ALL-TIME ARGO MIKE O'SHEA HEADING TO THE CANADIAN FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME
REGINA – The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) announced tonight, during a special reception at Mark’s CFL Week in Regina, that former Toronto Argonauts linebacker Mike O’Shea is being inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. O’Shea will be officially inducted alongside Kelvin Anderson, Anthony Calvillo and Geroy Simon in the player category and Stan Schwartz and Brian Towriss in the builders’ category.
Formal induction ceremonies for this year’s CFHOF class will be held later this year, at the Hall of Fame game in Hamilton on September 15th and during the week prior to the 105th Grey Cup presented by Shaw in Ottawa.
“On behalf of our entire organization and our fans, it’s with great pride that we congratulate you on this tremendous honour,” said Michael Copeland, Argos President and CEO. “Thank you for everything you gave this organization - from the record number of tackles, to your consistent blue-collar approach, for your leadership on our team and throughout the community, and for representing the Double Blue with class, humility and pride for so many years.”
O’Shea enjoyed a 16-year CFL career, spending 12 seasons with the Argonauts (1996-99, 2001-08) and four with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1993-95, 2000). The University of Guelph alum began his CFL career as a member of the Tiger-Cats who acquired him in a trade after he was selected fourth overall by the Edmonton Eskimos in the 1993 CFL Canadian College Draft.
Following three seasons in Hamilton, one of which saw O’Shea named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Rookie in 1993, he joined the Double Blue in 1996 for his first of two stints with the club. He went on to play in 205 regular season games (3rd most all-time by an Argonaut player), 13 playoff games and three Grey Cup Championships during his time in the Double Blue.
The North Bay, Ontario, native capped off his illustrious career ranked second all-time in the CFL in tackles (1,151) and as the Argos’ all-time leader in defensive tackles in both the regular season (822) and Grey Cup (15). O’Shea also had 43 tackles for a loss, 30 quarterback sacks, 25 forced fumbles, 22 interceptions and 11 forced fumbles. O’Shea, the only Canadian to amass 1,000 career tackles in CFL history, was honoured as a Division All-Star on five occasions, and a CFL All-Star and the League’s Most Outstanding Canadian in 1999, the only time an Argonaut has taken home the award.
O’Shea becomes the 47th Argonaut player to be inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame joining former teammates Damon Allen, Doug and Darren Flutie, Michael ‘Pinball’ Clemons, Derrell ‘Mookie’ Mitchell, Joe Montford, Danny McManus, and Rodney Harding.
MIKE O’SHEA CAREER SNAPSHOT:
- Most career defensive tackles (822) and second most career special teams tackles (130) by an Argonaut
- Most career tackles in Grey Cup games (15) by an Argonaut
- Named All-Time Argonaut in 2015 and a member of the Argos All-Time Team in 2007.
- Member of both the Guelph Gryphons Sports Hall of Fame and North Bay Hall of Fame
- 2nd All-Time in CFL history in career tackles (1,151)
- Only Canadian in CFL history to register 1,000+ career tackles.
- Honoured as a Division All-Star five times (1994-1995, 1997, 1999, 2000) and 1999 CFL All-Star
- 5x Division All-Star (1994-05, 1997, 1999, 2000) and 1x CFL All-Star (1999)
- 1999 CFL Most Outstanding Canadian
- 3x Grey Cup Champion (1996, 1997 & 2004)