George McGowan (born March 10, 1948) is an American-born former football player for the Edmonton Eskimos of 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 ...

(CFL) where he played for eight seasons from 1971–1978. During his career with the Eskimos, he set CFL league records for most catches in a game (15) and most catches in a season (98) and won two Grey Cups before his career was cut short by knee injuries. McGowan was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

Early career

Born in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

on March 10, 1948, he grew up Glendale, California. McGowan attended

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

and played for the Jayhawks for two years. In 1968, he had great success as a receiver, with 32 receptions for 592 yards and five touchdowns. In 1969, he was moved to defensive back, and was less impressive. It took McGowan several training camps (one with the Atlanta Falcons in the NFL) and a couple of years until he ended up in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

as a receiver.

CFL career

He would play 8 seasons in

. In his first year, 1971, he caught 49 passes for 827 yards, and 54 for 1015 yards the next season. 1973 was one of his greatest years, and his 81 catches for 1,123 yards won him the

CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award The Most Outstanding Player Award is annually awarded to the best player in the Canadian Football League. The two nominees for the award are the Terry Evanshen Trophy winner from the East Division, and the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy winner from ...

. An injury limited his performance to 8 receptions in 1974, but McGowan provided the comeback story of the next year, catching a then record 98 passes for 1,472 yards. In his last three season injuries steadily limited his effectiveness, and he caught 60, 40 and 34 passes during that time. His career totals were 424 receptions for 6,356 yards (14.9 yard average) and 42 touchdowns. He was an all star 3 times and played in 5 Grey Cup games, winning two. He also caught a then record 15 passes in the September 3, 1973 game against 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 ...

. George McGowan was always considered the equal of the great receivers of his day, and was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2003. His former head coach,

Ray Jauch Ray Jauch ( ; born February 11, 1938) is an American former gridiron football player and coach. He was head coach in the Canadian Football League (CFL), the United States Football League (USFL), and the Arena Football League. He won 127 regular ...

, recalled, "George ran patterns just like they were drawn up in the playbook. He'd get to the correct spot and catch the ball. And although he didn't possess great speed, his quickness allowed him to break the odd long one. He could run with almost anyone for the first 30 or 40 yards.", Ted Soutar, "Soudog's CFL History Fan Site", July 8, 2002 He is remembered for his hand-eye coordination and for catching as well in a crowd as in the open.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGowan, George 1948 births Living people American players of Canadian football Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners Canadian football wide receivers Edmonton Elks players Kansas Jayhawks football players Sportspeople from Glendale, California