John Louis Harper (1927 – August 18, 2003) was a

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 ...

champion and All-Star

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 ...

player. He was a halfback. Harper started out with the

Hamilton Tigers The Hamilton Tigers were a professional ice hockey team based in Hamilton, Ontario. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1920 to 1925. The Tigers were formed by the sale of the Quebec Bulldogs NHL franchise to Hamilton intere ...

of the

Ontario Rugby Football Union The Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) was an early amateur Canadian football league comprising teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ORFU was founded on Saturday, January 6, 1883 and in 1903 became the first major competition to adopt th ...

and had an All-Star season in 1948, leading his union in scoring with 60 points and tying

Virgil Wagner Virgil Wagner (February 27, 1922 - August 22, 1997) was an award-winning, all-star and Grey Cup champion Canadian football halfback for the Montreal Alouettes. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of ...

for the national title. The

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 ...

signed him, and fellow All-Star quarterback

Frank Filchock Frank Joseph Filchock (October 8, 1916 – June 20, 1994) was an American gridiron football player and coach. As a consequence of a famous scandal regarding the 1946 NFL Championship Game, he was suspended by the National Football League (NF ...

, away from Hamilton in 1949 and these two stars were at the heart of the Als first ever

victory that season. After 3 more seasons in Montreal, Harper played 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 ...

for two seasons, and finished his career with 6 games for 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 1955. He died in 2003.

References

1927 births 2003 deaths Montreal Alouettes players Saskatchewan Roughriders players Toronto Argonauts players Hamilton Tigers football players Players of Canadian football from Ontario Ontario Rugby Football Union players {{Canadianfootball-runningback-stub