Former Edmonton Eskimo star Larry Highbaugh has died.
The CFL Hall of Fame member was a teacher at Gwinnett County High School in Snelgrove, Georgia.
He was 67.
Highbaugh, a cornerback and a kick returner, played for the Eskimos from 1972 to 1983, winning six Grey Cups with the team and named three times an CFL all star.
Larry Highbaugh as he appeared on a 1981 football card. (cflapedia.com)
“Before there was Gizmo Williams, there was Larry Highbaugh,” said Allen Watt, who worked with the Eskimos from 1980-1996. “He was small in stature, but he was a very fast player and a colourful guy.
“When you had Larry Highbaugh and you had him healthy and you had him playing on the corner, that was a side of the field you didn’t need to worry about,” he said.
After he retired from the Eskimos, Highbaugh stayed in Edmonton and would tour Edmonton schools as a one-man volleyball team, Watt recalled.
“He did stay-in-school stuff and would go by himself and play against a junior-high-school boys volleyball team and take the whole team on by himself,” he said. “The whole gym would just be screaming with excitement.”
While a player with the Eskimos, Highbaugh also sold merchandise for the team on game day, said Watt.
“I will always remember Larry as a really good athlete, colourful guy, not a quiet guy, a smiling, happy guy … and a family guy as well,” he said.
During his career with the Edmonton Eskimos and B.C. Lions, he made 66 interceptions, second most in the CFL, and amassed 4,966 kickoff return yards, sixth all-time in CFL history.
He was inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame in 2004.
The cause of death is not known at this time.