View source for Hal Patterson

{{Short description|American player of Canadian football (1932–2011)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox Canadian Football League biography
| name = "Prince" Hal Patterson
| image = Hal Patterson - football player.jpg
| alt = 
| caption = "Prince" Hal Patterson in a [[Montreal Alouettes]] uniform<br/>(c. [[1958 CFL season|1958]])
| birth_date = {{birth date|1932|10|4}}
| birth_place = [[Garden City, Kansas]], U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2011|11|21|1932|10|4|mf=y}}
| death_place = [[Kinsley, Kansas]], U.S.
| team = 
| number = 75
| status = 
| import = yes
| position1 = Wide receiver
| position2 = Defensive back
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 2
| weight_lb = 190
| college = [[University of Kansas|Kansas]]
| NFLDraftedYear = 1954
| NFLDraftedRound = 14
| NFLDraftedPick = 165
| NFLDraftedTeam = [[Philadelphia Eagles]]
| playing_years1 = {{CFL Year|1954}}–{{CFL Year|1960}}
| playing_team1 = [[Montreal Alouettes]]
| playing_years2 = {{CFL Year|1961}}–{{CFL Year|1967}}
| playing_team2 = [[Hamilton Tiger-Cats]]
| career_highlights = 
*3× [[Grey Cup]] champion ([[51st Grey Cup|1963]], [[53rd Grey Cup|1965]], [[55th Grey Cup|1967]])
* [[CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award]] (1956)
| CFLAllStar = {{CFL Year|1962}}, {{CFL Year|1963}}, {{CFL Year|1964}}
| CFLEastAllStar = {{CFL Year|1954}}–{{CFL Year|1958}}, {{CFL Year|1960}}, {{CFL Year|1962}}–{{CFL Year|1966}}
| awards =
| CFHOF = harold-prince-hal-patterson
| CFHOFYear = 1971
}}

'''Harold Edward Patterson''' (October 4, 1932{{spaced ndash}}November 21, 2011), nicknamed "'''Prince'''" '''Hal''', was an American star [[college basketball]] player at the [[University of Kansas]], and a professional [[Canadian football]] player with the [[Canadian Football League]] [[Montreal Alouettes]] and [[Hamilton Tiger-Cats]].  Patterson is a member of the [[Canadian Football Hall of Fame]], and in 2006, was voted one of the CFL's [[TSN Top 50 CFL Players|Top 50 players]] (#13) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network [[The Sports Network|TSN]].<ref name="TSN Top 50 CFL Players">{{cite web | url = https://www.tsn.ca/cfl/feature/?fid=10866 | access-date = 2007-05-17 | title = TSN Top 50 CFL Players | publisher = TSN.ca | date = November 28, 2006}}</ref>

== Early life and college ==
Born in [[Garden City, Kansas]] in 1932, Patterson was a [[American football|football]], [[baseball]] and [[basketball]] star at the [[University of Kansas]]. He was the second-leading rebounder for Kansas' 1953 national runner-up team that lost the [[NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship]] game by a single point to [[Indiana University Bloomington|Indiana University]]. An [[End (American football)|end]] with the [[Kansas Jayhawks|Jayhawks]] football team, he also [[Varsity letter|lettered]] in [[baseball]].

== Canadian football career ==
Drafted by the [[Philadelphia Eagles]] of the [[National Football League]] in the [[1954 NFL draft]], Patterson opted to sign with the [[Montreal Alouettes]] of the [[Interprovincial Rugby Football Union]] in [[1954 in Canadian football|1954]]. (The IRFU became part of the CFL in 1958.)<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.kshof.org/team/harold-patterson | title=Harold Patterson | publisher=kshof.org | accessdate=5 October 2024}}</ref>

===1956 season===
Known as "Prince" Hal, in [[1956 in Canadian football|1956]], he won the [[Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy]] then the [[Schenley Award]] as the [[CFL's Outstanding Player Award|Canadian Rugby Union's Outstanding Player]] as a [[tight end]]. That same year, Patterson set a record that has yet to be matched, when he caught passes for 338 yards in a single game and set the record of 88 catches that stood up for 11 years before [[Terry Evanshen]] broke it in [[1967 CFL season|1967]].  He also set records with 1914 receiving yards, 2039 scrimmage yards (he was the first player to reach 2000 scrimmage yards) and 2858 all purpose yards.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hal Patterson|url=http://www.cflapedia.com/Players/p/patterson_hal.htm}}</ref>  His receiving yards record stood until [[1983 CFL season|1983]] when [[Terry Greer]] beat his record with 2003 yards. His all purpose yards record stood until [[1984 CFL season|1984]] when [[Rufus Crawford]] beat his record with 2896 yards.

Patterson was a member of the Alouettes until being part of a controversial trade in [[1960 CFL season|1960]] that sent him to the last-place [[Hamilton Tiger-Cats]] with fellow Montreal star [[quarterback]] [[Sam Etcheverry]]. Patterson's impact was immediate, as he helped to lead the Tiger-Cats to the [[49th Grey Cup|1961 Grey Cup]], where the Ti-Cats lost in [[Overtime (sports)|overtime]] to the [[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]].

Hal Patterson still holds the record of 580 yards for most pass-receiving yards in [[Grey Cup]] history. Patterson scored 54 touchdowns in his 14-year Canadian pro career and had 34 games with at least 100 yards in pass receptions. He was inducted into the [[Canadian Football Hall of Fame]] in 1971. In November 2006, Patterson was voted one of the [[TSN Top 50 CFL Players|CFL's top 50 players]] (#13) in a poll conducted by Canadian sports network [[The Sports Network|TSN]].<ref name="TSN Top 50 CFL Players"/>

Early in his career, he was a triple threat, running back kickoffs, several for touchdowns, and played defensive back.

== Personal life and death ==
On November 21, 2008, the Montreal Alouettes retired Patterson's number 75. He died on November 21, 2011.<ref name="MAcomOBIT"/>

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="MAcomOBIT">{{cite web|title=Alouettes legend Hal Patterson passes on|date=November 22, 2011|url=http://en.montrealalouettes.com/article/alouettes-legend-hal-patterson-passes-on}}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>
}}

{{Eagles1954DraftPicks}}
{{Jeff Russel pre 1973}}
{{CFL receiving yardage leaders}}
{{CFL MOPs}}
{{CFL MOPs East}}
{{Montreal Alouettes}}
{{Hamilton Tiger-Cats}}
{{51st Grey Cup}}
{{53rd Grey Cup}}
{{55th Grey Cup}}
{{Canadian Football Hall of Fame members}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patterson, Hal}}
[[Category:1932 births]]
[[Category:2011 deaths]]
[[Category:American football wide receivers]]
[[Category:Players of Canadian football from Kansas]]
[[Category:Basketball players from Kansas]]
[[Category:American men's basketball players]]
[[Category:Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees]]
[[Category:Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners]]
[[Category:Canadian football wide receivers]]
[[Category:Hamilton Tiger-Cats players]]
[[Category:Junior college men's basketball players in the United States]]
[[Category:Kansas Jayhawks football players]]
[[Category:Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball players]]
[[Category:Montreal Alouettes players]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Garden City, Kansas]]
[[Category:Players of American football from Kansas]]
[[Category:People from Larned, Kansas]]
[[Category:Baseball players from Kansas]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]