Tom Pullen

An Ottawa native, Tom Pullen played his college football at Michigan and then started his professional career with his home town Rough Riders in 1968.  Pullen was just in time for the era in the 1970s when teams discovered that tight ends could be a major offensive weapon and not just a blocker.  Pullen joined players like Tony Gabriel, Peter Dalla Riva and Mel Profit in pulling in passes from East Quarterbacks. Like most rookies, Pullen didn't see the ball a lot and had just 6 catches, then upped that to 17 in 1969.  From a team perspective, it had to have been a great time for a young player as the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup in both of Pullen's first two seasons.  Pullen moved to Montreal in 1970 and had only 9 catches that season as Dalla Riva got most of the action.  In 1971, still with Montreal, things reversed with Pullen getting the majority of the action at tight end and he had his best season with 34 catches for 487 yards.  Pullen returned to Ottawa in 1972 and played three more years for the Rough Riders, with his best season coming in 1974 with 32 catches for 386 yards.  Pullen finished his career in 1975 with the Toronto Argonauts.

GP and Receiving
Team Year GP Rec Yds Avg Long TD
OTT 1968 14 6 72 12 27 0
OTT 1969 14 17 220 12.9 60 1
MON 1970 14 9 104 11.6 17 1
MON 1971 14 34 487 14.3 74 3
OTT 1972 14 26 353 13.6 28 2
OTT 1973 14 24 375 15.6 42 0
OTT 1974 16 32 386 12.1 26 0
TOR 1975 7 9 101 11.2 22 0

 

Fumbles
Year Team F FL OFR
1968 OTT 0 0 0
1969 OTT 2 1 0
1970 MON 0 0 0
1971 MON 0 0 1
1972 OTT 0 0 0
1973 OTT 0 0 0
1974 OTT 1 1 0
1975 TOR 0 0 1

 

Fumble Returns
Year Team FR Yds Avg TD Long OFR FF
1968 OTT 1 0 0 0 0 0
1969 OTT 0 0 0 0 0 0
1970 MON 0 0 0 0 0 0
1971 MON 0 0 0 0 0 1
1972 OTT 0 0 0 0 0 0
1973 OTT 0 0 0 0 0 0
1974 OTT 0 0 0 0 0 0
1975 TOR 0 0 0 0 0 1

 

KO Returns
Year Team KOR Yds Avg TD Long
1968 OTT 2 8 4 0 7
1969 OTT 0 0 0 0 0
1970 MON 0 0 0 0 0
1971 MON 0 0 0 0 0
1972 OTT 1 0 0 0 0
1973 OTT 0 0 0 0 0
1974 OTT 0 0 0 0 0
1975 TOR 0 0 0 0 0
1972 OPC Tom Pullen