Johnny Bright was a superb running back who played thirteen seasons in the CFL from 1952 to 1964.  Bright started his career with the Calgary Stampeders, but he is best remembered as a member of the Edmonton Eskimos of the 1950s.  Along with Jackie Parker, Normie Kwong and Rollie Miles he led the powerful Edmonton offense to three consecutive Grey Cup in 1954-56. Bright was an All-American at Drake University and was a first round draft pick of the NFL Philadelphia Eagles in 1952.  The Calgary Stampeders persuaded Bright to come North and in his rookie season with Calgary in 1952, Bright  showed just a hint of the things to come as he ran for 815 yards on 144 carries and was named a Western All-Star (there were no All-Canadian All-Stars until 1962).  Besides being an outstanding running back, Bright was also a very good linebacker and in 1953, he didn't see much time on offense as he had only 38 carries for 128 yards, but Bright did record 3 interceptions.  In  1954, Bright picked off another 3 passes, but was traded partway through the season to Edmtonon.  Perhaps Calgary thought they were trading just a good linebacker, because certainly they didn't seem to realize what a great running back they had given away.  Fitted into the Edmonton offense, Bright's production rose immediately to 643 yards in 1955 and 573 yards in 1956.  Perhaps not impressive numbers to some, but he average over 6 yards a carry and he WAS sharring the rushing duties with Kwong and Parker!  In 1957 Bright moved his game up another notch and began a string of 5 straight 1000+ yard rushing seasons (1957-1961).  Bright didn't just tiptoe past the 1000+ yard mark, he shattered it as he rant for 1679, 1722, 1340, 1260 and 1350 yards respectively in those seasons.  Needless to say, Bright was a Western All-Star in all 5 seasons and in 1959, he was named the Outstanding Player in the CFL. Injuries and time finally slowed down Bright as no opposition defense could seem to, as his numbers dropped in over the next three years until his retirement after the 1962 season.  For those 5 glorious seasons, however, there was no better running bback in the CFL than Johnny right.  Bright was elected to the Canadian Football Hall-of-Fame in 1970.  Johnny Bright passed away on December 14, 1983.

Bright had one punt for 40 yards in 1952.

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Johnny Bright