A native of Chicago, Illinois, Mel Becket played his college ball at Indiana and was an 8th round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers of the NFL.. Becket played four years in the CFL with the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1953 to 1956. Becket was named a West All-Star at center in 1956 (there were no CFL All-Stars until 1962) and was named to the West team for the 1955 and 1956 CFL All-Star Games (Shrine Bowl). It was on the way home from the 1956 game, on December 9, that Mel Becket was killed in a plane crash along with three Roughrider teammates (Mario DeMarco, Gordon Sturtridge and Ray Syrnyk) and Winnipeg Blue Bomber Calvin Jones.
Wikipedia article on Mel Becket
Article on the 1956 Plane Crash
1956 Plane Crash Engraved on a Nation
| Year | Team | GP | Int | Yds | Avg | TDInt | Long | FR | Yds | Avg | TD | Long | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | SASK | 5 |
1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1954 | SASK | 8 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1955 | SASK | 16 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||||
| 1956 | SASK | 16 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Year | Team | PR | Yds | Avg | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953 | SASK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1954 | SASK | 1 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| 1955 | SASK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1956 | SASK | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
