Joe Montford
Encyclopedia
Joe Montford is a Canadian
and American football
defensive end
. Montford was released by the Edmonton Eskimos
prior to the 2006 season after playing one year with the team. He has also played with the Shreveport Pirates
(4 games in his first year in the CFL
), the Toronto Argonauts
, the Charlotte Rage
of the Arena Football League and, most famously, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame
in 2011.
, leading the school in tackles in 1993. In 2007 South Carolina State celebrated there "100 years in football", and selected Montford as one of the top 100 players of all-time.
Considered by many commentators as one of the greatest defensive players in the history of the Canadian Football League
, Montford was a four-time CFL sack leader, three time winner of the CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award
, five-time East Division All-Star, and five-time CFL All-Star. In November, 2006, Montford was voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players
(#40) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN
.
Montford enjoyed his best seasons as a Hamilton Tiger-Cats
as the key player in the team's defensive front seven. Montford was the Tiger-Cats' all-time leader in tackles until former teammate and linebacker Rob Hitchcock broke the record while Montford was with the Eskimos. In 1999
, Montford came within half a sack of Hall-of-Famer James Parker
's single season record of 26.5, but missed out on defensive player of the year honours to teammate Calvin Tiggle
as Hamilton, with Most Outstanding Player Danny McManus
also on the team, took the 87th Grey Cup
32-21.
Montford signed a high-priced deal with Toronto for the 2002 CFL season
, but he failed to bring his old self to Toronto and struggled on a mediocre Argonauts team. This led to the team trading Montford back to Hamilton for speedy receiver Tony Miles and non-import fullback Randy Bowles on March 13, 2003. Montford played 2003
and 2004
back with Hamilton, as the team slid down the East Division standings.
After the 2004 season, Montford was traded to Edmonton for offensive lineman Dan Comiskey
(who the Eskimos later re-acquired in the Troy Davis trade). Montford played the 2005 season
with Edmonton, and helped the team take the 93rd Grey Cup
. In the championship game, it was Montford who chased Montréal Alouettes
quarterback Anthony Calvillo
out of the pocket on third-and-thirty-one and forced him to attempt a quick kick punt on the last play of overtime.
On Wednesday, April 27, 2006, Montford was released from the Eskimoshttp://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story.asp?ID=164074.
On Monday, July 3, 2006, Montford was resigned by the Eskimoshttp://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story.asp?ID=170412.
Aside from Joe Montford's public career as a professional football player he also spend months working with children in a group home in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia in 2000. He left this job after the parent company of the group home which owned similar facilities throughout the United States filed for bankruptcy and the decision was made to close the facility. Joe Montford was known there for teaching the kids many of whom had little or no parental involvement growing up how to play football and other sports. He served as one of the few positive male role models many of the teenage boys there he worked with ever had. To this day one of the boys he worked with who is now a college senior keeps the autographed card Joe Montford gave him in his wallet and carries it with him as a reminder of where he came from.
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
and American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
defensive end
Defensive end
Defensive end is the name of a defensive position in the sport of American and Canadian football.This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations have substantially changed how the position is played over the years...
. Montford was released by the Edmonton Eskimos
Edmonton Eskimos
The Edmonton Eskimos are a Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. They currently play in the West Division of the Canadian Football League . Edmonton is currently the third-youngest franchise in the CFL, although there were clubs with the name Edmonton Eskimos as early as 1895...
prior to the 2006 season after playing one year with the team. He has also played with the Shreveport Pirates
Shreveport Pirates
The Shreveport Pirates were a Canadian Football League team, playing at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA, in 1994 and 1995....
(4 games in his first year in the CFL
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
), the Toronto Argonauts
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League. The Toronto, Ontario based team was founded in 1873 and is one of the oldest existing professional sports teams in North America, after the Chicago Cubs and the Atlanta...
, the Charlotte Rage
Charlotte Rage
The Charlotte Rage was a team in the Arena Football League.-History:They competed in the 1992-1996 seasons. They played their home games at the Charlotte Coliseum, then also home of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association....
of the Arena Football League and, most famously, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Hamilton Tiger-Cats
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a Canadian Football League team based in Hamilton, Ontario, founded in 1950 with the merger of the Hamilton Tigers and the Hamilton Wildcats. The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Ivor Wynne Stadium...
. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame
Canadian Football Hall of Fame
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is an open to the public institution. It includes displays about the Canadian Football League, Canadian university football and Canadian...
in 2011.
College career
From 1989 to 1993, Montford attended South Carolina State UniversitySouth Carolina State University
South Carolina State University is a historically black university located in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States. It is the only state funded, historically black land-grant institution in South Carolina and is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund.- Colleges, departments,...
, leading the school in tackles in 1993. In 2007 South Carolina State celebrated there "100 years in football", and selected Montford as one of the top 100 players of all-time.
Considered by many commentators as one of the greatest defensive players in the history of the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
, Montford was a four-time CFL sack leader, three time winner of the CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award
CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award
The Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award is annually rewarded to the best defensive player in the Canadian Football League. This is the third-last award to be given during the CFL Awards banquet, which takes place the week before Grey Cup weekend in the same city where it is hosted...
, five-time East Division All-Star, and five-time CFL All-Star. In November, 2006, Montford was voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players
TSN Top 50 CFL Players
The TSN Top 50 CFL Players was a list of the greatest fifty Canadian Football League players, as selected by a panel of sixty former CFL players, then-current and former coaches, executives, and media members in 2006. The panel was assembled by sports television network TSN in partnership with the...
(#40) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN
The Sports Network
The Sports Network, commonly abbreviated as TSN, is a Canadian English language Category C specialty channel and is Canada's leading English language sports TV channel. TSN premiered in 1984, in the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels...
.
Montford enjoyed his best seasons as a Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Hamilton Tiger-Cats
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a Canadian Football League team based in Hamilton, Ontario, founded in 1950 with the merger of the Hamilton Tigers and the Hamilton Wildcats. The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Ivor Wynne Stadium...
as the key player in the team's defensive front seven. Montford was the Tiger-Cats' all-time leader in tackles until former teammate and linebacker Rob Hitchcock broke the record while Montford was with the Eskimos. In 1999
1999 CFL season
-1999 CFL Awards:*CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award – Danny McManus , Hamilton Tiger-Cats*CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award – Mike O'Shea , Toronto Argonauts*CFL's Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award – Calvin Tiggle , Hamilton Tiger-Cats...
, Montford came within half a sack of Hall-of-Famer James Parker
James Parker (football player)
James "Quick" Parker, is a former Canadian football player who was a leading defensive player in the Canadian Football League...
's single season record of 26.5, but missed out on defensive player of the year honours to teammate Calvin Tiggle
Calvin Tiggle
Calvin Tiggle , was an award winning linebacker in the Canadian Football League.After graduating from the Georgia Institute of Technology he played two seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL, where in 24 games he recorded one quarterback sack.He came to Canada...
as Hamilton, with Most Outstanding Player Danny McManus
Danny McManus
Danny McManus , is a retired professional American football and Canadian football quarterback who passed for over 50,000 yards in seventeen seasons in the Canadian Football League...
also on the team, took the 87th Grey Cup
87th Grey Cup
The 87th Grey Cup was held in 1999 in Vancouver. The Hamilton Tiger-Cats won the game 32-21 over the Calgary Stampeders in a rematch of the previous year's 86th Grey Cup.-Game summary:...
32-21.
Montford signed a high-priced deal with Toronto for the 2002 CFL season
2002 CFL season
The 2002 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 49th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 45th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 2002:...
, but he failed to bring his old self to Toronto and struggled on a mediocre Argonauts team. This led to the team trading Montford back to Hamilton for speedy receiver Tony Miles and non-import fullback Randy Bowles on March 13, 2003. Montford played 2003
2003 CFL season
The 2003 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 50th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 46th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 2003:...
and 2004
2004 CFL season
The 2004 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 51st season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 47th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 2004:...
back with Hamilton, as the team slid down the East Division standings.
After the 2004 season, Montford was traded to Edmonton for offensive lineman Dan Comiskey
Dan Comiskey
Dan Comiskey is a retired Canadian football offensive lineman who played 13 seasons for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League. He was drafted in the fifth round of the 1997 CFL Draft by the Roughriders...
(who the Eskimos later re-acquired in the Troy Davis trade). Montford played the 2005 season
2005 CFL season
The 2005 Canadian Football League season is considered to be the 52nd season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 48th Canadian Football League season.-CFL News in 2005:...
with Edmonton, and helped the team take the 93rd Grey Cup
93rd Grey Cup
The 93rd Grey Cup game was held on November 27, 2005, at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia between the Edmonton Eskimos and the Montreal Alouettes, to decide the winner of the 2005 season of the Canadian Football League. The Eskimos prevailed over the Alouettes in a 38-35 overtime...
. In the championship game, it was Montford who chased Montréal Alouettes
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes are a Canadian Football League team based in Montreal, Quebec.The current franchise named the Alouettes moved to Montreal from Baltimore, Maryland, in 1996 where they had been known as the Baltimore Stallions...
quarterback Anthony Calvillo
Anthony Calvillo
Anthony Calvillo is a Canadian Football League quarterback, currently playing for the Montreal Alouettes. He is the all-time professional football passing yards leader and first in all-time CFL passing yards...
out of the pocket on third-and-thirty-one and forced him to attempt a quick kick punt on the last play of overtime.
On Wednesday, April 27, 2006, Montford was released from the Eskimoshttp://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story.asp?ID=164074.
On Monday, July 3, 2006, Montford was resigned by the Eskimoshttp://www.tsn.ca/cfl/news_story.asp?ID=170412.
Aside from Joe Montford's public career as a professional football player he also spend months working with children in a group home in the suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia in 2000. He left this job after the parent company of the group home which owned similar facilities throughout the United States filed for bankruptcy and the decision was made to close the facility. Joe Montford was known there for teaching the kids many of whom had little or no parental involvement growing up how to play football and other sports. He served as one of the few positive male role models many of the teenage boys there he worked with ever had. To this day one of the boys he worked with who is now a college senior keeps the autographed card Joe Montford gave him in his wallet and carries it with him as a reminder of where he came from.