Sport Canada

Flutie Was Simply Ahead of His Time

Doug Flutie was a gambler‘s dream. Think about it. His team was always the underdog and yet he always came through in the clutch and covered the spread. From his Hail Mary pass in college to beat Miami to his scramble for a touchdown to beat Jacksonville in the pros, Flutie was a born winner. Sportsbooks hated this man, because whether they liked it or not, his teams were always getting points, yet they knew he would win the game;—somehow.

Even with this, when you think of Doug Flutie, you think of a short quarterback. You think of a little guy who was great for some trickery in close games, but not a player you would build a franchise around. You think of a player who was good enough to dominate Canada, but not the NFL. Why?

Atlanta QB Michael Vick was drafted number one overall in 2001 because of the amazing upside he possesses. Vick is a phenomenal athlete with speed, power, and the uncanny ability to throw the football up to 70 yards. Vick dazzled while playing his college ball at Virginia Tech and is a natural leader. These are simply intangibles you cannot teach, but can build a team and a franchise around.

So I beg to ask one question: what is the difference between Vick and Flutie? Less than two inches in height. Vick stands at 6’0″, with Flutie lagging just behind at 5’10″. Flutie has the cannon that Vick has and is also a great athlete who consistently makes plays with his legs. Flutie also dazzled in college while playing for Boston College, and he even won a Heisman Trophy in 1984. Even Vick can’t claim that award. When talking about leadership skills, no one will ever forget Flutie’s 48-yard Hail Mary pass that upset the Miami Hurricanes on November 23, 1984. One can even argue that Flutie has the edge on Vick when it comes to football smarts, and more importantly, accuracy. Vick has a career completion percentage of only 54.1 percent.

So if the two are so evenly matched, why was Flutie drafted 285th overall in 1985 while Vick was the first pick 16 years later? The answer is simple: Flutie was a man ahead of his time. In 1985, the mobile quarterback had no place in the NFL. Now this type of quarterback is the present and future of the game, and Flutie was one of the first prototypes. Flutie, the anti-Ryan Leaf, has no character flaws at all and if he were to come out of the draft now, he would be a first-day pick. The current coaches of this era would be drooling at the numerous ways they could utilize this athlete.

Now, after 21 professional seasons in football, Flutie called it quits on Monday. Flutie leaves behind a legacy of heart and determination, six player of the year awards in Canadian football, and of course, his Hail Mary pass that will live forever in college football lore. But, most of all, I believe he leaves behind the sad legacy of a player who was born in the wrong era and who was consistently underestimated.

Flutie made his resurgence in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills in 1998, voted the AP Comeback Player of the Year. In ‘98, Flutie threw for over 2700 yards and 20 touchdowns to only 11 interceptions. The very next year Flutie upped his numbers to over 3000 yards passing and was voted to the Pro Bowl. But alas, another stereotype would stand in the way of a fruitful career: his age. By the end of 1999, Flutie was 37 years old and the Bills did not want to build a team around an old-timer. It was just too late. Two years later, Flutie would sign with the Chargers, only to give the job up to another young quarterback: Drew Brees.

Flutie’s potential was there for all to see. You don’t just make the Pro Bowl if you’re not a great talent. Again, timing ruined what could have been a Hall of Fame career. Flutie just needed the breakthroughs of players like Kordell Stewart, Atwaan Randle El, and of course, Vick, to set the stage. Kordell started the trend way back in 1995 when he came in as ‘slash.’ Pittsburgh coach Bill Cower tried to use the multi-talented QB in every way possible and ended up with great success. This opened the door for Vick to be the top pick in 2001 and Randle El to sign with the Redskins for $27 million. Imagine all the money Flutie could have made in this era, for himself and gamblers alike.

Well, you can’t change history and you certainly can’t pick the era in which you are born. This is the sad reality of Doug Flutie’s career and the careers of many others who did not make it at the professional level. But what you can do is realize something. When you think of Michael Vick as the one player who changed the way we view what a quarterback can do, think again. There is one innovator who came before Vick, before Kordell, before Randle El, and even before Vince Young. This innovator was Doug Flutie.

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Canadian Football Hall of Fame Class of 2008 Interviews

Awards established in 1972: Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Templeton Prize, Jefferson Lecture $14.14 Source: Wikipedia,Paperback, English-language edition,Pub by General Books LLC

Baltimore Bays (Nasl) Players $10 Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher’s book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Senior club appearances and goalscounted for the domestic league only.* Appearances (Goals) Gordon Bradley (November 23, 1933 April 29, 2008) was an English-American football (soccer) midfielder born and raised on Wearside who played several seasons with lower division English clubs before moving to play in Canada at the age of 30. During the Canadian off-season, he played and coached in the U.S. based German American Soccer League. In 1971, he became a player and head coach for the New York Cosmos. In addition to coaching the Cosmos, he has coached the U.S. national team and at the collegiate and high school levels. Bradley also earned one cap with the U.S. national team in 1973. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. He spent his last years out of the public eye, suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and spending his last month in a full-care facility in Manassas, Va. Bradley grew up in Sunderland, England where he turned professional with the local Sunderland club at age sixteen. However, his career nearly ended just as it was beginning. During a training session, he shattered his right kneecap kicking a ball and it took over two years before he was fit to play again. In 1950, English conscription laws forced Bradley to choose between working in the government coal mines or entering the military when he turned nineteen. Bradley chose to work in the coal mines at Easington Colliery. In addition to working in the mine, Bradley continued to play football. While he began his career as a forward with Sunderland, the injury slowed Bradley and he moved into defense. Bradley signed with Bradford Park Avenue in 1955 then in 1957, he moved to Carlisle United where he eventually played 130 games, scoring 3 goals. In 1963, Bradley receive… More:

Canadian Football $14.14 Aus Wikipedia. Nicht dargestellt. Auszug: Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played almost exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play 110 yards (101 m) long and 65 yards (59 m) wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team’s scoring area (end zone). In Canada, the term football usually refers to Canadian football and American football collectively, or either sport specifically, depending on the context. The two sports have shared origins and are closely related, but with significant differences. Rugby football in Canada had its origins in the early 1860s, and over time, the unique game known as Canadian football developed. Both the Canadian Football League (CFL), the sport’s top professional league, and Football Canada, the governing body for amateur play, trace their roots to 1884 and the founding of the Canadian Rugby Football Union. Currently active teams such as the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats have similar longevity. The CFL is the most popular and only major professional Canadian football league. Its championship game, the Grey Cup, is the country’s single largest sporting event and is watched by nearly half of Canada’s population. Canadian football is also played at the high school, junior, collegiate, and semi-professional levels: the Canadian Junior Football League and Quebec Junior Football League are leagues for players aged 18-22, many post-secondary institutions compete in Canadian Interuniversity Sport for the Vanier Cup, and senior leagues such as the Alberta Football League have grown in popularity in recent years. Great achievements in Canadian football are enshrined in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Other organizations across Canada perform senior league Canadian football during the summer. The first documented gridiron football match was a game played at University

Canadian Football Punters: Lionel Conacher, Mike Vanderjagt, Lui Passaglia, Wally Buono, Rollie Miles, Jon Ryan, Damon Duval, Josh Miller $21.24 Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher’s book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Lionel Conacher, Mike Vanderjagt, Lui Passaglia, Wally Buono, Rollie Miles, Jon Ryan, Damon Duval, Josh Miller, Sam Paulescu, Eddie Johnson, Noel Prefontaine, Burke Dales, Paul Mccallum, Duncan O’mahony, Zenon Andrusyshyn, Hank Ilesic, Bob Cameron, Marcus Brady, Rob Pikula, Sean Fleming, Jamie Boreham, Dave Mann, Ab Box, Luca Congi, Rodney Williams, Paul Osbaldiston, Terry Baker, Chris Hardy, Ken Clark, Bernie Ruoff, Tony Martino, Derek Schiavone, Jim Furlong, Glenn Harper, Alan Ford, Cam Fraser. Excerpt: Date of birth: : March 8, 1909(1909-03-08) Albert George “Ab” Box (March 8, 1909 July 30, 2000) was a Canadian professional football halfback , quarterback and punter . Born in Toronto, Box attended Malvern Collegiate Institute where he played on the football team and later on the Malvern Grads junior team from 1928-1929 under coach Ted Reeve . Box then moved to the senior Ontario Rugby Football Union , again playing under Reeve with the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers from 1930-1931, winning the Grey Cup in 1930. Box then played three seasons with the Toronto Argonauts , winning another Grey Cup in 1933 and being voted the Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy winner as the most valuable player for 1934. He returned to Balmy Beach in 1935 and played another four years there. Box also played on championship baseball and softball teams. He has been inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (1965) and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame (1975). Box died in Toronto at age 91. Websites (URLs online) A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at Date of birth: : July 2, 1943 (1943-07-02) Alan Ford is a former Canadian football player and executive. He played as defensive back and punter from 1965 1976 for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League , and

Coe College Alumni: Marv Levy, Shelby Steele, Paul Engle, Jason Kottke $8.69 Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher’s book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Marvin Daniel Levy (born August 3, 1925 in Chicago, Illinois) is a former American and Canadian Football coach and front office executive. He is a former professional football coach, in the CFL as head coach of the Montreal Alouettes (19731977), and in the NFL as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs (19781982) and the Buffalo Bills (19861997), coaching the Bills to four consecutive American Football Conference Championships. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2001. Levy’s family emigrated from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His father, a decorated World War I veteran, ran a small business on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, USA. He graduated from South Shore High School in Chicago, in 1943. Following graduation, he enlisted in the Army Air Forces and spent the remainder of World War II in the military; Levy was discharged from the army shortly afterwards. Though he was known to use historical examples to inspire his teams, Levy corrected those who used war and combat metaphors to describe football games by telling them that he actually fought in a war and that football and war were in no way comparable. Levy enrolled at Coe College in Iowa. There he earned varsity letters in football, track, and basketball. He obtained a degree in English literature, was granted membership in the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and was twice voted student council president. He was also a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity. He was admitted to Harvard University for graduate studies in 1951, earning a masters degree in English history. His first coaching job was at St. Louis Country Day School, coaching football and basketball. Two years later, Levy returned to Coe College as an assistant football coach (19531954). In 1954, he joined the coachin… More:

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Players of Canadian Football From Saskatchewan: Stu Hart, Chris Getzlaf, Jason Clermont, Norm Fieldgate, Bill Clarke, Mike Maurer, Ray Syrnyk $22.16 Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher’s book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Stu Hart, Chris Getzlaf, Jason Clermont, Norm Fieldgate, Bill Clarke, Mike Maurer, Ray Syrnyk, John Comiskey, Randy Srochenski, Joe Mcgrath, Larry Wruck, Paul Woldu, Arnie Weinmeister, Neal Hughes, Ted Dushinski, Dave Cutler, Roger Aldag, Lyle Bauer, Brian Guebert, Lawrie Skolrood, Kelly Bates, Dylan Barker, Gene Makowsky, Scott Schultz, Teale Orban, Jordan Matechuk, Graeme Bell, John Hashem, Nick Hutchins, Tamon George, Ron Atchison, Joel Lipinski, Jordan Rempel, Ryan Karhut, Mike Stadnyk, Bryan Illerbrun, Scott Mchenry, Brendon Labatte, Ken Charlton, Roger Reinson, Stu Foord, Ivan Brown, Ted Urness, Preston Young, Cory Mantyka, Dean Griffing, Stu Laird, Mike Anderson, Don Moen, Bob Poley, Ralph Galloway. Excerpt: item Position(s) Defensive tackle : Jersey #(s) 73 item Born: March 23, 1923(1923-03-23) Rhein , Saskatchewan , Canada item Died: June 29, 2000 (aged 77) item Career information item Year(s) : 1948 1953 item NFL Draft : 1945 / Round: 17 / Pick: 166 item College : Washington item Professional teams item item Career stats item Games: 71 item Fumble Recoveries: 8 item Safeties : 1 item Stats at NFL.com item Career highlights and awards item item Pro Football Hall of Fame Arnold George Weinmeister (March 23, 1923 June 29, 2000) was an American football defensive tackle . He went to four Pro Bowls , but with only a six-year tenure in the All-America Football Conference and National Football League , his career is one of the shortest of any Pro Football Hall of Fame member. He was born in Rhein, Saskatchewan . Early years Weinmeister was a two-time All-City tackle in high school, and played end , fullback , and tackle during a 4-year tenure at the University of Washington which was interrupted by four years army service.

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