Jerry Campbell, football star at LC, Idaho and the CFL, dead at 73

Jerry “Soupy” Campbell, an overachiever at Lewis and Clark High School, the University of Idaho and the Canadian Football League, died Wednesday in Toronto of a heart attack at age 73.

An all-state lineman at LC in 1961 when the Tigers finished second in state, Campbell went on to become a three-year starter at linebacker for the Vandals from 1963-65 under coaches Dee Andros and Steve Musseau.

Idaho went 14-15 during that stretch, the Vandals’ best three-year run in the decade following the breakup of the Pacific Coast Conference. They also took two of three from Washington State.

During Campbell’s senior year in 1965, Idaho lost to Washington, Oregon and Oregon State by a combined 10 points.

Campbell was “the most spectacular player on a spectacular unit,” Spokesman-Review reporter Bob Payne wrote on the eve of Campbell’s last game as a Vandal.

Despite weighing only 197 pounds, Campbell “has played with suicidal abandon, yet has come out of three varsity seasons without serious injury,” Payne wrote.

“Tremendously quick, utterly fearless and always inspiring, he attracts attention wherever he goes,” Payne added.

A roommate of future major league pitcher Bill Stoneman, Campbell tried out on a whim for the Vandal baseball team and made the roster as a backup catcher and outfielder.

Considered too small by NFL scouts, Campbell went on to a 10-year career with Calgary and Ottawa in the CFL.

A quick and savvy linebacker, Campbell rarely blew an assignment. The reward was a string of seven straight all-CFL awards from 1969-75. He played a major part in the Rough Riders’ Grey Cup titles in 1968, ’69 and ’73.

The Binghamton, N.Y., native was a team captain and considered the heart and soul of a defensive unit known as “Capital Punishment.”

Campbell won many friends, on and off the field.

“For a middle linebacker who was as ferocious on the field as he was, he was the sweetest guy,” former teammate Bob McKeown said.

“I wasn’t the only guy who thought so … teammates, opponents, everybody loved Soupy. He could go from trying to take your head off during the play to joking with you as he picked you up and sent you back to the huddle,” McKeown said.

Campbell was inducted into the Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame in 1995 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1996.

Campbell also is enshrined in the Inland Northwest Sports Hall of Fame.

Campbell is survived by his wife, Kim Kneesha Campbell of Toronto; brother Gary (Annette) Campbell of Jacksonville, Fla.; and sisters Marilee Campbell and Janine Campbell (Scott) Ballou, both of Spokane; and several nephews and nieces.