Willie Pless, the most prolific tackler in Kansas University history, was named Wednesday to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

Willie Pless, five times the Canadian Football League’s top defensive player and the CFL’s all-time leader in tackles, was among five inductees. Pless was chosen in his first year of eligibility.

A 5-foot-11, 210-pound linebacker from Anniston, Ala., Pless came to KU unheralded in the fall of 1982 and went on to become a three-time All-Big Eight selection. He is KU’s all-time leading tackler for a single-season (206) and career (633). Both are also records for the now-defunct Big Eight Conference.

Pless was inducted into the KU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2000.

Although he had hoped to stay near his hometown and attend either Auburn or Alabama, Pless was overlooked because of his small stature. But the Anniston High team doctor was a KU grad who sent films to the Kansas football office, and Don Fambrough, then the Jayhawks’ head coach, offered him a free ride.

“When they offered me a scholarship,” Pless said, “I was thrilled to death.”

Also considered undersized by NFL scouts, Pless was ignored in the 1985 draft, so he went to Canada, where he went on to become the most decorated defensive player in the league’s history.

Pless began his CFL career with Toronto in 1986, but was dealt to the B.C. Lions four years later. He joined the Edmonton Eskimos in ’91 and spent eight seasons there before finishing his career with Saskatchewan in 1999.

Pless, who will turn 41 next week, was a CFL all-star 11 times and captured his first outstanding-defensive-player award in 1992 before winning it four straight years (1994-97). He played in 250 regular-season games during his 14-year CFL career, making 1,241 tackles. He also had 84 quarterback sacks, 39 interceptions and 39 fumble recoveries. Pless participated in 18 playoff games and three Grey Cups.

During eight seasons (1991-1999) in Edmonton, he set Eskimos records with 813 defensive tackles, 117 tackles in one season (1998) and four times tied the team mark of 12 defensive tackles in one game.

As a free agent, he joined the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1999, recording a 102-tackle campaign and being named their outstanding defensive player and a division All-Star during his final season. He rejoined the Eskimos for a symbolic game in the 2000 preseason.

Pless, who lives in Edmonton, joins two other former KU players in the Canadian shrine — Hal Patterson and George McGowan, both wide receivers. Patterson played for the Jayhawks in the early 1950s. McGowan, who was named to the shrine last year, was the leading receiver on the 1968 KU Orange Bowl team.

Former CFL players Rod Connop, Ed George and Ray Nettles joined Pless is this year’s Hall of Fame class, as did Gord Currie, a former high school and juniors coach.