Can one of you fans give me some information on Denny Ferdinand. Was he an import? What position did he play/ How effective was he ? etc etc.
He played 39
games with the Alouettes from 1982 to 1984. He had his best season
in 1983 when he gained 603 rushing yards, scored 5 touchdowns and
caught 8 passes for gains of 128 yards. He received the Lew Heyman
Trophy as the Eastern Division's Most Outstanding Canadian. He
went on to play with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Ottawa
Rough Riders before retiring in 1989.
Denny was from the West Island of Montreal. I played with him on a Midget team called NSFL Mustangs. They were somewhat of a dynasty back then. Coincidently, Junior Robinson, another CLFer, also played on the same team. The funny thing is that these guys had so much talent that they rarely tried in practice - my first impression of Junior was that i thought he would get cut. Stupid me. So we only saw their brilliance in games. I remember one practice doing windsprints sandwiched between these 2. For the first couple, we would end a few yards apart. Then near the end of the session, they looked at each other, smirked, and said "wanna go"? - "yup yup". So i figured i'd jump into the race. Big mistake. Sweet mother of jesus - i never realized how fast these 2 really were. Their start was instant. Juniors strides seemed to be 5 yards apiece. Dennys were a bit shorter, but furious. I don't remember who won, but couldn't really tell anyways - i was too far from the finish line.
So if you ever wondered what seperates the average football player from the pros, the simple answer is "speed". You need smarts and toughness, but without the speed ur not even in the game.
Denny was a beast with the ball. He could just as easily ram through you, cut around you, or jump over you. Junior was a speed demon. And pound for pound one of the strongest guys you will ever meet. Both good guys.
Denny had a brother Darren on the team, who i think was even faster than Denny. But he was lighter and had an achilles ankle. Darren had a real shot at making pro if it wasn't for the injuries.
And to finish this long rant, i thought i would share with you one final story. I watched these 2 guys play against each other (Montreal versus Ottawa). In true Denny style, he broke through the line and went for a 40 yard romp towards the ottawa endzone. The only player on ottawa that had enough speed (and angle) to catch him was Junior. I think the tackle was made within the 5 yard line. I spoke to Junior about it later and it was obvious he enjoyed winning that one - if you want to call stopping a 40 yard burst a win 