Paul Masotti (born March 10, 1965) 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 ...

player and current

front office The front office is the part of a company that comes in contact with clients, such as the marketing, sales, and service departments. The term has more specific meaning in different industries. Types General offices The function of front office ...

executive with 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 ...

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 ...

. Masotti played the wide receiver position for 12 seasons with the

, from 1988 to 1999, retiring just before the 2000 season to join the Argos front office first as Executive Vice-President, and then as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

College football career

Born in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

, Masotti played for the Axemen of

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some graduate programs at the master's level and one at the doctoral level. The enabling legislation consists of the Acadia ...

and was named an AUAA All-Star in 1985 and 1987.

Professional football career

Masotti was the

first pick and 15th overall in the 1988 CFL Canadian College Draft. Masotti, however, first signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

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 ...

and was one of the Redskins' final cuts. Masotti made his professional debut with the Argos on September 25, 1988. Over his 12 seasons, all with the Argonauts, Masotti amassed four straight 1,000-yard seasons from 1994–1997, caught 556 passes for 8,772 yards (a club record for Canadian receivers; current club record holder is former teammate Derrell "Mookie" Mitchell) and 44 touchdowns, and won three

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 ...

rings. In the

1997 Grey Cup The 85th Grey Cup (Canadian Football League championship) was held in 1997 in Edmonton before 60,431 fans. The heavily favoured Toronto Argonauts won the game over the Saskatchewan Roughriders with a score of 47–23. Game summary Toronto Argon ...

Masotti was named the Most Valuable Canadian Player leading the team with six receptions for 102 yards.Argos win Grey Cup with ease
/ref>

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Doug Flutie Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CF ...

, who won a new

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

truck as the

Grey Cup Most Valuable Player The Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player (MVP) award is awarded annually since 1959 to the player of the winning team who deemed to have had the best performance in the Grey Cup Game, the Canadian Football League's championship game. This award is pres ...

, gave Masotti the prize in recognition of his accomplishments. Following his retirement as an active player in 2000, a banner with Masotti's name and photograph was added to the list of All-Time Argonauts hanging from the rafters of the Rogers Centre. He is now working for

Hillfield Strathallan College Hillfield Strathallan College is an independent, co-educational day school in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The academic program runs from Montessori Toddler and Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 12. The current Head of College is Marc Ayotte. Hillfield S ...

as Athletic Director. Masotti is a first cousin of

Mike Morreale Mike Morreale (born August 10, 1971) is the Commissioner and CEO of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). He is a former award-winning receiver in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Early years A graduate of Cardinal Newman Secondary Scho ...

, a former wide receiver in the CFL with the Argonauts & 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 ...

CFL GM record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Masotti, Paul 1965 births Acadia Axemen football players Canadian football wide receivers Canadian people of Italian descent Living people Players of Canadian football from Ontario Sportspeople from Hamilton, Ontario Toronto Argonauts general managers Toronto Argonauts players