Grover Covington (born March 25, 1956) is a former

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 ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations over the years have substantially changed how the position is ...

for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Covington's career began in 1981 as a free agent signing by the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (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 East Division of the Canad ...

. However a pre-season trade that year sent him to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, where he played his entire career. Covington was a seven-time CFL All-Star and often led the league in quarterback sacks. He won the Schenley Award for Most Outstanding Defensive Player once and also led the Tiger-Cats to a Grey Cup victory in 1986. He finished his career with 157 sacks, a

CFL record Canadian Football League records include: Regular Season: * List of Canadian Football League records (individual) *List of Canadian Football League records (team) A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: Peop ...

. In 1995 Covington was inducted along with former teammate Chet Grimsley into the Johnson C. Smith University Sports Hall of Fame. (Grimsley's 2011 book ''The White Golden Bull: How Faith in God Transcended Racial Barriers'' includes a chapter on the relationship between the author, a white student at the

historically black university Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

, and Covington.) Covington was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2000 and, in November 2006, was voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players (#28) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.

Personal life

His son,

Christian Covington Christian Coral Cleveland Covington (born October 16, 1993) is a Canadian professional American football defensive end for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Rice and was drafted by th ...

, plays as a

nose tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the l ...

for the

Los Angeles Chargers The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division, and ...

of the

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 ...

References

External links

Just Sports Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Covington, Grover 1956 births Living people American players of Canadian football Canadian football defensive linemen Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award winners Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Johnson C. Smith University alumni Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls football players People from Monroe, North Carolina Players of American football from North Carolina