TOMMY JOE COFFEY - INDUCTEE #83
hall of fame fast fact:
Tommy Joe Coffey was unable to make his 1990 PSHOF induction, so his mother represented him. "I remember when we moved to McAdoo, Tommy was a sophomore in high school," Mrs. Carl Coffey said, according to the Jan. 20, 1990, Amarillo Globe-Times. "He always said he'd never be a farmer." Coffey described his mother, who died in 2006, as his single biggest fan. "She used to come up to Canada to see my play," he said.
Tommy Joe Coffey
Tommy Joe Coffey of McAdoo didn’t play football because his small school of 35 didn’t have a team. Coffey’s senior year, WT’s Coach Kimbrough showed up and offered him a football scholarship on a provisional basis.
Coffey started both ways; he was receiver on offense and a corner linebacker on defense. He was kicker for Kimbrough’s 1956 team that went 8-2 and beat Southern Mississippi in the Tangerine Bowl.
Coffey was signed with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. At one time, Coffey held 10 offensive records. He caught 650 passes for 10,320 yards in his 14-year CFL career. He was the league’s leader in pass receptions four times. Coffey was CFL All-Star seven times.
He played seven years with Edmonton and seven with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He played 197 games in 14 years.
