New documentary on ESPN regarding racism at the QB position in football featuring a former CFL great. Talks about his time in CFL with great pride starting at 3:20.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nnjXib_e5w&NR=1Here's a brief clip from the documentary trailer itself
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qF5Npti-Uw4I was lucky enough to bump into Condredge in 1999 in a downtown Hamilton hotel when he was in town being inducted into the CFHOF.
It was a very nice moment meeting him and telling him how much I enjoyed watching him play in the CFL all those years even if he did wear the double blue.
Condredge Holloway in action.
Some great familiar names and faces, with Ron Lancaster and Leo Cahill doing the broadcast and Warren Moon on the field against Condredge. Love it!
[url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTQGaBYbfFE&feature=related]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTQGaBYb ... re=related[/url]Names like Warren Moon, Condredge Holloway and Jackie Robinson are all reasons to be proud to be Canadian. :rockin:
Watched the whole doc. last night and it was great to see they interviewed Bob O'Billovich, Jan Carinci, Terry Greer to name but a few. Truly a great story and a tribute to the CFL for not judging a player by the color of their skin
Believe it or not, some people still think it makes a difference. I'm proud that we Canadians are smarter than that. :rockin:
Does anyone know the first African-American starting quarterback in the CFL? While Chuck Ealey (Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 1972) was the first really successful black quarterback which led to guys like Karl Douglas and Jimmie Jones, I can only remember Carroll Williams (Montreal Alouettes) starting before him (1968 or '69?). Anyone?
Here's a pic of the great Chuck Ealey from Toledo who led his team a Championship in his first season!
That's a great piece of information. are you old enough to have seen them play?
Great thread. Condredge Holloway, loved watching him play, great skill set for the Canadian rules football.
You are bang in there rhymes with orange but I'll take a stab at it; Bernie Custis? I'm probably wrong however.
There is a somewhat well-known Ottawa music critic and author, whom I have know for decades (and whom I don't want to publicly besmirch because he's otherwise a nice guy) who recently hastened to point out on Facebook how odd it was for the CFL to honour Cookie Gilchrist on its home page even though Gilchrist snubbed the CFL because it was/is racist, when it wanted to induct him into the HoF. This is baloney of course because he perceived the CFL was ill treating the players in general, not because it was racist (as much as my research tells me anyway). Gilchrist also snubbed the Bills when they wanted to honour him on their wall of fame (or whatever they call it), and wouldn't participate unless they paid him an appearance fee (he later relented). He was apparently just a very weird guy (who liked to be well paid, imagine that) no matter what race he was. He was also a great football player.
The point is that some people still perceive the CFL as racist. I'm not exactly sure why, but I think it's because they perceive football in general as basically racist, and so ipso facto the CFL is racist. This is a kind of reverse prejudice really that flies the face of fact and history, and it shows that even intelligent, educated Canadians can fall victim to their own ignorance.
Not sure if he was the first, but Sandy Stephens in Montreal 1962-1963 (and Toronto in 1964 but I seem to recall they used him at running back) predates the names you mention.
http://www.hamiltonmountainnews.com/news/article/163057
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandy_Stephens
I found these two articles MadJack.
Those few that still think it makes a difference are a reason to not feel too smug about being less racist than our neighbours to the south. Canada wasn't as extreme as the US and ended legal discrimination sooner, but it certainly was a matter of degree not one of total absence and perhaps it was simply directed at different "races" because we just didn't have the black population that the US does.
Back in the 1950’s black players in Edmonton were not allowed in at in some of the Edmonton restaurants.
Jackie Parker forced the hand of many of the restaurants to allow black teammates like Rollie Miles and Johnny Bright in after he refused to leave with them and that started to change things. Parker was the highest profile player in Edmonton sports scene until Gretzky arrived.
Well into the 1980’s you could still see “White Help Only” imprints on the brick backside of many older buildings in downtown Edmonton.
Miles later became a administrator in the Edmonton school district who spoke openly to students of those days.
Fantastic video to watch of a CFL legend . Really enjoyed Chesney's commentary .
As mentioned in an earlier post, recently deceased Bernie Curtis was the first African-American to start at QB at the pro level in North America in 1951 with the Hamilton Tiger Cats.
Bernie Custis
Oops:( my fault. Fat fingers and sloppy proof reading.