Abe Eliowitz (November 10, 1910 – November 19, 1981) was a star football player in American college football and in the days before the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

. He also played college baseball.

Early life and education

Eliowitz attended Michigan State University from 1930 to 1932. In 1931, Eliowitz was named an

All America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

all-star honorable mention, and received the first MVP (Governor of Michigan) award ever given by Michigan State, and the Spartans finished with a record of 5–3–1. In 1932, Abe was co-captain and was named Grantland Rice All America honorable mention as MSU had its best season during his career, compiling a record of 7–1–0. An all-around athlete, Eliowitz played on the baseball team and is sixth all-time in school history in triples in a season with six (1931), and triples in a career with 10. Eliowitz always attracted attention, as both a college and professional player, with his highly skilled left-handed passing and punting.

Career

After graduating, Eliowitz went to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

to play football. He played five seasons (1933–1937), three with the Ottawa Rough Riders and two with the Montreal Indians. He was an all-star five times as a running back and as a flying wing. In 1935, he led the

Interprovincial Rugby Football Union The East Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League, its counterpart being the West Division. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the East Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues. T ...

with 62 points and was the winner of the

Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy The Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy is a Canadian football award recognizing the most outstanding football player of the Quebec Student Sport Federation (RESQ) The trophy was originally presented to the player who best exemplified skill, sportsmanshi ...

for fair play and sportsmanship. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1969. After playing in Canada, he became a physical education teacher in the

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

school system and continued to coach football, winning city league championships at

Denby Denby is a village in the English county of Derbyshire that is notable as the birthplace of John Flamsteed, England's first Astronomer Royal, and the location of the Denby Pottery Company. The population at the 2001 Census was 1,827, increasin ...

and

Cooley High School Thomas M. Cooley High School is located at the intersection of Hubbell Avenue and Chalfonte Street, on the northwest side of Detroit, Michigan. The three-story, Mediterranean Revival-style facility opened its doors on September 4, 1928. The scho ...

.Mail brings back memories of great Abe Eliowitz Ottawa Citizen, December 10, 1981
/ref> He was married to Gertrude Lipman on July 26, 1933, in Detroit and later to Ida Sara Lachman on February 14, 1945, in Detroit.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eliowitz, Abe Sportspeople from New York City Players of American football from New York (state) Ottawa Rough Riders players Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Jewish American sportspeople American players of Canadian football Michigan State Spartans football players 1910 births 1981 deaths High school football coaches in Michigan 20th-century American Jews