Only One U-M Player on a CFL Roster

Submitted by BursleyHall82 on

The CFL season is under way, and because I had nothing better to do today, I scoured all the rosters looking for Wolverines. I only found one - Craig Roh is on the practice roster for the B.C. Lions:

http://cfl.ca/roster/index/team/1

Lots of Spartans and MAC players, and several from Saginaw Valley, too. Has Michigan ever had a CFL star?

By the way, according to their website, Roh plays defence.

Canadian

June 27th, 2015 at 8:30 PM ^

"UKers".
First it's humorous you accuse them of ruining their own language.
The Grey Cup is named after a Governor General from the early 1900s.
Funny that an American assumed that Canadians are "UKers" (really man, British was too hard to think of?) and that we would name a championship trophy (one that's been around over twice as long as the Lombardi Trophy) after a fucking colour.

Wolverine Devotee

June 27th, 2015 at 1:40 PM ^

Jim Coode, OT here from 1971-1973, was a star for the now-defunct Ottawa Rough Riders.

He played his entire CFL career with them, from 1974-1980. And his #60 jersey number was one of 10 retired by the Rough Riders.

Coode also won the 1976 CFL Grey Cup Championship with the Rough Riders. He was far from the most successful past Michigan player in terms of championship rings in the CFL, though. 

Tom Pullen, who played End at Michigan from 1965-1967, won an astounding FIVE Grey Cups in his 8 year CFL career with two different teams.

He won the 1968, 1969, 1972 and 1973 Grey Cups with the Ottawa Rough Riders and won the 1970 Grey Cup with the Montreal Alouettes.

The most recent Michigan Wolverine to win a Grey Cup was 1996-2000 DT Eric Wilson who won back-to-back Grey Cups with the Montreal Alouettes in 2009 and 2010.

rdlwolverine

June 27th, 2015 at 4:33 PM ^

Thom Pullen was a counselor at Camp Michigan is when I was there as a kid. I was very excited to find his cfl football card on the internet a few years ago. Dave Rainey was a big cfl star as I recall and I think 19365pm Rose Bowl mvp Mel Anthony had a good cfl career.

rob f

June 27th, 2015 at 6:11 PM ^

as to which of your SuperGuides contains that CFL information, WD.  Or do you have separate databases on your computer for quick access?

Likewise, do you have Michigan's football alumni sorted for other leagues; in other words, (besides the NFL and the CFL) for the pre-merger AAFC of the 1940's (Browns and 49'ers), AFL of the 60's, USFL, XFL, WFL, BFL, NFL-Europe, various indoor Arena Football leagues, Lingerie Football League, or any other leagues I've forgotten to list?

Wolverine Devotee

June 27th, 2015 at 6:56 PM ^

Lingerie League?

Uh....

Section IV of the Football SuperGuide has a sub-section dedicated to Pro Football accomplishments. Every league that information is available for, I have info on it. 

Whether it's which former Michigan players played on what team in which league and the individual awards from those leagues.

BursleyHall82

June 27th, 2015 at 1:50 PM ^

Did I dream this, or were there CFL teams in the US back in the 1990s? I seem to recall a San Antonio team? I could probably Google it, but I'm too lazy.

I think a CFL team in, say, Grand Rapids would be huge.

NittanyFan

June 27th, 2015 at 3:45 PM ^

check out the end zones!!!!  ----- it's a freaking trapezoid!

https://youtu.be/MqUP28v0LAY?t=1m25s

When you literally cannot fit the Canadian football field into stadiums like the Liberty Bowl, you have a problem.

Baltimore did fairly well as a CFL franchise, but the other US franchises (Memphis, Shreveport, San Antonio, Las Vegas among others) were all disasters.

BlueinLansing

June 27th, 2015 at 7:28 PM ^

best rule is you can challenge pass interference calls.

 

Last years Grey Cup had serious drama with Hamilton returning a punt 90 yards in the final minute for the apparent winning TD, only to have it called back for an illegal block.  Calgary won 20-16

BursleyHall82

June 27th, 2015 at 10:48 PM ^

We probably couldn't do it because of their wacky 110-yard field, but it would be cool for the Big House to host a CFL game in July or August. Tailgating on a nice, warm Saturday night in the summer.

Honk if Ufer M…

June 28th, 2015 at 12:45 AM ^

I saw Craig Roh last year and he told me was on the Panther's practice squad hoping to make the regular roster. Kind of weird that if you're good enough for an NFL practice team that you woudn't be able to make it to a regular roster in the CFL.

Craig is a great guy & I hope things work out for him. I knew him through his Michigan tennis star GF who's on the WTA tour now. Great people.