John Ferraro was an outstanding Halfback at Cornell in the Ivy leage, winning honorable mention All-American in 1931-33. Ferraro captained the 1934 Cornell football team, and was one of the initial members of the Cornell Athletic Hall of Fame in 1978. John Ferraro came to Canada and played seven years (1934-40). There are few individual stats available from that era, but playing mainly Flying Wing (Flanker or Slotback in modern terms) and Halfback and handling punting an placekicking, John Ferraro played well enough to be elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1966. Ferraro joined the Hamilton Tigers in 1934 and played two seasons for them in the IRFU (Interprovinical Rugby Football Union) which would become the East Division of the modern CFL. The Tigers would become the Tiger-Cats in 1950 when they merged with the Hamilton Wildcats. From 1936 to 1940, Ferraro played for a succession of Montreal teams. In 1936 and 1937, it was the Montreal Indians of the IRFU (the Alouettes were not formed until 1946). In 1938, Ferraro played with the Montreal Nationals of the ORFU (Ontario Rugby Football Union). Ferraro stayed in the ORFU in 1939, though the Montreal team was now named the Westmounts. Ferraro returned to the IRFU in 1940 playing with the Montreal Bulldogs (some sources call them simply the Montreal F.C. or Football Club). There were no official All-Star teams in those years, but various newspapers and magazines picked their own All-Star teams. Ferraro was a second team All-East selection at Flying Wing in 1935 with Hamilton, a first team All-East at Flying Wing 1937, a first team All-East at Halfback in 1938, and a second team All-East at halfback in 1939. The All-East selections were picked from the best of the ORFU and IRFU. Ferraro also won th Imperial Oil Trophy as the outstanding player in the ORFU.
John Ferraro in the Canadian Football HOF
| Year | Team | GP | ConvA | ConvG | % | Att | Good | FG% | Long | S | MFG | YdsMFG | Avg | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | HT | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | ||||
| 1935 | HT | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||||||
| 1936 | MI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 1937 | MI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 1938 | MN | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | ||||
| 1939 | MWM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 1940 | MBD | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Ferraro had a TD (5 points) and a single in 1934, a touch down and three converts in 1935 and two touchdowns in 1938.
Note: There is another John Ferraro who played about ten years later at USC who is in the U.S. College Football Hall of Fame.
