CFL star quarterback, long time Peel resident Chuck Ealey tops Toledo’s all Century Team
Chuck Ealey
Chuck Ealey never lost a game in his three years quarterbacking the University of Toledo’s football team.
The 35-game unbeaten streak is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) record.
Despite that brilliance, he never made it to the NFL because of his skin colour.
That didn’t matter to fans in Toledo who have voted him the number one player on the university’s All-Century team to celebrate the football program’s 100th anniversary. He’ll be honoured on Sept.16.
A total of 50 players were on the ballot.
A Canadian resident since 1972, Ealey’s jersey number is only one of four retired.
The quarterback turnedsuccessful financial industry leader (Investor’s Group) was in Toledo a few months ago with his daughter Jael Richardson when he learned his alma mater was celebrating the football program’s centenary.
Ealey says “I was alerted a couple of weeks ago that I was part of the All-Century team. Two weeks ago, a former teammate sent me an e-mail saying that I was number one. I was taken back by the honour.”
In his three years at Notre Dame High School in Portsmouth, along with going unbeaten, Ealey led the team to its first state championship in 1967. That success led to university where he won three consecutive Tangerine Bowls and was the Most Valuable Player in each contest.
Despite his remarkable achievements, Ealey, who was eighth in polling for the 1971 Heisman Trophy, was overlooked in the 1972 NFL draft because of his skin colour and the position he played.
When then Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram offered him the opportunity to run a 40-yard dash for time, he graciously declined the chance to try to make an NFL team as a defensive back and headed to Canada.
After the six-year unbeaten streak in high school and university, Ealey lost his first two games in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Replacing University of Guelph Department of Athletics intercollegiate programs assistant manager Wally Gabler for the fourth game of the season, Ealey – who like Gabler was born and raised in Portsmouth, Ohio— dropped his first start against Edmonton 30- 27.
He wasn’t distraught after the loss.
“No athlete likes to lose,” Ealey, a former Mississauga Sports Council chair who was inducted into the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, points out. “I wasn’t happy. At the same time I knew it was going to happen at some time and we had to move on. That was how I felt.”
And move on he did. After the 0-2 start, Ealey led the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to an 11-3 record and a Grey Cup title in his first season (1972) becoming the first black player to quarterback his team to a professional football championship. He was also the Grey Cup MVP and the league’s Most Outstanding Rookie.
Ealey also played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and 48 games with the Toronto Argonauts, passing for 13,326 yards and 82 touchdowns before suffering a career-ending collapsed lung in 1978.
The All-Century Team will be honoured on Sept.16 during the University of Toledo’s game against Tulsa.
Ealey and his wife of 45 years, Sherri Ealey, have three adult children.
He turns 68 on Jan. 6.
With files from Ron Fanfair.
The 35-game unbeaten streak is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) record.
Despite that brilliance, he never made it to the NFL because of his skin colour.
That didn’t matter to fans in Toledo who have voted him the number one player on the university’s All-Century team to celebrate the football program’s 100th anniversary. He’ll be honoured on Sept.16.
A total of 50 players were on the ballot.
A Canadian resident since 1972, Ealey’s jersey number is only one of four retired.
The quarterback turnedsuccessful financial industry leader (Investor’s Group) was in Toledo a few months ago with his daughter Jael Richardson when he learned his alma mater was celebrating the football program’s centenary.
Ealey says “I was alerted a couple of weeks ago that I was part of the All-Century team. Two weeks ago, a former teammate sent me an e-mail saying that I was number one. I was taken back by the honour.”
In his three years at Notre Dame High School in Portsmouth, along with going unbeaten, Ealey led the team to its first state championship in 1967. That success led to university where he won three consecutive Tangerine Bowls and was the Most Valuable Player in each contest.
Despite his remarkable achievements, Ealey, who was eighth in polling for the 1971 Heisman Trophy, was overlooked in the 1972 NFL draft because of his skin colour and the position he played.
When then Kansas City Chiefs coach Hank Stram offered him the opportunity to run a 40-yard dash for time, he graciously declined the chance to try to make an NFL team as a defensive back and headed to Canada.
After the six-year unbeaten streak in high school and university, Ealey lost his first two games in the CFL with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Replacing University of Guelph Department of Athletics intercollegiate programs assistant manager Wally Gabler for the fourth game of the season, Ealey – who like Gabler was born and raised in Portsmouth, Ohio— dropped his first start against Edmonton 30- 27.
He wasn’t distraught after the loss.
“No athlete likes to lose,” Ealey, a former Mississauga Sports Council chair who was inducted into the Mississauga Sports Hall of Fame in 1989, points out. “I wasn’t happy. At the same time I knew it was going to happen at some time and we had to move on. That was how I felt.”
And move on he did. After the 0-2 start, Ealey led the Hamilton Tiger-Cats to an 11-3 record and a Grey Cup title in his first season (1972) becoming the first black player to quarterback his team to a professional football championship. He was also the Grey Cup MVP and the league’s Most Outstanding Rookie.
Ealey also played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and 48 games with the Toronto Argonauts, passing for 13,326 yards and 82 touchdowns before suffering a career-ending collapsed lung in 1978.
The All-Century Team will be honoured on Sept.16 during the University of Toledo’s game against Tulsa.
Ealey and his wife of 45 years, Sherri Ealey, have three adult children.
He turns 68 on Jan. 6.
With files from Ron Fanfair.