Johanes "Jon" S. Anabo (born August 24, 1939) is a former professional

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

who played for the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Comm ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ...

. From 1964 to 1965, he played in 11 regular season games, passing for 803 yards, five

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

s, and eight interceptions. Prior to playing for the Eskimos, Anabo played for the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a m ...

and spent time on the practice squad of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

from the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

. While in college, Anabo was one of the top passing quarterbacks among West Coast programs. He played in tandem with fellow quarterback

Beau Carter Beau may refer to: *Beau (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name, nickname or surname *Beau (guitarist) (born 1946), songwriter and 12-string guitar specialist *Beau (grape), another name for the Italian wine grape Tr ...

in 1961 and 1962 as he helped lead the Bulldogs to an undefeated season. Anabo was twice named to the All-West Coast team released by

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. Anabo was selected in the 19th round of the

1962 NFL Draft The 1962 National Football League draft was held on December 4, 1961 at the Sheraton Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. The Washington Redskins used the first overall pick of the draft to select running back Ernie Davis, then subsequently traded him t ...

by the Cleveland Browns and the 23rd round of the

1963 AFL Draft The 1963 American Football League draft was held in Dallas on Saturday, December 1, 1962. The Kansas City Chiefs drafted as the Dallas Texans, as their relocation would take place a few months later. With the first overall selection, they took B ...

by the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Ra ...

Early career

Anabo attended

Armijo High School Armijo High School is a public secondary school located in Fairfield, California, United States. It is the oldest of the three high schools in the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, the other two being Fairfield High School and Angelo R ...

before going on to play college football at

Vallejo Junior College Solano Community College (SCC) is a public community college in Fairfield, California, with additional centers in Vacaville and Vallejo. The college is part of California Community Colleges System. SCC's service area includes all of Solano Count ...

(later renamed Solano Community College) from 1958 to 1960. While at Vallejo, Anabo also played baseball. In 2004, Anabo was inducted into the Solano Community College Hall of Fame. In 1961, Anabo transferred to

Fresno State University California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bac ...

to play for the

. The Bulldogs played two different units of offensive players, and Anabo split playing time with fellow quarterback Beau Carter. He was credited for leading the Bulldogs to an upset victory of the

University of the Pacific University of the Pacific may refer to: *University of the Pacific (Colombia) *University of the Pacific (Ecuador) *University of the Pacific (Peru) * University of the Pacific (United States) *University of Asia Pacific, Bangladesh * University of ...

in the game's final seconds. The Bulldogs had a perfect season in 1961 as Anabo passed for 454 yards and eight

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

. Fresno State defeated the

Bowling Green Falcons The Bowling Green Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Bowling Green State University (BGSU), in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The Falcons compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Div ...

36–6 in the

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, and Anabo was named to the

West Coast Small College All-Star team the following week. In 1962, Anabo and Carter were described as the "best 1-2 quarterback punch on the West Coast". The duo ranked sixth in the nation in total passing yardage through the third week of November. Anabo set new records for Fresno State in passing and was again named to the All-Coast team. Anabo was selected for the All-American Bowl representing the Small Schools All-Star team, and the Small Schools won the annual game for the first time after Anabo scored a touchdown on a quarterback run in the fourth quarter. He ended his college career with 96 completions on 178 attempted passes for 1,334 yards and 17 touchdowns. Anabo also participated in the high jump event for the

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

team at Fresno State.

Professional career

Cleveland Browns

In 1962, the

selected Anabo in the nineteenth round of the

with the 263rd overall pick. The

of the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

selected Anabo the following year in the twenty-third round of the

with the 177th overall pick. Anabo chose to sign with the Browns in January 1963. After attending training camp with the Browns, Anabo was placed on the practice squad for the entirety of the 1963 season. Anabo attempted to make the Browns' regular season roster in 1964. In his first drive with the Browns during a preseason game, Anabo threw a 74-yard touchdown pass to

flanker Flanker may refer to: * Flanker (perfume), a newly created perfume sharing attributes of an existing one * Flanker (rugby union), a position in rugby union (not found in rugby league) * ''Su-27 Flanker'' (video game), a 1996 computer game modelin ...

Walter Roberts. In September, the Browns released Anabo as part of their final roster cuts before the regular season.

Edmonton Eskimos

After being released by the Browns, Anabo signed with the

of the

. He played six regular season games for the Eskimos in 1964, passing for 621 yards with four touchdowns and seven interceptions. By the end of the season, Anabo was starting for the Eskimos. He played in five regular season games in 1965 but averaged only 3.9 yards per attempt. In August, Anabo suffered a minor injury which he played through later in the month. After starting the season with a 0–5 record, the Eskimos cut Anabo in late August.

Later life

After retiring from professional football, Anabo coached high school football at Hoover High School. After serving as a quarterback and receivers coach at Fresno State, Anabo started a career in broadcasting as a football color commentator.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anabo, Jon 1939 births Living people American football quarterbacks Canadian football quarterbacks Fresno State Bulldogs football players Cleveland Browns players Edmonton Elks players Players of American football from California Sports coaches from Los Angeles High school football coaches in California Fresno State Bulldogs football coaches