I saw his bio and movie credits appear on something I was perusing.I didn't know he has done all these movies in this link. Not bad!
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0186950/
This is the bio that is in there too
Biography for
Rufus Crawford More at IMDbPro »
Date of Birth
21 May 1955, Gastonia, North Carolina, USA
Height
5' 10" (1.78 m)
Mini Biography
Rufus is a former professional football player, who played for the Seattle SeaHawks of the National Football league. He slso played seven years for the Hamilton Tigercats of the Canadian Football League where he broke the all time CFL total yardage record, that had stood for 28 years He was honored as the 1980's Hamilton Tigercat player of the decade. The plack that bears that honor in his name now resides in Hamilton Ontario outside of Ivor Winn Stadium, Home of the Tigercats Upon retirement from the professional football in 1986, he began to pursue another passion of his, acting. after taking a year of acting lessons on and off and doing background work in films and commercials, he decided to take his acting passion more seriously. He auditioned for many talent agencies in Toronto, Canada and after securing one in 1987, his career began.
I didn't recall such an award being granted. If it's on a plaque outside "Ivor Winn" it must be true. DiPietro and Covington must also have been strong contenders for that award, and possibly Zambiasi.
I wonder if there was a "player of the 1990s" award. I'm thinking Winfield and Osbaldiston would be the only ones to merit consideration.
8) Rufus also brought out a very good book in 1990, detailing his life and his whole professional football career. The book is titled "Rufus Baby, A Dream to Defeat the Odds". It is an excellent read, with lots of inside stories about his career as a TiCat, and plenty of pictures also !!
I met Rufus on several occassions back then, and was lucky enough to get a personally autographed copy of his book from him !!!
It is a must buy book for any serious TiCat fan from that era.
I agree Ron, Rufus Crawford was a real gentleman. As well as being a terrific football player. He was one of the early prototypes of the modern slotback position in the CFL.
Thing is though, I believe Rufus set that all-purpose yardage record in 1984. Ralph Sazio was with the Argos at that time.
I remember that no one made a big deal about Rufus breaking the decades-old combined yardage record in 1984. He was the East nominee for MOP, but no one gave him a chance against Willard Reaves (IIRC).
However, a few years later, when Pinball broke Rufus' 6 year old record, suddenly it was the most outstanding achievement in the history of sport, and he walked away with the MOP that year.
I remember that too. Not fair at all. Rufus was a prototype of the modern CFL slotback. It wasn't too many years before him that teams were still using a FB, two HBs and a Flanker behind the line of scrimmage.
Last time I saw him he selling his book on the street outside of the stadium from a card table.
You can thank the "Brilliant Braley" for that one. It was shameful that they couldn't make a deal to bring him into the fold after he retired. It was like he was a street urchin, looking for change.
Yeah RFTT, maybe it was Joe. As you said, Joe learned the trade under Ralph after all.
There was another famous saying about Ralph Sazio.... not sure if it was Mosca, Barrow or someone else who said it .... to the effect that the penny-pinching Sazio "threw nickels around like they were manhole covers."
Well, it was quite a while ago that he received the honour. Over time his memory has probably faded as to what it was actually signifying. When in doubt, always go for the better story. That's what I would do too.
The important thing is that he was a great Ticat and is obviously proud that he was here and has great memories. And his name is on the Wall outside Ivor Wynne. That's a great honour and speaks volumes of the man and the player.
Now, I hope to see a few of those movies he was in. I'll have to rent a few.
I sure wouldn't want to be an actor. The road is tortuously long for most of them apparantly. And then if you do hit it big time, you get trashed all over the tabloids anyhow. I'd rather be a consistent back up role actor like Willem Dafoe, William H. Macy, Sydney Pollack, Gene Hackman, Steve Buscemi and Hamilton's own Wendy Crewson (co-starred beside Harrison Ford as The First Lady in the movie "Air Force One") . They work all the time, make decent money and the tabloids leave them alone. Plus, their marriages last longer and are happier for the most part.
-Cinderella Man- was filmed in Hamilton at Copps Coliseum wasn't it? At least the fight scenes were I think.