Don Paul "Suds" Sutherin (February 29, 1936 – January 11, 2022) was a

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 ...

(CFL) and

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL)

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

and

placekicker Placekicker, or simply kicker (PK or K), is the player in gridiron football who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In many cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist or punter. Spe ...

. He is a member of the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about t ...

(1992).

Playing career

Sutherin played college football at

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

, and kicked the game-winning field goal in the 1958 Rose Bowl, giving Ohio State its third national championship. He was drafted by the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

in the eighth round of the

1959 NFL Draft The 1959 National Football League draft had its first four rounds held on December 1, 1958, and its final twenty-six rounds on January 21, 1959. Both sessions were held at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia. With the first overall pick in the dra ...

and played in the NFL from 1959-1960 for the Giants and the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

. Sutherin started his playing career with

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 ...

in 1958. After playing in the NFL, he returned to Hamilton in 1960, where he would play seven more seasons. He played for the

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 ...

from 1967–1969 and the

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 ...

in 1970. For Hamilton, his highest number of interceptions was 11 in 1961, 8 in 1962, and 6 in 1964 and for Toronto, 10 in 1969, for a total of 58 interceptions and 3 touchdowns. He spent a total of 12 years as a player in the CFL and played in eight

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

s, winning four. While with the Tiger-Cats, he was noted for being both a defensive back as well as a placekicker and he led the CFL in points for several years. Sutherin was honoured on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' Wall of Fame at

Ivor Wynne Stadium Ivor Wynne Stadium (formerly Civic Stadium) was a Canadian football stadium located at the corner of Balsam and Beechwood avenues, two blocks west of Gage Avenue North in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The stadium was the home of the Hamilton Tiger ...

on October 24, 2008.

Coaching career

After his playing career, Don Sutherin was an assistant coach with the Edmonton Eskimos from 1985 to 1990, the Calgary Stampeders from 1992 to 1994, and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 1994 to 2002. He was promoted to head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1994 and remained in that role until 1997.

Personal life and death

Sutherin died in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

, on January 11, 2022, at the age of 85.

CFL coaching record

References

External links

Don Sutherin
entry on the

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherin, Don 1936 births 2022 deaths American football defensive backs American football placekickers American players of Canadian football Canadian football defensive backs Canadian football placekickers Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Edmonton Elks coaches Hamilton Tiger-Cats coaches Hamilton Tiger-Cats general managers Hamilton Tiger-Cats players New York Giants players Ohio State Buckeyes football players Ottawa Rough Riders players People from Jefferson County, Ohio Pittsburgh Steelers players Players of American football from Ohio Toronto Argonauts players NFL Europe (WLAF) coaches