TORONTO \u2014 Jim Corrigall, the standout Canadian defensive lineman who spurned the NFL for a career with the Toronto Argonauts, has died. He was 80.<\/p>\n
Kent State, Corrigall\u2019s alma mater, announced his passing Wednesday. The university didn\u2019t divulge the cause of death but in 2019 Corrigall and his daughter, Amy Corrigall Jones, told the Akron Beacon Journal he had learned that he likely suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), an incurable degenerative brain disease caused by repeated head trauma.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe mourn the passing of Kent State great Jim Corrigall,\u201d the school posted on social media. \u201cJim embodied what it means to be a Golden Flash both as a player and a coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur thoughts are with his family, friends, teammates, and all who had the privilege of knowing him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kent State head coach Mark Carney echoed those sentiments.<\/p>\n
\u201cSad to hear of the passing of @KentStFootball great Jim Corrigall,\u201d Carney said in a social media post. \u201c(He\u2019s) one of just five players to have his number retired here.<\/p>\n
\u201cYour legacy will not soon be forgotten Coach!\u201d<\/p>\n
Corrigall was born in Barrie, Ont., and attended high school in North Bay, Ont., before going on to play collegiately at Kent State. The six-foot-three, 253-pound Corrigall enjoyed a stellar university career, being selected the team\u2019s most valuable sophomore, top defensive lineman and most inspirational player.<\/p>\n
He was also the first Kent State player to be selected to the first team All-Mid-American Conference three consecutive years. Upon his graduation, the school retired Corrigall\u2019s No. 79 jersey.<\/p>\n
Corrigall\u2019s play caught the eye of the St. Louis Cardinals, who made the Canadian lineman their second-round pick, No. 33 overall, in the 1970 NFL draft. But Corrigall opted instead to play for the Argos, who held his territorial rights.<\/p>\n
Corrigall went on spend his entire 12-year CFL career with Toronto.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought that they had a better opportunity to win at that particular time and they offered me a two-year contract,\u201d Corrigall told the Argos\u2019 website. \u201cI liked the idea of a short-term contract.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corrigall was the East Division\u2019s top rookie in 1970 and a conference all-star eight times. A four-time All-Canadian, Corrigall was named the CFL\u2019s top defensive player in 1975 as well as Toronto\u2019s outstanding player and top Canadian nominees.<\/p>\n
He was again nominated for all three awards three years later and finished his tenure with Toronto as a player-coach his final two seasons.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an energizing time for me,\u201d Corrigall said. \u201cMy emotions really run the gamut \u2014 it was exciting, it was sad, it was rock \u2018n\u2019 roll time.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a great, great time and you couldn\u2019t find a better place to play than in Toronto. The people, the press, they were always very, very good to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corrigall, long regarded as the heart and soul of the Argos\u2019 defence, appeared in 148 career regular-season games with Toronto as well as five playoff contests. He played in one Grey Cup, that being the \u201971 game that saw the Calgary Stampeders hold on for a 14-11 victory after recovering Leon McQuay\u2019s late fumble on a wet Empire Stadium field in Vancouver before 34,404 fans.<\/p>\n
Corrigall was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1990 and named to the All-Time Argos list in 1997.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a thrilling moment in my life,\u201d Corrigall said of his Hall of Fame induction. \u201cIt was very humbling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never thought I would get elected. It\u2019s because of the people who pushed me throughout my life. I am very fortunate to get there. The great thing is that when you are young enough to appreciate it, my family saw me inducted and now my kids can go to see it. I feel very blessed that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Corrigall was also named to Kent State\u2019s Athletics Hall of Fame, the Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame, Summit County Sports Hall of Fame and Barrie Sports Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
Former Argos head coach Leo Cahill said Corrigall\u2019s Canadian Football Hall of Fame selection was fitting.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a great football player,\u201d Cahill said. \u201cHe was actually a middle linebacker at Kent State and I converted him to defensive end.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t think he had the mobility and quickness to drop back on pass coverage. But Corrigall could do a lot of things very, very well \u2026 Corrigall had an insatiable need to get to the ball carrier in the least amount of time in a bad frame of mind. I think that best sums up Jim Corrigall.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 15, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Jim Corrigall, the standout Canadian defensive lineman who spurned the NFL for a career with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805381,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-805380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}