Background
Campbell, Hugh Thomas was born on May 21, 1941 in San Jose, California, United States.
Campbell, Hugh Thomas was born on May 21, 1941 in San Jose, California, United States.
Bachelor of Science, Washington State University, 1963.
He served as a head coach in three different professional gridiron football leagues: the Canadian Football League (Canadian Football League), the United States Football League (USFL) and the National Football League (NFL). Campbell retired as the Chief Executive Officer of the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League in 2006. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
Campbell played wide receiver at Washington State University from 1959 to 1962.
During that time he appeared in the Hula Bowl, the College All-Star game, the Coaches All-America game and the East-West Shrine Bowl. Campbell snagged most outstanding player honours in the Coaches and the Shrine Bowl games.
During his Cougar career he was teamed with fellow Canadian Football League Hall of Famer George Reed. Campbell quit the Roughriders in 1968 to take a position as assistant coach at Washington State but returned for a final year with the Roughriders in 1969.
In his six Canadian Football League seasons, Campbell caught 321 passes for an average gain of 16.9 yards per reception and scored 60 touchdowns, including 17 Territorial Decoration receptions in 1966.
Campbell received western conference all-star honours as a flanker in 1964, 1965, 1966 and 1969. He was a Canadian Football League all-star in 1965 and 1966. Campbell retired as a player after the 1969 season to take up a head coaching job at Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington.
During his seven-year tenure as coach, Campbell revived Whitworth"s moribund football program and was named conference coach of the year three times.
In 1977, Campbell was named head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos. Following the 1982 season, Campbell left to become the head coach of the USFL"s Los Angeles Express.
After one season, the Houston Oilers who were bidding for the services of Warren Moon, hired him to become their head coach and help improve their chances of signing the coveted free agent. He served as head coach of the Oilers for the 1984 and 1985 seasons.
In 1986 he returned to the Eskimos as the team"s general manager.
After 20 years as the head of the Eskimos organization, Campbell announced his retirement effective the end of 2006.