Football, Athlete, 2013 |
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There isn’t much in football that ‘Dirty Thirty’—as Jim Young was famously known—during a pro career that spanned 15 seasons and two leagues.
The Hamilton, Ont. native debuted with the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings in 1965. That two-year stint as a role player eventually led him—after a convoluted, rare intra-league trade—to the Canadian Football League and the B.C. Lions.
From 1967 to 1979, Young lined up first as a running back and then a wide receiver, earning a Western Conference All Star honour on two occasions. In a sport where longevity is elusive, Young established numerous Lions records, including most receptions 552, most receiving yards 9,248 and most receiving touchdowns 65. He is one of only two Lions to surpass the 10,000-yard mark overall and ranks as a top-five team scorer with 410 career points.
His number 30 has been retired by the Lions, and in 1991 he was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, and 2002 into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.