Winnipeg Blue Bombers ink Stephen Anzalone
May 17, 2004 - Canadian Football League (CFL)
Winnipeg Blue Bombers News Release
WINNIPEG, MB – The Winnipeg Blue Bombers today added an import defensive end to its roster with the signing of Northeastern University’s all-time sack leader Stephen Anzalone.
Anzalone (6-1, 253, Northeastern Â’02, DOB: Aug. 18, 1979 in South Weymouth, MA) joins Winnipeg after most recently attending the training camp of the Scottish Claymores of NFL-Europe.
General manager & vice-president of football operations Brendan Taman and head coach Dave Ritchie saw Anzalone there and were impressed with his play. Anzalone got hurt at that camp, which prevented him from going to Europe but made him available to come to Winnipeg.
“I got his name a year or so ago,” said Ritchie. “His motor is going all the time. He reminds me a lot of Marc Megna because he runs people down very well.”
THE COLLEGE YEARS – NORTHEASTERN HUSKIES
Anzalone played four years of college football at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. He left college with the schoolÂ’s all-time mark for quarterback sacks with 28.5.
As a senior, he totaled 75 defensive tackles, nine quarterback sacks and one blocked kick. He had eight sacks in his junior campaign and another eight in his sophomore season. He only played four games as a freshman but he still managed to make 21 defensive tackles.
THE HIGH-SCHOOL YEARS – WEYMOUTH WILDCATS
Anzalone was an all-around athlete at BostonÂ’s Weymouth High School. He played four years of football, three years of basketball, two years of track-and-field and one year of baseball.
At Weymouth he totaled 142 defensive tackles and more than 1,200 yards rushing. He earned All-Scholastic, Coaches All-Star Team and Shriners All-Star honors as a senior.
He also went to school one year at the Cushing Academy, where he helped lead the team to the New England High School Championship.
His dad Stephen Anzalone, Sr. and his uncle Joseph Pendergrast played football at Boston College from 1973-1977.
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