Former Toronto Argonaut Jim Corrigall has died.
Former Toronto Argonaut Jim Corrigall has died. Toronto Argonauts/X
Jim Corrigall was the very definition of a football player.
He was tough. He was fierce. His competitiveness knew no limits. He was the heart and soul of the Toronto Argonauts defence for 11 seasons.
Corrigall passed away earlier this week at the age of 80 and the tributes that flowed underscore how much the men in the game identify with the player and the man Corrigall was.
His loss was felt most both within the CFL community and Kent State Athletics, where Corrigall spent his collegiate career, first as a defensive tackle before moving to linebacker.
He was a three-time first-team All-Mid-American Conference selection and, in his senior year, earned first-team All-American honours.
Corrigall’s No. 79 was the first Golden Flash number to be retired in program history and he later passed on the NFL after being a second-round pick of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Born and raised in Barrie, Ont., Corrigall returned to his native land for the duration of his professional career in the CFL.
So the NFL’s loss was the CFL’s gain — and the Argos’ gain, in particular.
“The Toronto Argonauts Alumni Association is heartbroken to hear of the passing of a true legend,” Argos Alumni Association President Jason Pottinger said. “Jim’s combination of enormous talent and ferocity as a player, coupled with his boyish enthusiasm of his post-sack cartwheels, made him an obvious fan favourite.”
Jim Corrigall’s football resume
Corrigall’s CFL resume included 146 games played, an East All-Star eight times and a CFL All-Star four times. He was also named the East’s Most Outstanding Rookie in 1970.
But the pinnacle of his career has to be his 1975 season when he became the first, and still only, Argonaut to be named CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player on a team that went 5-10-1 that year.
Because he played in an era before sacks and tackles were official CFL stats, there are no actual numbers to back up his greatness — but there is no shortage of contemporaries and league historians who can speak to that.
“In meeting Jim Corrigall, after five minutes you just want the guy to be around. He’s so alive and got so much positive spirit and energy,” legendary Mount Union football coach Larry Kehres told the Akron Beacon Journal in 2019.
Corrigall’s post-football career included election to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1990. Seven years after that he was named an All-Time Argo.
Corrigall returned to his alma mater in 1994 and spent three years there as head coach.
An official cause of death has not been release by Kent State, but both he and his daughter publicly shared that he has been diagnosed with likely chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain condition linked to repeated head injuries sustained during his playing career.