John Sopinka

John Sopinka was one of Canada's best known lawyers, but he also was not a bad professional football player.  Sopinka was born in Saskatchewan, but moved to Ontario with his family and went to high school in Stony Creek.  While taking law classes at the University of Toronto, Sopinka played football with the Argos in 1955-57, and finished the 1957 season with the Montreal Alouettes.  Sopinka played mainly defensive back and recorded two interceptions in 1955 and four in 1956.  Sopinka also backed up at wide receiver, and was used on punt returns.  Sopinka left football to becomea lawyer full-time and was called to the bar in 1960.  Sopinka handled a number of high profile cases includes representing nurse Susan Nelles when she sued the Government of Ontario for malicious prosecution over the deaths of a number of babies at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children.  Sopinka was appointed othe Supreme Court of Canada in 1988.  John Sopinka died on November 24, 1997 due to complications brought oun by a rare blood disorder.

Wikipedia Article on John Sopinka

Games Played and Interceptions
Year Team GP Int Yds Avg TDInt Long
1955 TOR
2 0 0 0 0
1956 TOR
4 5 1.3 0 5
1957 MON 8 0 0 0 0 0
1957 TOR
0 0 0 0 0

Sopinka played 29 games from 1955-57 for Toronto.

Receiving
Year Team Rec Yds Avg TD Long
1955 TOR 4 71 17.8 1 23
1956 TOR 4 45 11.3 0 16
1957 MON 0 0 0 0 0
1957 TOR 0 0 0 0 0

Note:  Sopinka had two touchdowns for 10 points (touchdowns were worht 5 points then) in 1955.  One was on a pass reception, but the statistics don't indicate how the other touchdown was scored.

Punt Returns
Year Team PR Yds Avg TD Long
1955 TOR 0 0 0 0 0
1956 TOR 1 0 0 0 0
1957 MON 14 71 5.1 0 8
1957 TOR 0 0 0 0 0

 

John Sopinka as a supreme court justice