The 1981

CFL Draft The CFL Draft (also known as the CFL Canadian Draft, CFL College Draft or the Canadian College Draft) is an annual sports draft in which the teams of the Canadian Football League (CFL) select eligible Canadian Football League#Players and compensat ...

composed of seven rounds where 81

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played 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 oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

players were chosen from eligible

Canadian universities Universities in Canada are established and operate under provincial and territorial government charters, except in one case directed by First Nations bands and in another by federal legislation. Most public universities in the country are memb ...

and Canadian players playing in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

. A total of 18 players were selected as territorial exemptions, with every team making at least one selection during this stage of the draft. Through a trade with the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

, the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

selected first overall in the draft.

Territorial exemptions

Eugene Larocque DT

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

Hazen Carinci DB Simon Fraser Toronto Argonauts

Dan Ferrone Dan Ferrone (born April 3, 1958) is a former professional Canadian football player. He played with the Toronto Argonauts for 8 seasons, interrupted by one season with the Calgary Stampeders, in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was an offens ...

G Simon Fraser Toronto Argonauts Bernie Pickett TB

Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier, ( ; ; November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadian prime minis ...

Toronto Argonauts Bob Bronk TB Queen's

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

John Park TE

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

Ottawa Rough Riders

Ian Beckstead Ian Beckstead (born September 7, 1957 in Ottawa, Ontario) is a former Canadian Football League offensive lineman who played eleven seasons in the CFL. He was part of the Grey Cup championship-winning Toronto Argonauts in 1983 and 1991. He won th ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

Marc Lacelle TB

McGill McGill is a surname of Scottish and Irish origin, from which the names of many places and organizations are derived. It may refer to: People * McGill (surname) (including a list of individuals with the surname) * McGill family (Monrovia), a promin ...

British Columbia Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

Rob Smith Robert Smith or Bob Smith, or similar, may refer to: Business * Robert MacKay Smith (1802–1888), Scottish businessman, meteorologist and philanthropist who founded Glasgow University's Mackay Smith Prizes * Robert Barr Smith (1824–1915), ...

Utah State Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

British Columbia Lions

Rick Klassen Richard Danny "Rick" Klassen (July 25, 1959 – December 10, 2016) was a defensive lineman who played in the Canadian Football League for the BC Lions from 1981 to 1987, 1989–1990 and Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1988. In 2003, Klassen was vote ...

G Simon Fraser

Scott MacArthur Scott MacArthur (born August 6, 1979) is an American actor and writer. He is best known for playing Jimmy Shepherd, a main character on the Fox comedy series '' The Mick''. Early life MacArthur was born in Chicago. He is an alumnus of The Second ...

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Calgary Stampeders Shawn Beaton DL

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

Calgary Stampeders Randy Besler G Northeast Missouri Calgary Stampeders Randy Fournier DT

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

Perry Kuras G

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

Bill Howard William Patrick Howard (born in Princeton, New Jersey) is a Catholic journalist who is media director for The Cor Project. He is formerly the editor in chief of ''The Colorado Catholic Herald'' for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Colorado Springs an ...

Western Ontario Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

Sean Kehoe TB

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Edmonton Eskimos Joshua Borger WR Calgary

1st round

2nd round

10. Saskatchewan Roughriders Hazen Henderson DB Simon Fraser 11. Toronto Argonauts Gord Elser LB Calgary 12. Ottawa Rough Riders Don Burns WR

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

13. Montreal Alouettes Samuel Marshall DB Simon Fraser 14. Toronto Argonauts Warner Miles OL Ottawa 15. Montreal Alouettes Fred Prinzen LB Queen's 16. Winnipeg Blue Bombers Dave Brown WR Alberta 17. Calgary Stampeders Terry Lehne DB

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

18. Edmonton Eskimos Mike Reid C Ottawa

3rd round

19. Saskatchewan Roughriders Don Busto FL/DB Simon Fraser 20. Toronto Argonauts Don Dominico WR Western Ontario 21. British Columbia Lions Jamie Armstead DB Calgary 22. Montreal Alouettes Joe Kuklo DB Simon Fraser 23. British Columbia Lions Larry Priestnall TB

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and early ...

24. Calgary Stampeders Kari Suutari LB Wisconsin 25. Winnipeg Blue Bombers Hubert Walsh TB Acadia 26. Hamilton Tiger-Cats Jeff Arp G Western Ontario 27. Edmonton Eskimos Scott Essery TE

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

4th round

28. Saskatchewan Roughriders David Pearson DT Western Ontario 29. Ottawa Rough Riders

John Lowe John Lowe may refer to: Sports * John Lowe (darts player) (born 1945), English darts player. * John Lowe (footballer) (1912–1995), Scottish football player * John Lowe (rugby league), English rugby league footballer * John Lowe (cricketer) (18 ...

Guelph Guelph ( ; 2021 Canadian Census population 143,740) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Known as "The Royal City", Guelph is roughly east of Kitchener and west of Downtown Toronto, at the intersection of Highway 6, Highway 7 and Wel ...

30. Ottawa Rough Riders Eric Boss DT Toronto 31. Montreal Alouettes Dean Claridge DE

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

32. British Columbia Lions Ed Jones DB Simon Fraser 33. Calgary Stampeders Ted Kozik DE Saint Mary's 34. Winnipeg Blue Bombers Dick Rigelhof LB North Dakota 35. Hamilton Tiger-Cats Rob Sommerville DB Waterloo 36. Edmonton Eskimos Ron Lammer DL Alberta

5th round

6th round

46. Saskatchewan Roughriders John Celestino DT Windsor 47. Toronto Argonauts Jeff Hale T Guelph 48. Ottawa Rough Riders Anthony Refosso T Toronto 49. Montreal Alouettes

Dominic Vetro Dominic Vetro (born May 26, 1958, in St. Lawrence, Newfoundland) is a former Canadian football player who played with the Montreal Alouettes, Montreal Concordes and Hamilton Tiger-Cats as a wide receiver and return specialist A return special ...

WR Wilfrid Laurier 50. British Columbia Lions David Thornhill WR Bishop's 51. Calgary Stampeders

Jay Triano A jay is a member of a number of species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in w ...

DB Simon Fraser 52. Winnipeg Blue Bombers Hugh Goodman DL Acadia 53. Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Ian Troop Ian Troop was the former President and Chief Executive Officer of TO2015, which oversees the preparation and execution of the 2015 Pan American Games and 2015 Parapan American Games. Prior to his appointment as the CEO of TO2015, Troop was Presid ...

G Wilfrid Laurier 54. Edmonton Eskimos Wyatt Wishart DT Concordia

7th round

55. Saskatchewan Roughriders Wayne Stremel LB Simon Fraser 56. Toronto Argonauts

Kevin Malone Kevin Malone is a fictional character in the American television series ''The Office (US TV series), The Office''. He is portrayed by Brian Baumgartner. Kevin's counterpart in the The Office (UK TV series), UK TV series is Keith Bishop, who sha ...

DB Queen's 57. Ottawa Rough Riders Rob Ball DB Queen's 58. Montreal Alouettes

Dave Ridgway David Ridgway (born April 24, 1959) is a former placekicker for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. His CFL career began in 1981 when he was drafted by the Montreal Alouettes. He did not make the squad that year and retur ...

K Toledo 59. British Columbia Lions Ed Hole T Alberta 60. Calgary Stampeders Wayne Harris Jr. LB Calgary 61. Winnipeg Blue Bombers

Peter Martell Pietro Martellanza (30 September 1938 – 1 February 2010), best known as Peter Martell, was an Italian film actor who had numerous bigger roles in Spaghetti westerns. Sometimes he was credited as Pete Martell or Peter Martel. Born in Bolzano, h ...

TB St. Francis Xavier 62. Hamilton Tiger-Cats Bill Paul TB Sheridan 63. Edmonton Eskimos Craig Mallender TB Windsor

References

Canadian Draft
{{DEFAULTSORT:1981 Cfl Draft Canadian College Draft Cfl Draft, 1981