Campbell surprised his record lasted this long

His record had stood for so long — 43 years — the name is probably meaningful only to the most senior Washington State fans.

"I was away last week," said Hugh Campbell, president and CEO of the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. "My son told me some record of mine had been broken."

It was more than "some record" that WSU's Jason Hill took down last week. Campbell, a product of Los Gatos (Calif.) High School, was an extremely productive receiver for the Cougars from 1960 to 1962.

Known as the "Phantom of the Palouse," Campbell caught 176 passes and had 22 touchdown catches — the mark Hill surpassed last week. He still holds the career receptions and yardage (2,452) records.

Describing his own style, the 6-1 ½, 184-pound Campbell said, "I would catch a long pass now and then. I'd take advantage of my opportunities. I don't think I had many drops."

Campbell played in the CFL and coached Edmonton to five straight Grey Cup championships. He also had a brief head-coaching stint in the 1980s with the NFL Houston Oilers before becoming a general manager.

Campbell betrayed no chagrin at seeing his record fall, even after so long.

"Oh, no, not after this many years," he said. "That's weird, isn't it, with all the passing that school has done. It's embarrassing it hadn't been done before. I'm honestly shocked it didn't happen sooner."

Bud Withers