Lovell Coleman

Lovell Coleman was one of the top fullbacks in the history of the CFL.  The graduate of Western Michigan was a 17thround draft pick of the Cleveland Browns in 1960, but came north after failing to make the Browns.  Coleman started his career with Calgary and played eight seasons with the Stampeders from 1960 to 1967.  When Coleman arrived in Calgary, the Stamps already had a future HOF running back in Earl Lunsford, so Coleman didn't see the ball too much in his first few seasons with 30 carries in 1960 for 249 yards and 42 carries for 227 yardsin 1961.  Coleman was also used running back kicks and even saw some action on defense as he two interceptions in 1961.  Coleman started to get more touches on the ball in 1962 with 111 carries for 661 yards, but 1963 was his "break out" year with 1343 yards rushing.  It was the first of three straight 1000+ yards rushing seasons for Coleman as he ran for  an outstanding 1629 yards in 1964 and 1509 yards in 1965.  In all three of these seasons, Coleman was a Western All-Star and was an All Canadaian in 1964 and 1965. In 1964, Coleman was also named the outstanding player in the CFL. Injuries restricted Coleman to only three games in 1966 though his 183 yards rushing was still third on the Stampeders as their running game disintigrated without Coleman. Coleman never recovered his All-Star form after that as he had only 594 yards rushing in 1967, though the CFL and especially the Stampeders under the strong arm of Peter Liske were moving more to a pass orientated offense.  A tribute to the talent of Coleman can be found in his adaptability to change as he caught a career high 51 passes for 646 yards that season.  1968 saw Coleman moved to Ottawas where he was limited to a backup role.  Under the long term playing rules of the time, Coleman had become classified as a non-import and Ottawa must have found it handy to have a former CFL rushing leader as back-up in case of injury.  Coleman did not play in 1969, but returned to the CFL with BC Lions for one final season in 1970, again acting as a back up for then star FB Jim Evenson.  To date, Coleman's accomplishments have somehow eluded the voters for the CFL Hall-Of-Fame.

Games Played and Rushing
Year Team GP TC Yds Avg TD Long
1960 CAL
30 249 8.3 1 57
1961 CAL
42 227 5.4 0 21
1962 CAL
111 661 5.9 6 56
1963 CAL
237 1343 5.6 13 51
1964 CAL 16 260 1629 6.2 10 85
1965 CAL 16 249 1509 6 8 69
1966 CAL 3 35 183 5.3 0 42
1967 CAL 16 120 594 4.9 3 49
1968 OTT 14 39 136 3.5 0 19
1970 BC 16 12 35 3 1 9
Receiving
Year Team Rec Yds Avg TD Long
1960 CAL 6 154 25.6 0 45
1961 CAL 16 367 22.9 5 100
1962 CAL 6 100 16.6 1 39
1963 CAL 32 443 13.8 2 47
1964 CAL 27 247 9.1 0 29
1965 CAL 27 302 11.1 4 46
1966 CAL 3 15 5 0 19
1967 CAL 51 646 12.7 7 84
1968 OTT 10 205 20.5 0 54
1970 BC 3 41 13.7 0 29
Kickoff Returns
Year Team KOR Yds Avg TD Long
1960 CAL 2 68 34 0 45
1961 CAL 8 217 27.1 0 36
1962 CAL 1 6 6 0 6
1963 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1964 CAL 18 545 30.2 0 105
1965 CAL 8 185 23.1 0 40
1966 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1967 CAL 1 39 39 0 39
1968 OTT 0 0 0 0 0
1970 BC 5 111 22.2 0 27
Punt Returns
Year Team PR Yds Avg TD Long
1960 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1961 CAL 13 64 4.9 0 20
1962 CAL 2 8 4 0 8
1963 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1964 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1965 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1966 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1967 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1968 OTT 0 0 0 0 0
1970 BC 0 0 0 0 0
Fumbles
Year Team F FL
1960 CAL 2
1961 CAL 5
1962 CAL 3
1963 CAL 6
1964 CAL 4
1965 CAL 9
1966 CAL 0
1967 CAL 3 2
1968 OTT 1 1
1970 BC 0 0
Fumble Returns
Year Team FR Yds Avg TD Long OFR FF
1960 CAL 0 0 0 0 0 0
1961 CAL 0 0 0 0 0 0
1962 CAL 0 0 0 0 0 0
1963 CAL 0 0 0 0 0 0
1964 CAL 3 0 0 0 0 0
1965 CAL 1 0 0 0 0 0
1966 CAL 0 0 0 0 0 0
1967 CAL 0 0 0 0 0 0
1968 OTT 0 0 0 0 0 0
1970 BC 0 0 0 0 0 0
Passing
Year Team PA PC % Yds TD Int
1960 CAL 0 0 0 0 0 0
1961 CAL 3 1 33.3 40 0 0
1962 CAL 0 0 0 0 0 0
1963 CAL 1 0 0 0 0 0
1964 CAL 5 2 40 67 1 2
1965 CAL 5 2 40 47 2 0
1966 CAL 1 0 0 0 0 0
1967 CAL 4 3 75 57 1 0
1968 OTT 0 0 0 0 0 0
1970 BC 0 0 0 0 0 0
Interceptions
Year Team Int Yds Avg TDInt Long
1960 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1961 CAL 2 40 20 1
1962 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1963 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1964 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1965 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1966 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1967 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1968 OTT 0 0 0 0 0
1970 BC 0 0 0 0 0