CFL status International Height 1.88 m Position(s) DT/OT Weight 116 kg | Name John Barrow | |
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Date of birth (1935-10-31)October 31, 1935 Date of death February 17, 2015(2015-02-17) (aged 79) Died February 17, 2015, Missouri City, Texas, United States | ||
John B. Barrow (October 31, 1935 – February 17, 2015) was an American college and professional football player who was an offensive and defensive tackle in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for fourteen seasons in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Barrow played college football for the University of Florida, and was recognized as an All-American. Thereafter, he played professionally for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL, and was later inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
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Early years
Barrow was born in Delray Beach, Florida in 1935. He attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was an offensive and defensive lineman for coach Bob Woodruff's Florida Gators football team from 1954 to 1956. As a senior in 1956, he was a first-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection, a Football Writers Association of America first-team All-American, and the Gators' team captain. Barrow was later inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great."
Professional career
The Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) selected Barrow in the fifth round (fifty-ninth pick overall) of the 1957 NFL Draft, but he opted to play in the CFL instead. He played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 1957 to 1970 as a defensive tackle, was a CFL All-Star at that position eleven times, and was voted the CFL "lineman of the century" in 1967. Barrow was a member of four Grey Cup-winning Tiger-Cats teams (1957, 1963, 1965, 1967), and played in five other Grey Cup championship games (1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1964).
Retiring as a player after the 1970 season, Barrow became the Toronto Argonauts general manager from 1971 to 1975. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1976, and was voted one of the CFL's top 50 players (seventeenth) of all-time in a poll conducted by Canadian sports network TSN in 2006. Barrow died February 17, 2015 at his home in Missouri City, Texas; he was 79 years old.