John Helton

It is for guys like John Helton that you wish the CFL had kept quarterback sack statistics before 1981.  Helton is without a doubt one of the best defenisve linemen to ever play in the CFL, but we have only a handful of stats to remember him by.  Helton played 14 years in the CFL from 1969 to 1982.  Ten of those years were with the Stampeders (1969-78) and four with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1979-82).  Quarterback sacks stats started in 1981 and in his final two seasons, Helton had 7 sacks in 1981 and 9 in 1982.  Considering those were his final seasons and extrapolating back into his prime, you have to wonder if Helton wouldn't be on or even at the top of the all time sack list.  If we can't use stats to measure the greatness of John Helton then we can at least look at his awards.  Helton won 12 West All-Stars in 14 seasons.  It is shorter to list the seasons he didn't win (1977 and 1980) than to list the ones he did win in.  Of those 12 All-Stars, one was at defensive end in his rookie season and the other 11 were for defensive tackle as he moved into the interior of the line.  Helto went on to win 9 CFL All-Stars (1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979 and 1982).  Helton won the Outstanding Lineman Award in the West and for the CFL 1972 and the Outstanding Defensive Player in the West and the CFL in 1974 (the first year it was awarded), and was the Outstanding Defensive Player in the West in 1979 (losing to Ben Zambiasi that year).  John Helton was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1985.

GP and Fumble Recoveries
Year Team GP FR Yds Avg TD Long OFR
1969 CAL 16 3 0 0 0 0 0
1970 CAL 16 0 0 0 0 0 0
1971 CAL 16 1 0 0 0 0 1
1972 CAL 16 1 0 0 0 0 0
1973 CAL 16 0 0 0 0 0 0
1974 CAL 16 0 0 0 0 0 0
1975 CAL 16 1 0 0 0 0 0
1976 CAL 16 0 0 0 0 0 0
1977 CAL 14 0 0 0 0 0 0
1978 CAL 16 1 0 0 0 0 0
1979 WPG 16 2 0 0 0 0 0
1980 WPG 15 3 5 1.7 0 5 0
1981 WPG 14 0 0 0 0 0 0
1982 WPG 16 1 0 0 0 0 0

 

Sacks
Year Team Sacks Yds
1969 CAL

1970 CAL

1971 CAL

1972 CAL

1973 CAL

1974 CAL

1975 CAL

1976 CAL

1977 CAL

1978 CAL

1979 WPG

1980 WPG

1981 WPG 7
1982 WPG 0

Official sack stats were not kept until 1981.

 

Blocked Kicks
Year Team BK BC BFG BP
1969 CAL 0 0 0 0
1970 CAL 0 0 0 0
1971 CAL 0 0 0 0
1972 CAL 0 0 0 0
1973 CAL 0 0 0 0
1974 CAL 0 0 0 0
1975 CAL 1


1976 CAL 0 0 0 0
1977 CAL 0 0 0 0
1978 CAL 0 0 0 0
1979 WPG 1 0 1 0
1980 WPG 0 0 0 0
1981 WPG 0 0 0 0
1982 WPG 0 0 0 0

 

KO Returns
Year Team KOR Yds Avg TD Long
1969 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1970 CAL 2 26 13 0 19
1971 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1972 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1973 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1974 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1975 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1976 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1977 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1978 CAL 0 0 0 0 0
1979 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1980 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1981 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1982 WPG 0 0 0 0 0
1970 OPC John Helton