Wally Gabler

Wally Gabler

No. 12, 10, 11
Gabler (No. 29) preparing to pass, 1965
Date of birth	(1944-06-09) June 9, 1944 (age 72)
Place of birth	Portsmouth, Ohio, USA
Career information
Status	Retired
CFL status	International
Position(s)	QB
Height	6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight	195 lb (88 kg)
College	University of Michigan
Career history
As player
1966–1969, 1972	Toronto Argonauts
1969–1970	Winnipeg Blue Bombers
1970–1972	Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Wallace "Wally" Gabler (born June 9, 1944) is a retired professional American football player. He was the starting quarterback for the 1965 Michigan Wolverines football team and played seven seasons in the Canadian Football League.

Gabler was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, and attended Kimball High School in Royal Oak, Michigan.

Gabler enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1962 and played for the Michigan Wolverines football team. As a junior, Gabler appeared as a backup to Bob Timberlake on the 1964 Michigan team that won the Big Ten Conference championship.

As a senior in 1965, Gabler began the season as a backup to Dick Vidmer. Gabler got his first start in the fifth game of the season against Purdue. Gabler completed 9 of 28 passes in the game for 137 yards, including a touchdown pass to Jack Clancy. Gabler also started Michigan's remaining five games against Minnesota (13 of 23 for 124 yards), Wisconsin (5 of 12 for 121 yards), Illinois (7 of 12 for 124 yards), Northwestern (10 of 20 for 116 yards) and Ohio State (4 of 11 for 56 yards). Over the course of the 1965 season, Gabler completed 58 of 126 passes for 825 yards, four touchdown passes and two interceptions. He also gained 149 rushing yards for the 1965 Wolverines.

Following his senior year, Gabler played in the 1965 Blue–Gray Football Classic.

Gabler played seven years in the Canadian Football League after graduating from Michigan in 1966. He began his professional football career as the starting quarterback for the Toronto Argonauts. As a rookie, he passed for 1,659 yards and rushed for another 373 yards. In his history of the Argonauts, Craig Wallace wrote: "In 1966, the offence was based on Wally Gabler running around the backfield looking for open receivers -- and when he couldn't find one, running for his life." Gabler remained with the Argonauts for three years. He had his best year in 1968 when he completed 205 of 365 passes for 3,242 yards and 18 touchdowns. He also rushed for 458 yards and four touchdowns for the 1968 Argonauts.