HAMILTON — Canadian Press Published on Saturday, Jul. 14, 2007 8:41PM EDT Last updated on Friday, Apr. 03, 2009 10:04AM EDT
Anthony Calvillo joined an exclusive group Saturday.
The Montreal Alouettes quarterback became just the fourth player in CFL history to surpass 50,000 career yards, achieving the milestone in the first quarter of his club's 29-20 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Facing second-and-four from the Montreal 9-yard line, Calvillo hit Kerry Watkins on a 13-yard completion over the middle. With that, Calvillo, in his 14th CFL season, joined Ron Lancaster (50,535 yards), Danny McManus (53,255 yards) and Damon Allen of the Toronto Argonauts (pro football-high 72,109 yards) in the 50,000-yard club.
When the announcement was made over the public address system, Calvillo received a warm ovation from the Ivor Wynne Stadium gathering.
Calvillo came into the game needing 67 yards to reach 50,000 and took care of a bit chunk of that on Montreal's opening drive. He was 3-of-3 passing for 55 yards, capping the march with a 27-yard TD strike to Kerry Watkins.
There's a sense of irony that Calvillo reached the historic mark at Ivor Wynne Stadium. He was acquired amid high expectations by Hamilton in the Las Vegas Posse expansion draft in '95. However, over three seasons under Calvillo the Ticats compiled an overall mark of 18-36, including a miserable 2-16 record in his final season.
In '98, Calvillo signed as a free agent with Montreal to back up veteran starter Tracy Ham before becoming the starter in 2000. That year, Calvillo led the Alouettes to the first of five Grey Cup appearances in seven years.
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