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Anthony Calvillo talks about choosing #13, and what it was like learning from Tracy Ham (video)
Famed former CFL quarterback and all-time pro football passing leader Anthony Calvillo had his #13 jersey retired by the Montreal Alouettes at halftime of Monday (Oct. 13)'s game against Saskatchewan (an opponent his team had a famous #13 moment against), but why did he wind up with such an unusual number in the first place? There aren't many football players at all who wear #13, likely thanks to its "unlucky" connotations, and there are even fewer quarterbacks (who usually have at least partial priority when picking numbers). Ahead of Monday's ceremony, though, Calvillo sat down with Global News' Jamie Orchard for a wide-ranging interview, and how he got the number came up:
At 0:53 of the above clip, Orchard asks Calvillo why he picked such an unusual number, and his response is quite interesting:
"I actually got stuck with the number in high school. I made the varsity team my sophomore year, so the seniors and juniors chose their numbers first and I was next. There was only one number left between zero and twenty, and that was number 13, because nobody wanted it. So I chose it and I've just been stuck with it ever since. But, you know, every team I've been on, it's been available, because nobody wanted to wear it. So with that, I was able to have it throughout my entire career."
That's pretty cool; one of the greatest quarterbacks in CFL history only wound up with his number because no one else wanted it. Still, there might have been a time when it seemed unlucky even to Calvillo, as he goes on to say:
"It was tough early on in my career, because people were talking about the number and my career wasn't going that well, and they were saying how unlucky the number was. But overall, in the big picture, it worked out very well."
What really changed Calvillo's career was coming to Montreal as a free agent in 1998, ahead of his fifth season in the CFL. He'd shown flashes of potential as a primary starter with Las Vegas and Hamilton, but overall success eluded him. Calvillo said part of his decision to choose the Alouettes (and the eventual success it led to) was because they already had an established, terrific veteran quarterback in Tracy Ham, a guy he wanted to learn from (at 2:31):
"A lot of it has to do with Tracy Ham. Tracy Ham was the quarterback when I got here, and he was a consistent championship quarterback. I wanted to learn from him. Earlier in my career, I wasn't accepting of any advice from the veteran quarterbacks I dealt with in Hamilton, and I really wasted a great opportunity. So, for me, I had to take a step back and learn from somebody. ...I wanted to go somewhere where I had the chance to learn, and that's why I came here."
So, the unlucky number 13 turned into quite a lucky one indeed for Calvillo, but he might not have got there without #8 (Ham). In the end, that move worked out very well for the Alouettes: they got 16 seasons out of the league's all-time leading passer, and they saw him turn into a star while learning from Ham (who retired ahead of the 1999 season after spending a year splitting time with Calvillo), someone who would be their starting quarterback in eight different Grey Cups (a league record) and win three. Gambling on #13 turned out just fine for them in the end, and it's appropriate that Calvillo will be the last player to wear it in Montreal. After all, living up to his standards would be exceptionally difficult, regardless of how lucky you are.
