Background
He was born in Toronto, Ontario.
He was born in Toronto, Ontario.
After playing college football at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio, Pettersen was drafted by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1974 and played in the Canadian Football League for eight seasons. However, even in a losing cause, that game was still a career highlight as Pettersen caught seven passes that day and received the game ball from then Canadian Football League Commissioner Jake Gaudaur. After retiring, he spent eighteen years as an analyst for the Canadian Football League on CTV and Friday Night Football.
Pettersen joined TSN as a game analyst in 1987, when the network began televising Canadian Football League games.
Pettersen also worked at Royal Bank of Canada Sports Professionals & Private Client Group as Director of Business Development, managing banking and investments for athletes, coaches and sports executives. He was the president of a chemical manufacturing firm in Etobicoke as well.
Pettersen was a founding Governor of the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame and was appointed as a Governor of Canada"s Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. In 1992 he was considered for the position of commissioner of the Canadian Football League, but his asking price too high
Pettersen died on the evening of July 30, 2008, at the age of 57 of a heart attack in Toronto.