Matthieu Proulx (born April 16, 1981) is a former

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

with 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 ...

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 ...

Early years

Proulx was born in

Plaster Rock, New Brunswick Plaster Rock (2016 population: 1,023) is a Canadian village in Victoria County, New Brunswick. The mayor is Tom Eagles. History Plaster Rock’s first settlers were Hezekiah Day and his two brothers, who arrived in 1881. Plaster Rock was incorpor ...

, but his family relocated to Gatineau. He began

Canadian football Canadian football () is a 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 scoring area ( ...

as a sport to play in between baseball and skiing and had to travel to

Gloucester, Ontario Gloucester ( ) is a former municipality and now geographic area of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Located east of Ottawa's inner core, it was an independent city until amalgamated with the Regional Municipality of Ottawa–Carleton in 2001 to becom ...

, to play at the midget level at age 18. To play football at

CEGEP A CEGEP ( or ; ), also written cégep, CÉGEP and cegep, is a publicly funded college providing technical, academic, vocational or a mix of programs; they are exclusive to the province of Quebec's education system. A loanword from French, ...

level, Proulx had to go to

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

and played for Collège André-Grasset. Proulx attended

Université Laval Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montm ...

, majoring in law, and played for the Rouge-et-Or from 2001 to 2004. Over 18 games between 2002 and 2004, he intercepted five passes for 74 yards and a touchdown, scored two touchdowns on punt returns, and recorded 54 tackles, six sacks, seven pass knockdowns, and two forced fumbles. He won back-to-back

Vanier Cup The Vanier Cup (french: Coupe Vanier) is the championship of Canadian university football. It is organized by U Sports football and is currently played between the winners of the Uteck Bowl and the Mitchell Bowl. It is named after Georges Vanier ...

s with Laval in 2003 and 2004 and was awarded the Bruce Coulter Award as the most outstanding defensive player in the 2004 Vanier Cup.

Professional career

Proulx was drafted by Montreal in the first round in the

2005 CFL Draft The 2005 CFL Draft took place on Thursday, April 28, 2005 at 11:30 AM ET. 53 players were chosen from among eligible players from Canadian Universities across the country, as well as Canadian players playing in the NCAA. Of the 53 draft selection ...

and was the runner-up for the 2005

CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award The Most Outstanding Rookie Award is annually awarded to the player judged to be the best player in his first year in the Canadian Football League. The two nominees for the award are the Frank M. Gibson Trophy winner from the East Division, and the ...

2008 CFL season The 2008 CFL season was the 55th season of modern-day Canadian football, the 51st season for the Canadian Football League. It was also the first CFL season in which all of the league's regular season and post-season games, including the Grey Cup ...

may be considered his breakthrough season, however. He had been scheduled to start at

but suffered a hamstring injury at the beginning of the season. Nevertheless, he recovered to dress for 11 games, including five starts, and has moved ahead of

Étienne Boulay Étienne Boulay (born March 10, 1983) is a former Canadian football safety. He most recently played for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, with whom he won the 100th Grey Cup championship. He previously played for the Montreal ...

on the depth chart. He studied for the bar in Montreal in 2007 and pursues a career in law during the off-season and intends continue upon his retirement. On March 1, 2011,

Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

announced on its website that Proulx will officially announce his retirement from professional football the next day at the age 29.

References

External links

Matthieu Proulx
at cfl.ca {{DEFAULTSORT:Proulx, Matthieu 1981 births Living people Canadian football defensive backs Canadian Football League Rookie of the Year Award winners Laval Rouge et Or football players Montreal Alouettes players People from Victoria County, New Brunswick Players of Canadian football from New Brunswick