Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductee Jack Abendschan has died at the age of 82. He would have turned 83 on Thursday.
The San Francisco, California native played 150 regular season games with the Saskatchewan Roughriders from 1965 to 1975, winning one Gray Cup in 1966.
Abendschan played along the offensive line and as a kicker, completing 159 of his 300 career field goal attempts (53.0 percent), 312 of his 348 career field goal attempts (89.7 percent) and punting 487 times for an average of 54.1 yards. He led the CFL in points twice.
The six-foot-two, 245-pound player was a six-time All-West Division and five-time All-CFL player.
“The Saskatchewan Roughriders are saddened to learn of the passing of 1966 Gray Cup champion and Canadian Football Hall of Famer Jack Abendschan,” the team said in a statement. “On behalf of Rider Nation, the club extends its deepest condolences to his wife Marjorie, his family and all who knew and loved him.”
Abendschan was inducted into the team's Plaza of Honor in 1992 and into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2012.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders finished atop the West Division standings in 2025 with a 12-6 record, finishing first in the West Division for the first time since 2019. The team then defeated the Montreal Alouettes in the 112th Gray Cup in Winnipeg, the team's first championship in 12 years. Trevor Harris went 11-5 as a starter, throwing for 4,549 yards, 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
The Roughriders ranked second in net offense, second in net defense and third in turnover differential of plus eight. The club's leading rusher was AJ Ouellette with 1,222 yards, the leading receiver was KeSean Johnson with 1,159 yards, and the leading tackler was AJ Allen with 91 tackles. Saskatchewan ranked second in attendance with an average attendance of 28,427, up 2.7 per cent from the previous year.
