Tag Archives: CFL Hall of Fame

CFL

Pitts, Allen

Card: All World 1991
Acquired: CFL Blitz 1992

An incredible wide receiver talent, Allen Pitts played collegiately at Cal State Fullerton.  Drafted by the Stamps in 1990, Pitts would dominate the record books for the next 11 seasons for Calgary. Pitts was a fan favorite who was considered an enigma by everyone. While other players put down roots during the off-season in Calgary, Pitts would return to the LA basin. Players considered him the team jokester, with an extremely private side and because of this nature,  he was quickly a target of the media.

His rookie season would start off quite nicely with 1100+ yards receiving and an 18 ypc average. He’d go on through the next 10 seasons logging 8 more 1,000+ yard seasons receiving, including a club record high 2036 yards in 1994 to go along with 126 receptions and 21 touchdowns. Considered extremely competitive, Pitts retired while his career was still in its prime, -and after another 1000 yard season in 2000. At the time of his retirement, he was a 6 time All-Star, the CFL’s All-time leader in yards receiving, touchdowns, and receptions, (since surpassed), most 100 yard games (64), and was the first player in league history to record two consecutive seasons of 100+ receptions.

Inducted into the Stampeders Wall of Fame in 2005, his jersey retired by the team, the CFL Hall of Fame in 2006, and named #10 on the greatest players in CFL history, Pitts’ current whereabouts are sketchy, but it is believed that he still lives in the Los Angeles area and older data suggests that he was working in a construction business. A great TTM prospect acquisition at that time in 1992.

G  176     Rec 966        Yds  14891       Avg  15.4      Td  117     Lg  76

CFL

Ridgway, Dave “Robokicker”

Card: All-World 1991
Acquired: TTM 1994, C/o The CFL

Small note about the Canadian Football League. Unlike the NFL, kickers roles are actually enhanced in the CFL with the aid of the ‘rouge’. If a kicker launches the ball and it goes out of the back of the endzone, but does not score a field goal, his team still receives a single point.

Drafted in 1981 by the Montreal Alouettes, Dave Ridgway’s career would be off to a bad start as he’d be unable to make the squad that season. Contacted in 1982 by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, he’d go on to become one of the most storied kickers of the CFL’s history. Ridgway would kick the game winning field goal in Saskatchewan’s exciting Grey Cup victory in 1989, and is the most accurate kicker in league history, knocking down 59 field goals in 1987, and 8 field goals in a game which are both league records as well. He’d retire in 1994, virtually in control of nearly all league kicking records.

A 6 time CFL All Star, Dave rightfully so has received numerous accolades since his retirement. His number (36) was retired by the Roughriders and he was inducted into the team’s Plaza of Honor in 2000. In 2003, Ridgway was also named to the CFL HoF, and won the MVP honor for his clutch field goal in the 1989 Grey Cup.

Dave’s name is spelled ‘Ridgway’, and he was nicknamed ‘Robokicker’ by his teammates for his ability to automatically hit field goals and the coincidence that the movie “RoboCop” had been released that year. Below is a link to the 1989 Grey Cup field goal and his final limited statistics, since the CFL does a horrid job of keeping them.

fga N/a    fgm N/a   pct .780  pts 2374

Arena, CFL

Jurasin, Bobby

Cards: All World 1991.
Acquired: TTM 1993, (CFL Blitz) C/o CFL headquarters.

I got a box of All-World CFL cards in 1991 from a local card dealer and decided to send out a bunch of them after the league confirmed it’s North American expansion plans when the WLAF folded in North America. Not finding the team offices, I blitzed the headquarters, who then sent it around to a variety of teams for me and included many of their own. They included many future hall of famers and Doug Flutie.

Bobby Jurasin went undrafted in the 1986 NFL draft after attending Northern Michigan University and joined the Saskatchewan Roughriders as a free agent that year.  Despite only starting 8 games his rookie year, he was an immediate force on the field for the Roughriders garnering the team’s rookie of the year award nomination at linebacker and defensive end. (He also played spot tight end duty.) Jurasin over the next 12 seasons would wreck havoc on opposing teams, and would be a West All Star in 1989 and 1994, CFL All Star in 1987, 1988, 1992, and 1997, winning a Grey Cup in 1989. He’d play for the Argonauts in 1998, and then the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena league where he retired due to a neck injury. At retirement he was number 3 on the CFL all time list in sacks.

Of note, Jurasin was a trend setter, wearing a rising sun bandana underneath his helmet that fans picked up on and wear to this day. Bobby was inducted into the CFL HoF in 2006 and currently is coaching at the college level.

Games  197       Tac  411        Sac  142         FF   22
Int  2         Yds  38          Avg  19.0         Td  0