Monroe Eley (April 17, 1949 – May 2, 2019) was a former

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

who played in 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) and 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 ...

(NFL). Having played his college football with

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, Eley was not drafted by the NFL, so he headed north to play with the British Columbia Lions. In his first year, 1972, he rushed for 517 yards and led the West Conference with 1033 kickoff return yards. His totals fell in 1973, to 373 rushing yards, as he played behind 1000 rusher

Johnny Musso Johnny Musso (born March 6, 1950) is an American former football player, a running back for three seasons with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League and in the National Football League with the Chicago Bears. Early years Born and rais ...

. The next season Musso was injured and Eley had his best year, racking up 1176 yards. His fellow running back, Lou Harris also rushed for 1239 yards, giving the Lions one of the most productive backfields in CFL history.CFLAPEDIA entry - Monroe Eley
/ref> He wasn't able to reach contract terms with the Lions, so he headed south to the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

, who had noticed him and drafted him in 1974. In 1975, he played only 6 games, rushing once for 3 yards and mostly returning kicks. In 1977, he played 7 games and rushed for 273 yards, but his average was a low 2.8 yards per carry. This was his final season.

References

1949 births 2019 deaths American football running backs Arizona State Sun Devils football players BC Lions players Atlanta Falcons players Canadian football running backs {{Runningback-1940s-stub