Ferdinand John Burket IV (January 9, 1933 – March 27, 2018) was a

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

player who played for the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

and

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

in the 1950s. Prior to that, he played college football at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

and

Southeastern Oklahoma State University Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Southeastern or SE) is a public university in Durant, Oklahoma. It had a total enrollment of 5,376 in 2022. History On March 6, 1909, the Second Oklahoma State Legislature approved an act designating Du ...

Background

Ferdie Burket was born in

San Antonio, Texas San Antonio ( ; Spanish for "Anthony of Padua, Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the List of Texas metropolitan areas, third-largest metropolitan area in Texa ...

on January 9, 1933. He went to St. Gerard Catholic High School where he excelled at football, baseball and basketball. He went to Texas on a football scholarship and played on the freshman team in 1951. He was a quarterback on the All-State Catholic squad in 1951. He was injured and returned home to rehab. He later joined the U.S. Army, playing football for them in Germany. After his military service, he received a football scholarship to Southeastern Oklahoma State University, where he played from 1956-1958. He had a great career there and led the NAIA in punting his senior year with a 46 yard average. Burket died in

Jourdanton, Texas Jourdanton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Atascosa County, Texas, United States. The population is 4,094. It is part of the San Antonio metropolitan statistical area. History Jourdanton was founded in 1909 and was named after founder Jo ...

on March 27, 2018, at the age of 85.

Career

Burket was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in the 14th round in

1959 NFL draft The 1959 NFL draft had its first four rounds held on December 1, 1958, and its final twenty-six rounds on January 21, 1959. Both sessions were held at the Warwick Hotel in Philadelphia. With the first overall pick in the draft, the Green Bay Pa ...

and went to camp with them, just barely missing the cut. He then went to Canada and played running back and punter for the Roughriders from 1959 to 1962 and then for the Alouettes in 1963. During his four years with the Saskatchewan, he established several

team records A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to info ...

, including most touchdowns in one game (5), most points in a game (30) and most rushing TDs in one game (4). After a career-ending injury in the CFL, he returned to Texas and worked as a coach, Athletic Director, and teacher at Pleasanton High School and simultaneously as a rancher and cattleman. He was named St.Gerard's "Athlete of the Half-Century" and inducted into the St. Gerard High School Hall of Fame, the Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame, and the Pleasanton High School Hall of Fame.

References

1934 births 2018 deaths Players of American football from San Antonio Players of Canadian football from San Antonio American football halfbacks American football fullbacks American football punters Canadian football running backs Canadian football punters Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm football players Saskatchewan Roughriders players Montreal Alouettes players Texas Longhorns football players {{Canadianfootball-bio-stub