Athletes - Doug Flutie

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	Athletes - Doug Flutie

Douglas Richard Flutie (born on October 23, 1962) is an American football player, a former Canadian football player, and currently a quarterback for the New England Patriots. He is best known outside of Canada for his career at Boston College, where his "Hail Mary" pass on November 23, 1984 is considered among the greatest moments in college football history, and sports history. He received the Heisman Trophy later that year. He is also well known for making a drop kick in 2006, the first since 1941. He is also noteworthy for his success despite an unusually small stature for an NFL quarterback (5'9" and 180 lbs.).

He previously served as a backup quarterback for the San Diego Chargers and a starter for the Buffalo Bills. He was a superstar in the Canadian Football League, prior to which, he played for the Chicago Bears and the Patriots.

Biography

Early years

Doug Flutie was born in Manchester, Maryland to Lebanese-American parents. His family moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida when he was six years old, and again moved in 1976 to Natick, Massachusetts.

High School Years

Flutie graduated from Natick High School, where he played for the "Redmen". He was an All-League performer in football, basketball, and baseball.

College years

Flutie played football for Boston College, the only Division I-A school to recruit him, from 1981 to 1984, and won the Heisman Trophy in his senior year. He first gained national attention in 1984 when he quarterbacked the Eagles to victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against the Miami Hurricanes (led by QB Bernie Kosar). The game was nationally televised on CBS the day after Thanksgiving, and thus had a huge audience. Miami staged a dramatic drive to take the lead, 45-41, in the closing minute of the game. Boston College then took possession at their own 22-yard line with 28 seconds to go. After two passes moved the ball another 30 yards, only six seconds remained on the clock. On the last play of the game, Flutie scrambled away from the defense and threw a Hail Mary pass that was caught in the end zone by Gerard Phelan, giving BC a 47-45 win. Although many people think that the play clinched the Heisman Trophy for Flutie, the voting was already complete before that game.

Flutie would leave school as the NCAA’s all-time passing yardage leader with 10,579 yards, and was a consensus All-American as a senior. He earned Player of the Year awards from UPI, Kodak, The Sporting News and the Maxwell Football Club. There was only one task Flutie seemed unable to overcome: in his four-year tenure at BC, he was never able to defeat West Virginia University.

In addition to his collegiate athletic achievement, Doug Flutie maintained a distinguished academic record at Boston College. His scholastic achievements earned him a nomination as a candidate for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship, for which he was named a finalist in 1984. Upon graduating, Flutie won a National Football Foundation post-graduate scholarship.

Flutie's 1984 "Hail Mary" pass, and the subsequent rise in applications for admission to Boston College, gave rise to the admissions phenomenon known as the "Flutie Factor." This idea essentially states that a winning sports team can increase the recognition value of a university enough to make it a more elite school.

Early professional career

Doug Flutie started his professional career in the United States Football League (USFL) with the New Jersey Generals. The USFL folded in 1986, and Flutie is the league's last active player.

Doug Flutie crossed strike lines in the 1987 NFL strike season and charges of being a scab have dogged him since. Flutie signed with the NFL's Chicago Bears. He later went to the New England Patriots.

Canadian Football League career

Although his Canadian football career lasted only eight years, Doug Flutie is one of the greatest quarterbacks ever to play Canadian football. In 1990 Flutie signed with the BC Lions for a two-year contract reportedly worth $350,000 a season. At the time he was the highest paid CFL player in the league. Flutie struggled in his first season. However, the following year, Flutie shone and was rewarded with a reported million dollar a year salary with the Calgary Stampeders.

Flutie won his first Grey Cup in 1992 with the Stampeders. During his last years in Calgary, Flutie's backup was Jeff Garcia, who would later go on to star for the San Francisco 49ers. He would go on to win two more Grey Cups with the Toronto Argonauts, in 1996 and 1997, before signing with the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in 1998. Prior to his final two Grey Cup victories with the Argonauts, Doug Flutie was hampered by the opinion, supported by the media, that he was a quarterback who could not win in cold weather. After an early playoff loss where he refused to wear gloves in freezing temperatures, Doug Flutie in later years adapted to throwing with gloves in cold weather.

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