We will be unveiling in the near future a look at each North American sports franchise and they handle retired numbers, franchise Halls of Fame etc. Admittedly, this will not include that of the Canadian Football League, but this was a retired number we could not ignore commenting on.
On October 13, the Montreal Alouettes will retire the number 13 of Anthony Calvillo at their next home game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. This has been a poorly kept secret, as this had long been suspected, though has only been confirmed today. Calvillo is the holder of every major passing record in Canadian Football League history.
Calvillo played at Utah State, setting school records for the Aggies and took them to winning the Big West Conference and a win over Ball State in the Las Vegas Bowl. The NFL did not show any interest in the pivot, but he was able to latch on to the Las Vegas Posse in the Canadian Football League. The Posse, like all American expansion teams in the CFL, did not succeed, and was picked up by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Dispersal Draft. Calvillo did not receive much playing time as Hamilton had Matt Dunigan, but in 1998 his fortunes would change as he signed on with the Montreal Alouettes as a Free Agent.
Year after year, Calvillo’s numbers increased and he would throw for 5,000 Yards seven times. Not only would he shatter the CFL Passing record, he would become the all time leading passer in Professional Football. He would win the CFL Most Outstanding Player Award three times, helm Montreal to win the Grey Cup three times and makes a claim as the greatest Quarterback all time in the Canadian Football League.
Anthony Calvillo becomes the tenth man to have his number retired by the Montreal Alouettes.
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