CFHOF Profile: Leroy Blugh
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame Class of 2015 is one that shows the inclusion of the hall of fame with the so many different contributors.
There is the amateur football administrator, the owner, the coach, and the multiple CFL players that will all enter as equals into the hall this year.
The group also includes a player who made an impact in the CFL but will not be going on for his work as a pro.
Instead Leroy Blugh will be entering the hall largely due to the fact that he was one of the best CIS players in the league’s history.
It is another unique part of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as there is room for anyone who had an impact on the game throughout the country.
Unlike in American football where the Pro Football Hall of Fame is mainly for NFL players and contributors while the College Football Hall of Fame is full of great college players the Canadian Football Hall of Fame is for everyone.
Regardless of if you had a legendary career in the CFL or not CIS players are still considered for the CFHOF.
The reasoning behind the situation is much like the reasoning to allow someone like Larry Reda into the Hall of Fame.
It doesn’t matter where you made your impact on the game but what matters is that you made an impact on the game of football in Canada.
That is what some CIS players have done and for that they earned their spot in the hall alongside the best players to play in the big leagues.
Many of these players are unique in the fact that they do have great CIS careers but can never find that same success in the CFL.
A number of factors can lead to a player not finding the same success as players have been injured quickly in the CFL or just don’t get the opportunity when the competition gets tougher.
Many top players can fizzle out while some can have a good career but never reach the heights that they reached in university.
Blugh falls into the second category as he was one of the greatest pass rushers that the Bishop’s Gaiters had ever seen.
Throughout his career at Bishop’s Blugh was regularly at or near the top of the sack totals and in 1987 entered the CIS record books.
That year Blugh amassed 10.0 sacks putting him among the best single season sack totals in the history of CIS.
The next year he stepped it up and earned 12.0 sacks in the season which continues to be one of the best sack totals in a single season.
Those two seasons made Blugh one of the best to ever play the game not only in Quebec but in the entire country.
His 1988 season also led the Gaiters to their second Dunsmore Cup win as champions of the Quebec conference.
The Gaiters later lost in the Atlantic Bowl to the Saint Mary’s Huskies but the legend of Blugh had been established.
He later moved on to the CFL where he played fourteen years for the Edmonton Eskimos and Toronto Argonauts.
His time in the pros would be inconsistent as he only reached double-digit sack totals twice with the Eskimos.
After putting up 333 tackles and 77 sacks over his fourteen years in the CFL Blugh retired and moved on to be the head coach of the Gaiters and later an assistant at Queen’s and Edmonton before landing in Ottawa were he currently serves as the defensive line coach.
Now he enters the hall as yet another great CIS player that made his impact in university as one of the best of all time.
The Sport Addiction 