Gerry Dattilio Gerry Dattilio ( born June 11 , 1953 ) is a former professional Canadian football quarterback in the Canadian Football League . Early years . Dattilio played his high school football with the Chomedey Chiefs in the late 1960s and early 1970s , when he won a City Championship by beating St . Thomas High School of Pointe - Claire , Quebec . He also played in the Quebec Junior Football League with the Verdun Maple Leafs . He attended the University of Northern Colorado playing for the Bears from 1972 to 1974 . He led the Bears in rushing as a quarterback in 1972 and 1973 and led the team in passing yards in both 1973 ( 1 , 367 yards , 18 TDs ) and 1974 ( 1 , 367 yards , 14 TDs ) . He ranks 10th on the Bears ' all - time passing yards list with 2 , 953 passing yards and was an All - Great Plains Conference player in both 1973 and 1974 . Professional career . In 1975 , Dattilio was the first territorial exemption of the Montreal Alouettes , but after a time on the injury list he was released in September and then the next month he signed with the Toronto Argonauts . He played a single game for the Argos and did not record any statistics . The next season he was released by the Argonauts , rejoined the Alouettes , and served as the third string quarterback behind Sonny Wade and Joe Barnes . Also as a utility player Dattilio returned punts , but seized the chance at playing more at quarterback in 1978 . While he led the team in pass attempts with 142 , with 78 completions , that season , he was second in passing yards with 1120 . Dattilio also had 9 interceptions and 5 touchdowns . However in 1979 Barnes was the clear cut starter and with a run heavy offence there was not many opportunities for Dattilio to play . In 1980 that all changed when a struggling Barnes was traded to the Saskatchewan Roughriders after six games . That season Dattilio became an all star quarterback , throwing for 2892 yards and 19 touchdowns and winning the CFL ' s Most Outstanding Canadian Award and was the eastern nominee for the CFL ' s Most Outstanding Player Award . He threw 5 TDs against the Hamilton Tiger - Cats on September 21 , 1980 . The next season saw Dattilio demoted to back - up in making way for NFL star quarterback Vince Ferragamo . However Ferragamo struggled for most of the 1981 season and Dattilio played enough to tally 1095 aerial yards . Prior to the 1982 season he was traded to the Calgary Stampeders . That year he threw for 2788 yards , marking the most recent time in which a Canadian quarterback threw for over 2000 in a season . Dattilio completed 194 out of 387 and had only 11 touchdowns to 22 interceptions . 1983 saw him used mostly as a back - up , this time to first year quarterback Bernard Quarles , but got in enough playing time to throw for 1213 yards . In March , 1984 , Dattilio was traded back to the Alouettes where he served as a back - up or a third string quarterback for two seasons . Among Canadian quarterbacks Dattilio is second all - time in statistics with 9952 passing yards on 697 completions from 1271 attempts with 53 touchdowns to 79 interceptions . He also had 993 rushing yards on 189 carries and added eight more touchdowns . He appeared in three Grey Cup games : 1977 , 1978 , and 1979 , but did not throw any passes . Instead , in 1977 , he was used as a receiver and caught two passes for 39 yards in the Alouettes ' victory over the Edmonton Eskimos . He is presently a business person in Calgary , and was inducted into Northern Colorado Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004 and had the Gerry Dattilio Sportsfield named after him in Laval , Quebec , in honour of his great Chomedy High School playing days .