Ticats Mourn Passing of John Barrow

Ticats.ca Staff |

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are mourning the loss of one of their all-time great players, John Barrow, who passed away on Tuesday at the age of 79.

Barrow played 14 seasons (1957-70) as an offensive and defensive tackle with the Tiger-Cats before being named the general manager of the Toronto Argonauts in 1971. During his 14-year career, he achieved CFL All-Star status on 11 occasions. He was the Eastern nominee for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Lineman six times, winning the award in 1962. As the anchor of the Ticats line, Barrow was also named the CFL Lineman of the Century in 1967.

Barrow made an outstanding contribution to the Tiger-Cats organization during his time, as he helped the team to nine Grey Cup appearances, winning four, in an 11-year span.

Following his illustrious career in Hamilton, he was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1976 as well as the Ticats Wall of Honour in 2001. Barrow was able to return to Hamilton from his home in Texas in 2012 for the final game at Ivor Wynne Stadium where he was named to the All-Time Tiger-Cats team.

“John was quite a leader and teammate. His voice in the locker room was well respected while his play on the field was very tough”, said Ticats great Angelo Mosca. “I had the pleasure to play alongside John for ten years, in which we worked hard, played physical and accomplished great things. I’ll cherish our memories together forever”.

Prior to arriving in Hamilton in 1957, Barrow spent three seasons at the University of Florida where he earned first-team All-American and All-SEC honours as a senior. Following his collegiate career with the Gators, he was selected by the Detroit Lions in the fifth round (59th overall) of the 1957 NFL Draft, though he chose to play in the CFL.