Al Ecuyer
Al Ecuyer was a three year starter at Notre Dame (1956-58) where he was a consensus All-American in 1957 and co-captain of the team in 1958. Ecuyer played Guard (Defensive) at Notre Dame, but played mainly linebacker in the CFL.
Ecuyer joined the Edmonton Eskimos in 1959 and won a West All-Star selection in his rookier season (there were no CFL All-Stars until 1962). Ecuyer played seven seasons with the Esks from 1959 to 1965, followed by one season in Toronto (1966) and two years in Montreal 1967-68).
Ecuyer was traded to Montreal in 1967 for defensive back Ed Learn and linebacker Jim Andreotti. After sustaining an injury in 1967 which limited his playing time, Al was a training camp holdout in 1968 before signing after the first game of the season. The Alouettes were woeful on defence during that era (the offence wasn't real effective either) and the team was desperate to have him back at middle linebacker, and having traded two popular players in 1967 to obtain him were anxious to have him back - but that still didn't keep them for fining him for missing five exhibition games and the season opener. 1968 was Al's last year in the CFL, and by the middle of the season he was supplanted by rookie Charlie Collins .
No tackle or quarterback sack stats were kept during the years Ecuyer played, but you can bet he would have been among the league leaders. Ecuyer recorded 13 career interceptions and 18 career fumble recoveries in his ten year career.
Ecuyer is from New Orleans Louisiana, but you will see him listed in later programs as a non-import. There was a court case in the early 1960s to derermine how players were classified as imports and non-imports. One result of the ruling was that some teams were allowed to declare a limited number of imports who had played in the CFL for several seasons as non-imports. Other players in this catagory included Ron Lancaster and John Barrow.
Al Ecuyer passed away on April 28, 2012.
Wikipedia article on Al Ecuyer
Profile of Al Ecuyer on the Notre Dame Website
Ecuyer Traded to Montreal - May 10, 1967
Ecuyer Resigns with Alouettes - August 5, 1968
| Year | Team | GP | Int | Yds | Avg | TDInt | Long | FR | Yds | Avg | TD | Long | FF |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | EDM | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1960 | EDM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||||
| 1961 | EDM | 3 | 14 | 4.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1962 | EDM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1963 | EDM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |||||
| 1964 | EDM | 16 | 3 | 102 | 34 | 0 | 55 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 1965 | EDM | 16 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |||||||
| 1966 | TOR | 14 | 3 | 25 | 8.3 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 0 | ||||
| 1967 | MON | 8 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | |
| 1968 | MON | 13 | 1 | 8 | 8.0 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Year | Team | PR | Yds | Avg | TD | Long |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | EDM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1960 | EDM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1961 | EDM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1962 | EDM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1963 | EDM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1964 | EDM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1965 | EDM | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1966 | TOR | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 1967 | MON | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1968 | MON | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
