Tom Clements

Teams consider themselves lucky when they find a rookie QB who turns out to be a future Hall of Famer, but in 1975 Ottawa found two. Both Tom Clements and Conredge Holloway were rookies with the Rough Riders in 1975. The Riders had been casting about for a starting QB since the retirement of Russ Jackson in 1969 and the odds against a pair of rookies filling his shoes seemed remote, but they did. Clements was more of the "passing QB" and Holloway was the "running QB" and as a 1-2 punch, they were very hard to stop. Clements went on to win the Outstanding Rookie in the CFL for his 1975 season. Clements stayed in Ottawa for four seasons from 1975 to 1978, winning East All-Star honours in his first three seasons. Clements led Ottawa to the Grey Cup in 1976, with his last minute TD pass to TE Tony Gabriel to beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders. In a twist of fate, Clements was traded to those same Saskatchewan Roughriders in May of 1979 for DB Steve Dennis, SB Bob O'Doherty and a second round pick in the CFL college draft. Clements struggled in his 7 games in Saskatchewan, completing just 50.9% of his passes and throwing 11 interceptions to only 2 touchdowns. In September, Clements was traded to Hamilton for OT Laurie Skolrood and futures. Things went much better for Clements in Hamilton for the rest of the season, but in 1980 he signed with the Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL. Clements returned to Hamilton and the CFL in 1981 and had his best season yet. He completed 57.5% of his passes for 4536 yards and was named the Outstanding Player in the CFL. Strangely enough, he won only Eastern and not All-Canadian honours for that season. Clements had an even better 1982 season for Hamilton, for much less recognition. He completed an outstanding 65.2% of his passes for 4706 yards. Ten games into the 1983 season, Hamilton traded Clements to Winnipeg in September as a swap of Hall of Fame QBs as Dieter Brock came to Hamilton. Clements finished his career with Winnpeg, playing four more season with the Bombers from 1984 to 1987, and earning All-Canadian status in 1984. Tom Clements was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1994.

**Games Played and Passing**
Year	Team	GP	PA	PC	%	Yds	TD	Int
1975	OTT	16	252	144	57.1	2013	13	13
1976	OTT	16	327	196	59.9	2856	20	13
1977	OTT	16	298	182	61	2804	16	16
1978	OTT	16	239	152	63.6	1990	17	12
1979	HAM	8	211	130	61.6	1809	10	7
1979	SASK	7	159	81	50.9	994	2	11
1981	HAM	16	523	301	57.5	4536	27	23
1982	HAM	16	546	356	65.2	4706	26	23
1983	WPG	3	60	30	50	424	2	1
1983	HAM	10	323	190	58.6	2416	19	15
1984	WPG	16	446	279	62.6	3845	29	22
1985	WPG	15	425	257	60.4	3697	18	17
1986	WPG	9	256	173	67.5	2265	18	11
1987	WPG	18	592	336	56.8	4686	35	30

**Rushing**
Year	Team	TC	Yds	Avg	TD	Long
1975	OTT	28	87	3.1	0	13
1976	OTT	37	260	7	4	30
1977	OTT	59	356	6	1	39
1978	OTT	32	159	5	0	20
1979	HAM	22	145	6.6	1	21
1979	SASK	22	101	4.6	0	18
1981	HAM	32	175	5.6	1	26
1982	HAM	34	137	4	2	42
1983	WPG	8	13	1.6	0	7
1983	HAM	12	18	1.5	0	8
1984	WPG	27	101	3.7	1	15
1985	WPG	11	16	1.5	1	17
1986	WPG	19	48	2.5	0	12
1987	WPG	31	44	1.4	2	8

**Fumbles**
Year	Team	F	FL	OFR
1975	OTT	1	0	0
1976	OTT	6	4	1
1977	OTT	8	5	0
1978	OTT	6	4	3
1979	HAM	1	0	2
1979	SASK	3	1	1
1981	HAM	5	2	1
1982	HAM	5	3	1
1983	WPG	0	0	0
1983	HAM	2	1	2
1984	WPG	6	5	0
1985	WPG	1	1	0
1986	WPG	2	1	0
1987	WPG	5	0	0

Clements had one punt return for zero yards in 1978.