Sam Etcheverry

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Sam Etcheverry (b May 20, 1930 at Carlsbad, New Mexico) is a former star Canadian football player and head coach and a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

Known as Sam "The Rifle" Etcheverry, he played for the University of Denver from 1949 to 1951 where he still holds most of the Pioneer football records for passing offense. In 1952, he joined the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League (CFL). As his team's quarterback, he was twice voted "Most Outstanding Player" of the CFL's East Division and was voted the CFL's Outstanding Player Award for 1954.

Sam Etcheverry set a single-game passing record of 586 yards in 1954 that stood for 39 years until 1993. He also set a season passing record in 1954 of 3,610 yards that was not only a CFL record but eclipsed the NFL record set in 1947 by Pro Football Hall of Famer Sammy Baugh of the Washington Redskins.

A sports icon in the city of Montreal, Quebec, when Etcheverry and star receiver Hal Patterson were traded to the last-place Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1960 it caused an enormous public outcry and led to Etcheverry leaving the Canadian Football League and signing with the St. Louis Cardinals of the National Football League, playing for St. Louis during 1961-62.

Sam Etcheverry returned to Canada to coach the Montreal Alouettes in 1970, leading them to victory in that year's Grey Cup. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1969 and was an inaugural inductee into the University of Denver Athletics Hall of Fame on its formation in 1996.

Etcheverry still holds the record for most passing yards in a Grey Cup game with 508 set in 1955.