solid career at the University of Denver before that.
As I write this everything sounds logical. However, the CFL in those days was a much weaker league and Sam was no Warren Moon. In fact he was no rifle either. He was more of a cap pistol. If you don't remember cap pistols, ask your grandfather.
The Cards were coached by Pop Ivy a former assistant of Bud Wilkerson. I throw that in for those of you who are fans of irony. Pop had struggled but in 1960 he'd finally managed a winning record. Now he'd gotten a brand new rifle for Christmas. I should note for perspective that the Cards had 2 good running backs, Prentice Gautt and John David Crow. They also had 2 fine receivers in Bobby Joe Conrad and rookie Sonny Randle. This offense looked poised for success.
The Cards quickly learned a few things. Sam was an equal opportunity passer, throwing 11 interceptions against his 14 TDs. His completion percentage was 49%. In 1962 he started the only the first 4 games and then was replaced by Charley Johnson. Sam threw for only 2 touchdowns and an incredible 10 interceptions. Then he retired with a sore arm.
These were bad times for the Cards. The AFL was stealing their draft picks. The Cards signed only 5 of their 21 drafts picks (yes, 21 rounds). Pop Ivy was unceremoniously dismissed mid-season in 1962 and a committee of coaches finished the year. Dollar Bill wasn't about to pay two head coaches at the same time.
Sam had some tough days ahead. He was named the head coach of ironically, the Quebec Rifles. This was not a CFL team, but a startup UFL team. The league quickly folded and he may have been blackballed as revenge by the CFL. He next surfaced as an assistant football coach at little Loyola College in Montreal. He finally got a great break by being named the head coach of a quality team, the Montreal Alouettes. He lead them to the Grey Cup the first year. However with addition of the AFL, Canada was pushed just to fill their rosters and the Alouettes fell on hard times. Three losing seasons cost Sam his job. In one final odd event 10 years later he was named General Manager of the Montreal Concordes, the team that replaced the Alouettes when they folded. He was fired mid-season likely only having been used for publicity. The last time I heard of Sam was in the late eighties. He was part of the group attempting to get an NFL expansion for Montreal. When researching this I found he passed away in 2009. He was voted by writers to the group of the top 50 players in CFL history.
As to the Cardinal part of his career, it is little more than a footnote in most publications.
You might enjoy this if you didn't know the NFL and the CFL used to play exhibitions.
http://torontoist.com/2008/12/historicist_mismatch_of_the_century/
As I write this everything sounds logical. However, the CFL in those days was a much weaker league and Sam was no Warren Moon. In fact he was no rifle either. He was more of a cap pistol. If you don't remember cap pistols, ask your grandfather.
The Cards were coached by Pop Ivy a former assistant of Bud Wilkerson. I throw that in for those of you who are fans of irony. Pop had struggled but in 1960 he'd finally managed a winning record. Now he'd gotten a brand new rifle for Christmas. I should note for perspective that the Cards had 2 good running backs, Prentice Gautt and John David Crow. They also had 2 fine receivers in Bobby Joe Conrad and rookie Sonny Randle. This offense looked poised for success.
The Cards quickly learned a few things. Sam was an equal opportunity passer, throwing 11 interceptions against his 14 TDs. His completion percentage was 49%. In 1962 he started the only the first 4 games and then was replaced by Charley Johnson. Sam threw for only 2 touchdowns and an incredible 10 interceptions. Then he retired with a sore arm.
These were bad times for the Cards. The AFL was stealing their draft picks. The Cards signed only 5 of their 21 drafts picks (yes, 21 rounds). Pop Ivy was unceremoniously dismissed mid-season in 1962 and a committee of coaches finished the year. Dollar Bill wasn't about to pay two head coaches at the same time.
Sam had some tough days ahead. He was named the head coach of ironically, the Quebec Rifles. This was not a CFL team, but a startup UFL team. The league quickly folded and he may have been blackballed as revenge by the CFL. He next surfaced as an assistant football coach at little Loyola College in Montreal. He finally got a great break by being named the head coach of a quality team, the Montreal Alouettes. He lead them to the Grey Cup the first year. However with addition of the AFL, Canada was pushed just to fill their rosters and the Alouettes fell on hard times. Three losing seasons cost Sam his job. In one final odd event 10 years later he was named General Manager of the Montreal Concordes, the team that replaced the Alouettes when they folded. He was fired mid-season likely only having been used for publicity. The last time I heard of Sam was in the late eighties. He was part of the group attempting to get an NFL expansion for Montreal. When researching this I found he passed away in 2009. He was voted by writers to the group of the top 50 players in CFL history.
As to the Cardinal part of his career, it is little more than a footnote in most publications.
You might enjoy this if you didn't know the NFL and the CFL used to play exhibitions.
http://torontoist.com/2008/12/historicist_mismatch_of_the_century/
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