PROVO, Utah-Wednesday, the first All-American in BYU football history, Eldon Fortie, passed away at 79 at Mesa, Ariz.

Known as “The Phantom,” Fortie started for three seasons for the Cougars at tailback (1960-1962).

In 1962, Fortie, who was also listed as a quarterback on sports-reference.com, led the Western Athletic Conference in rushing (1,149 yards), total offense (1,149 yards) and scoring (98 points).

This caused him to be named as the WAC Offensive Player of the year and the first Cougar to be named as a first-team All-American.

Fortie, who finished 10th in Heisman voting in 1962, was selected to play in several postseason all-star games, including the North-South Bowl, the Hula Bowl, the All-American Game, and the Coaches All-American Bowl.

Later in 1962, Fortie’s No. 40 was retired, the first to be retired at BYU.

Fortie later played professional football in the Canadian Football League in 1963 with the then-Edmonton Eskimos (now known as the Edmonton Football Team) for one season.

Fortie was a 1977 inductee in the BYU Athletic Hall of Fame. He and his wife, Janice, had been married for 59 years and had five children.