Anthony Michael Peter Gabriel (born December 11, 1948) is a former professional

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

pass receiver 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 ...

from 1971 to 1981. He played for both the

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 ...

and 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 ...

. He was inducted into 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 ...

in August 1985. In 2014, he was inducted into the

Ontario Sports Hall of Fame The Ontario Sports Hall of Fame is an association dedicated to honouring athletes and personalities with outstanding achievement in sports in Ontario, Canada. The hall of fame was established in 1994 by Bruce Prentice, following his 15-year tenure ...

Early life

Gabriel was born in

Burlington, Ontario Burlington is a city in the Regional Municipality of Halton at the northwestern end of Lake Ontario in Ontario, Canada. Along with Milton to the north, it forms the western end of the Greater Toronto Area and is also part of the Hamilton met ...

on December 11, 1948, and attended

Burlington Central High School Burlington Central High School is a public middle school and high school in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, in the Halton District School Board. Enrollment was 686 students in September 2008. The current school building was constructed in 1922 and ...

from 1962 to 1967. While at BCHS, Gabriel played both football and basketball. He was a member of the Junior Basketball Championship team from 1965. He was honoured in 1967, with the M.M. Robinson Gold Medal for top student athlete at BCHS. Two memories that stick out in his mind from being a Trojan were, firstly, not making the football team in his grade ten year; and in his

grade 13 Thirteenth grade, grade thirteen, or super senior year is the final year of secondary school in some jurisdictions. In some locales, receiving a high school diploma or equivalent is compulsory. In others, receiving a high school diploma is not req ...

year, scoring 48 points in a senior basketball game to completely outscore the entire Nelson team. Gabriel was active throughout high school playing junior football for the Burlington Braves under the direction of famed coach

Bernie Custis Bernard Eugene Custis (September 23, 1928 – February 23, 2017) was an American and Canadian football player who went on to a distinguished coaching career. He is known for having been the first black professional quarterback in the modern era ...

From there he attended

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

from 1968–1971 where he played split-end for coach

Ben Schwartzwalder Floyd Burdette Schwartzwalder (June 2, 1909 – April 28, 1993) was a Hall of Fame football coach at Syracuse University, where he trained future National Football League stars such as Jim Brown, Larry Csonka, Floyd Little and Ernie Davis, the fi ...

. Following his time in college, he went on to have a legendary professional football career in the Canadian Football League with the

from 1971–1974, and with the

from 1975–1981.

Professional career

Gabriel's first CFL year with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1971, was rather mediocre, with only 20 catches for 265 yards and one touchdown. With rookie quarterback

Chuck Ealey Charles "Chuck" Ealey (born January 6, 1950) is a former American Canadian football player for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. He became the first black quarterback to win the ...

in 1972 Gabriel caught 49 passes for 733 yards and 3 scores during the season and helped the team win the Grey Cup over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. After the 1974 season he joined the Ottawa Rough Riders. With Ottawa he had five seasons of over 1,000 yards receiving, including four consecutive seasons from 1975 to 1978, with the other in 1981. In 1976 and 1977 Gabriel led the CFL in receiving yards with 1320 and 1362 respectively. There would not be another Canadian receiver with this accomplishment until the Stampeders'

Dave Sapunjis David B. Sapunjis (born September 7, 1967 in Toronto, Ontario) is a former wide receiver for the Calgary Stampeders from 1990-1997. Sapunjis won the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award two times and was the Grey Cup Most Valuable Canadian three ...

in 1993. The 1976 Grey Cup game is perhaps what fans most remember of Gabriel, with his late fourth-quarter touchdown catch from

Tom Clements Thomas Albert Clements (born June 18, 1953) is an American football coach and a former Canadian Football League (CFL) quarterback who is the quarterbacks coach for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He also served as a ...

that won the game over 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 ...

. In

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

he was awarded the Schenley Award for the Most Valuable Player in the CFL, becoming the first Canadian to win the prize in almost 10 years. This feat was not repeated until 2013. In his career Gabriel was chosen ten consecutive times as the EFC/ East Division's all-star

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

from 1972 to 1981. As well he was named to the league's all star team as the tight end in 1972 and from 1974 to 1980. The 1981 Grey Cup game saw the Rough Riders play the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

. Gabriel entered the game with a partial ligament tear in his left knee. Late in the game following a questionable penalty, Gabriel left the game when his knee finally gave out, never to play professionally again. At the time, Gabriel stood at third among the all-time receivers behind only Tom Scott and

Tommy Joe Coffey Tommy Joe Coffey (November 18, 1936 – August 25, 2020) was an American-born Canadian Football League (CFL) player who was an end, wide receiver and place kicker for the Edmonton Eskimos, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts. CFL In his f ...

. This also made him first among Canadian receivers. In his 11 seasons, he caught 614 passes for 9832 yards and 69 touchdowns. He was inducted into the

in August 1985 and in November 2006, was voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players (#18) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network

The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language sports specialty channel established by the Labatt Brewing Company in 1984 as part of the first group of Canadian specialty cable channels. Since 2001, it has been majority-owned by comm ...

/TSN.

Highlights

*Sophomore Year – Syracuse University: Devil's Own Trophy: Top Student-Athlete *Junior Year – Syracuse University: Orange Key Trophy: Outstanding Student-athlete; All-East Honours *Senior Year – Syracuse University: Bill Horr Trophy: MVP of the Year – Syracuse U. *Final Game: set a record for a 4 T.D. game vs. Miami *1972 – Won

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 ...

with Hamilton Tiger Cats *1974, 76, 77, 78 – Voted Schenley for Most Outstanding Canadian *1976 - Led the CFL in receiving yards with 1320 *1976 – Won Grey Cup with Ottawa Rough Riders catching the winning

touchdown pass In gridiron football, a touchdown pass is a forward pass, pass thrown from the passer (usually the quarterback) to a Wide receiver, receiver that results in a touchdown being scored. The pass can either be caught in the end zone itself, resulting i ...

in the last minute of play *1976 – Most Valuable Canadian in the Grey Cup *1977 - Led the CFL in receiving yards with 1362 *1978 – Selected as Schenley Award winner for Most Outstanding Player in CFL *1972 – Selected All-East All-Star team for CFL *1972, 1974–1980 (inclusive) – Selected All-Canadian All-Star team for CFL *1985 – Inducted into The Canadian Football Hall of Fame *1985 – Inducted into

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...

*1986 – Inducted into

Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame The Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame (french: Temple de la renommée du sport d'Ottawa) is a hall of fame dedicated to recognizing athletes and sportspeople associated with Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located in Ottawa City Hall and includes over 270 ...

*2014 – Inducted into

Awards

Schenley Nominations *Outstanding Player 1977, 78 (won), 81 * Outstanding Canadian 1973, 74 (won) 1976 (won), 77 (won), 78 (won), 79, 81 Jeff Russel Trophy for Outstanding Player in the Eastern Division *1978 Lew Hayman Trophy for Outstanding Canadian Player in the Eastern Division *1976, 1977, 1978, 1981 All-Star Selections - Eastern Division *72–74 Hamilton *75–81 Ottawa

Personal life

In June 2015, Gabriel retired after 35 years in the financial advising business. Tony is residing in Burlington, Ontario. He has three adult children and three grandchildren.

References

# CFL Facts, Figures and Records 1985 # Official CFL statistics 1971 to 1981 # Ronald A. Ferroni, The 2001 Unofficial Canadian Football Encyclopedia, Hamilton 2001 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gabriel, Tony 1948 births Canadian people of Czech descent Players of Canadian football from Ontario Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian football wide receivers Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Canadian Award winners Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Ottawa Rough Riders players Sportspeople from Burlington, Ontario Syracuse Orange football players Living people