Bernie Ruoff

Ruoff was a first round draft pick (8th oeveall) in the 1975 CFL colleg draft by Winnipeg.  Ruoff was one of the first of the second generation of specialist kickers. Ruoff took over the kicking in 1975 from Walt McKee who been the first Bomber specialist.  Ruoff was a bit unusual in that he split his career with two teams (Winnipeg and Hamilton), while the norm was for kickers to settle in for a long career with one team such as Dave Cutler with Edmonton and Gerry Organ in Ottawa.  Ruoff played 5 years with Winnipeg from 1975, to 1979 and won two scoring titles (1976 and 1979).  Ruoff was traded to Hamilton prior to the 1980 season for offensive guard Larry Butler.  The Tiger-Cats needed a kicker who had Ian Sunter in the early 70s, then truggled to find a kicker in the latter part of the decade.  Ruoff played 8 years with Hamilton from 1980 thruogh 1987 and was one of the best placekickers and punters during that span.  Ruoff won 5 East All-Star honours as a placekicker (1980, 1981, 1983, 1984 and 1985) and three as a punter (1982, 1983, and 1984).  Ruoff also won two All-Canadian honours, as a placekicker in 1980 and a punter in 1984. Ruoff finished his career with 348 fieldgoals and a 44.9 yard punting average.  Ruoff finished his career in 1988, returning to play 5 games for the BC Lions while Lui Pasaglia was at an NFL tryout.

Games Played, Placekicking and Points
Year Team GP ConvA ConvG % Att Good FG% Long S MFG YdsMFG Avg PTS
1975 WPG 13 23 22 95 43 22 51.2 58 6 20 883 44.2 97
1976 WPG 16 38 37 97.3 50 31 62 46 9 18 724 40.2 142
1977 WPG 16 39 38 97.4 57 25 43.9 50 17 30 1390 46.3 134
1978 WPG 16 34 33 97 43 31 72.1 49 10 12 591 49.3 149
1979 WPG 16 18 18 100 52 39 75 52 8 12 601 50.1 151
1980 HAM 16 26 26 100 46 32 70 49 10 14 677 48.4 136
1981 HAM 16 40 40 100 46 29 63 47 13 16 727 45.2 152
1982 HAM 16 36 34 94.4 51 30 58.8 53 13 19 949 50 142
1983 HAM 16 35 35 100 42 31 73.8 51 8 11 509 46.3 149
1984 HAM 16 29 29 100 44 34 77.3 57 5 9 427 47.4 145
1985 HAM 14 33 33 100 48 32 66.7 52 13 16 765 47.8 154
1986 HAM 9 19 19 100 25 16 64 52 7 9 434 48.2 76
1987 HAM 11 29 29 100 34 26 76.5 49 8 8 344 43 115
1988 BC 5 9 8 88.9 14 6 42.9 48 4 7 342 48.9 30
Kickoffs
Year Team KO Yds Avg Long S
1975 WPG 58 3107 53.6 90 0
1976 WPG 79 4970 62.9 90 0
1977 WPG 69 3776 54.7 95 1
1978 WPG 68 4132 60.8 90 3
1979 WPG 50 2976 59.5 85 5
1980 HAM 55 3163 57.5 76 1
1981 HAM 69 4226 61.3 90 4
1982 HAM 62 3561 57.4 90 2
1983 HAM 64 3687 57.6 90 3
1984 HAM 55 3363 61.2 92 4
1985 HAM 54 3231 59.8 90 1
1986 HAM 35 2043 58.4 70 0
1987 HAM 56 2934 52.4 95 0
1988 BC 17 973 57.2 68 0
Punting
Year Team P Yds Avg Long S
1975 WPG 94 4138 44 73 3
1976 WPG 131 5904 45.1 79 3
1977 WPG 131 5695 43.5 81 3
1978 WPG 132 6190 46.9 76 10
1979 WPG 133 5999 45.1 68 3
1980 HAM 121 5118 42.3 75 3
1981 HAM 131 5947 45.4 71 8
1982 HAM 116 5256 45.3 79 3
1983 HAM 150 7108 47.4 96 10
1984 HAM 156 7302 46.8 77 5
1985 HAM 130 5886 45.3 77 11
1986 HAM 82 3506 42.8 68 2
1987 HAM 93 3752 40.3 58 0
1988 BC 0 0 0 0 0
Passing
Year Team PA PC % Yds TD Int
1975 WPG 0 0 0 0 0 0
1976 WPG 0 0 0 0 0 0
1977 WPG 0 0 0 0 0 0
1978 WPG 0 0 0 0 0 0
1979 WPG 0 0 0 0 0 0
1980 HAM 1 1 100 18 0 0
1981 HAM 0 0 0 0 0 0
1982 HAM 1 1 100 12 0 0
1983 HAM 0 0 0 0 0 0
1984 HAM 1 1 100 36 0 0
1985 HAM 0 0 0 0 0 0
1986 HAM 0 0 0 0 0 0
1987 HAM 0 0 0 0 0 0
1988 BC 0 0 0 0 0 0
Rushing
Year Team TC Yds Avg TD Long
1975 WPG 2 40 20 0 22
1976 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1977 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1978 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1979 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1980 HAM 2 37 18.5 0 19
1981 HAM 2 20 10 0 10
1982 HAM 0 0 0 0 0
1983 HAM 1 5 5 0 5
1984 HAM 0 0 0 0 0
1985 HAM 2 -13 -6.5 0 6
1986 HAM 1 5 5 0 5
1987 HAM 1 9 9 0 9
1988 BC 0 0 0 0 0
Fumbles
Year Team F FL OFR
1975 WPG 4 3 0
1976 WPG 1 1 0
1977 WPG 4 3 0
1978 WPG 1 1 0
1979 WPG 1 1 0
1980 HAM 1 0 0
1981 HAM 1 1 0
1982 HAM 3 2 1
1983 HAM 2 1 1
1984 HAM 1 0 0
1985 HAM 1 1 0
1986 HAM 1 1 1
1987 HAM 1 1 0
1988 BC 0 0 0
Punt Returns
Year Team PR Yds Avg TD Long
1975 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1976 WPG 1 4 4 0 4
1977 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1978 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1979 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1980 HAM 0 0 0 0 0
1981 HAM 0 0 0 0 0
1982 HAM 0 0 0 0 0
1983 HAM 0 0 0 0 0
1984 HAM 0 0 0 0 0
1985 HAM 0 0 0 0 0
1986 HAM 0 0 0 0 0
1987 HAM 0 0 0 0 0
1988 Bc 0 0 0 0 0
1983 Hamilton Spectator