Tommy Joe Coffey

Tommy Joe Coffey
No. 75
Date of birth	November 18, 1936
Place of birth	Texas, U.S.
Date of death	August 25, 2020 (aged 83)
Place of death	Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Career information
CFL status	National
Position(s)	OE/WR/K
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	196 lb (89 kg)
US college	West Texas State
NFL draft	1959 / round: 8 / pick: 96
Drafted by	Baltimore Colts
Career history
As player
1959–1966	Edmonton Eskimos
1967–1972	Hamilton Tiger-Cats
1973	Toronto Argonauts
Career highlights and awards
	2× Grey Cup champion (1967, 1972);
CFL All-Star	1962, 1964–1968, 1970
CFL East All-Star	1967, 1968, 1970
CFL West All-Star	1962, 1964, 1965, 1966
Awards	1962 – Dave Dryburgh Memorial Trophy; 1962, 1967, 1970 – CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award – Runner Up
Honors	Edmonton Eskimos Wall of Honour – 1988; Hamilton Tiger-Cats Wall of Honour – 1999
Career stats
	Canadian Football Hall of Fame, 1977;

Tommy Joe Coffey (November 18, 1936 – August 25, 2020) was a Canadian-American professional football player who was an end,^[a] wide receiver and place kicker for the Edmonton Eskimos, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Professional career

In his fourteen-year career he caught 650 passes for a total of 10,320 yards and 63 touchdowns. He surpassed 1,000 yards receiving 4 times: 1963 to 1965 and 1969, his most prolific year being 1965 with 81 receptions for 1,286 yards. His best TD totals were 1962 and 1969 with 11, his best point totals 1969 with 148 points and 1962 with 129. He was replaced as the Tiger Cat place kicker by Ian Sunter after the 1971 season, hitting only 11 of 27 field goal attempts. He also played some defense in his first two years, intercepting 3 balls in 1959 and 1 in 1960.

Coffey was a member of two Grey Cup winning teams, in 1967 and 1972, both with Hamilton against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, especially during the 1967 season, catching 42 passes for 683 yards (16.3 yards/catch) and 5 touchdowns and hitting 18 of 27 field goal attempts for a total of 107 points. In the 55th Grey Cup (1967) game, he scored 3 points as a kicker (2 converts and 1 rouge after a missed field goal). In the 1967–1972 span with Hamilton, he scored 603 points, third on their all-time list, see Hamilton Tiger-Cats all-time records and statistics.

Awards

Coffey won the Dave Dryburgh Memorial Trophy as the top scorer in the 1962 CFL season. He was a seven-time CFL All-Star, four times as an Edmonton Eskimo and three times as a Hamilton Tiger-Cat; both teams have added him to their Walls of Honour.^[1]^[2]

He was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1977. In November 2006, Coffey was voted as #27 on a list of the CFL's top 50 players since 1945, in a poll conducted by Canadian sports network TSN.^[3]

Personal life

In 1968 Coffey's Tiger-Cat helmet was stolen, and traded for some table time at a Hamilton pool hall. Forty-eight years later, in November 2015, Coffey was reunited with his stolen helmet.^[4]

Coffey, who lived in Burlington, Ontario, with his wife Joan, died from lung cancer on August 25, 2020, at St. Peter's Hospital in neighbouring Hamilton.^[2]^[5]