Anthony Calvillo Anthony Calvillo ( born August 23 , 1972 ) is an American Canadian Football League quarterback , currently playing for the Montreal Alouettes . He is currently professional football ' s all - time passing yards leader , and first in all - time CFL passing yards . In his career , he has passed for over 70 , 000 yards and is one of five professional quarterbacks to have completed over 400 touchdown passes ( the others being Brett Favre , Warren Moon , Peyton Manning and Dan Marino ) . He surpassed Damon Allen to enter into the CFL record books as the record holder for most career TD passes and most career completions . He has won three Grey Cup championships in 2002 , 2009 , and 2010 , being named Grey Cup Most Valuable Player in 2002 . He has won the CFL ' s Most Outstanding Player Award three times , in 2003 , 2008 , and 2009 , which ties him for second all - time behind Doug Flutie . Early life , high school career and family . Calvillo was born in Los Angeles , California . While attending La Puente High School , Anthony Calvillo was a two - sport standout in football and basketball . He and his wife Alexia have two daughters and reside year - round in Montreal . College career . Calvillo spent two seasons at Mt . San Antonio Junior College before transferring to Utah State University in 1992 . After a solid junior year as starting quarterback , he had a terrific senior season in 1993 . He set a school record with 3 , 260 yards of total offense in the regular season , and he also set a school record with 5 touchdown passes in a single game ( he did it twice ) . With Calvillo leading the offense , USU won the Big West Conference championship for the first time since 1979 . The Aggies finished the year with a 42 - 33 win over Ball State in the Las Vegas Bowl ; Calvillo passed for 386 yards and 3 touchdowns to win MVP honors . It was Utah State ' s first - ever bowl victory . CFL career . After not being drafted by an NFL team , Calvillo started his Canadian Football League career in 1994 with the US expansion Las Vegas Posse . After the Posse folded a year later in the ill - fated CFL U . S . expansion experiment , Calvillo was selected first overall by the Hamilton Tiger - Cats in the dispersal draft . While in Hamilton , Calvillo served as a backup quarterback to players such as Steve Taylor and Matt Dunigan . In 1998 , Calvillo signed as a free agent with the Montreal Alouettes , where he became one of the most outstanding CFL quarterbacks in history . He led the Alouettes to the 2002 Grey Cup for the first time in 25 years , where he was named the most valuable player in the game . During the 2003 CFL season , Calvillo broke numerous Montreal Alouette passing records , completing 408 of 675 passing attempts for 5 , 891 yards and 37 touchdowns . In 2004 , he became the fourth quarterback in CFL history to pass for more than 6 , 000 yards in a single season ( Doug Flutie , David Archer , and Kent Austin being the other three ) , earning him the East Division nomination for Most Outstanding Player for the third consecutive year . With Calvillo quarterbacking the Alouettes ' offence , the 2004 Alouettes became the first team in CFL history with four receivers on one team all going over 1000 yards receiving in the same season : Ben Cahoon ( 1183 yards ) , Jeremaine Copeland ( 1154 yards ) , Thyron Anderson ( 1147 yards ) , and Kwame Cavil ( 1090 yards ) . During the 2005 CFL season , Calvillo and the 2005 Montreal Alouettes would again accomplish the feat of four receivers on one team all going over 1000 yards receiving in the same season ( which had never been accomplished before the 2004 Alouettes precedent - setting team ) . The 2005 Alouettes set of receivers going over 1000 yards receiving were Kerry Watkins ( 1364 yards ) , Terry Vaughn ( 1113 yards ) , Ben Cahoon ( 1067 yards ) , and Dave Stala ( 1037 yards ) . The 2008 CFL season saw Calvillo hit a number of career milestones . On June 26 , in a game against the Hamilton Tiger - Cats , Calvillo surpassed Danny McManus to become the second - all - time leading passer in the CFL . On July 31 , in another game against the Hamilton Tiger - Cats , Calvillo became the fourth quarterback in league history to reach 300 career touchdown passes . On August 15 , in a game against the Toronto Argonauts , Calvillo became the second quarterback in CFL history to reach 4 , 000 career pass completions . Calvillo led the Montreal Alouettes to the 2008 Grey Cup final , which the Alouettes lost 22 - 14 to the Calgary Stampeders . Despite the Grey Cup loss , Calvillo still won the 2008 Most Outstanding Player award . In 2009 , Calvillo added to his club records while reaching more CFL milestones . On July 23 , 2009 , he surpassed Canadian Football Hall of Famer Ron Lancaster ' s 334 career touchdown passes to move into second place all time . He sat out two games during the regular season , but still accumulated 4639 yards while posting a remarkable 72 . 0 % completion rate , the second best single - season completion rate in CFL history behind Dave Dickenson ' s 73 . 98 % mark set in 2005 . Calvillo led Montreal to a comeback victory in the 97th Grey Cup on Nov . 29 , when the Alouettes defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders on a last - second field goal . Calvillo won his third Grey Cup on November 28 , 2010 at 98th Grey Cup in Edmonton , Alberta . He added to his record total of passing yards in Grey Cup games with 2470 yards , as well as setting the record for Grey Cup starts with eight . As of the 2010 CFL season , Calvillo is 3 - 5 in Grey Cup Championship Games . In a post - game interview , he revealed that he would be undergoing off - season surgery to remove a lesion on his thyroid that was discovered after he injured his sternum during the season . On December 21 , 2010 , it was reported that Calvillo had successful thyroidectomy surgery to remove a cancerous lesion . On July 15 , 2011 , in a game against the Toronto Argonauts , Calvillo completed his CFL record 395th career touchdown pass to Éric Deslauriers . On August 4 of that same season , and again against the Argonauts , Calvillo completed his 5159th pass completion to Brandon London to move past Damon Allen to become the leader in that category as well . Then , on October 10 , 2011 , Calvillo completed a touchdown pass to Jamel Richardson to become professional football ' s all - time leading passer , in the Alouettes ' third and final game against the Toronto Argonauts that year . In 2012 , Calvillo became the only player in football history to pass 5 , 000 yards seven times in his career . He reached 4 , 000 yards passing eleven times in his career ( a CFL record ) , only Peyton Manning has reached the 4 , 000 mark more times in his career with twelve 4 , 000 yard seasons . He also set another CFL record having 8 consecutive 300 + passing yards games in a single season , broking the record he was sharing with Doug Flutie . Calvillo signed a 2 year contract on December 13 , 2012 meaning he will be with the team until the 2014 season . Honours . In 2012 in honour of the 100th Grey Cup , Canada Post used his image on a series of commemorative postage stamps . The image was also used on presentation posters and other materials to promote the Grey Cup game and other celebrations associated with the centennial .