Billy Joe Booth

Billy Joe Booth

No. 65
Date of birth	(1940-04-07)April 7, 1940
Place of birth	Minden, Webster Parish, Louisiana, USA
Date of death	June 30, 1972(1972-06-30) (aged 32)
Place of death	Dorchester, Ontario, Canada
Career information
CFL status	International
Position(s)	DE
Height	6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight	235 lb (107 kg)
College	Louisiana State
Career history
As player
1962–1970	Ottawa Rough Riders
Career highlights and awards
Grey Cup champion - 1968, 69
CFL All-Star	1969
CFL East All-Star	1963, 1964, 1966, 1969

Billy Joe Booth (April 7, 1940 – June 30, 1972)^[1] played professional football with the Ottawa Rough Riders in the Canadian Football League from 1962-1970. He graduated from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Interesting fact, in the 1962 NFL draft, he was drafted by the New York Giants in round thirteen, draft number 181. After his football career, Booth was an electrical contractor for the IC Electric Supply Company. Booth was killed in 1972 in a plane crash in Ontario, Canada.

Biography

Booth was born and reared in the small city of Minden in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. His parents were Coy D. Booth (died 2004) and the former Fern Nation (1915-2001). He graduated in 1958 from Minden High School, where one of his football coaches was his maternal uncle, Patrick Cary Nation (1918-2005), and then in 1962 from LSU, at which he received a Bachelor of Science degree in physical education.^[2] At Minden High School, Booth played football from 1954 to 1957. Booth won "All-State" and the "Outstanding Blocker" honours in 1956. He also played baseball in 1956 and ran track from 1955-1958. He was All-State in track in 1957. He was an elected member of the MHS Student Council in his senior year.^[3] At LSU, he played in the 1962 Senior Bowl.^[4]

Booth married the former Janice Mary Schouest (1941-1982 deceased), whom he met at LSU, and was the father of two sons, Mike Booth (born ca. 1963) and Coy Ulysses Booth (born ca. 1965 - since deceased, automobile accident victim).

CFL playing career

Booth was a defensive end for the Ottawa Rough Riders in the Canadian Football League from 1962 to 1970. At six feet tall and 240 pounds, many had considered him too small to be a defensive end. Booth won Grey Cup championships in 1968 and 1969. The team also lost the 54th Grey Cup game in 1966. In 1969, Booth was named CFL all-star and was also won CFL's Most Outstanding Lineman Award in the eastern division of the CFL that year, but lost to defensive tackle John LaGrone of the Edmonton Eskimos.

Death

Booth and his friend, James W. Magee, Jr. (1938–1972), were killed in an airplane crash near Dorchester, Ontario. The two were in Canada on a fishing trip when their four-seat Piper Cherokee Arrow crashed during a thunderstorm. Witnesses said that the plane blew up and fell to the ground, with wreckage spread over an area of some one and one-half miles. The plane was en route from Windsor to London but crashed some ten miles (16 km) before reaching its destination.^[5]

Booth is interred at Westlawn Memorial Park in Gretna in Jefferson Parish.

References