Miami staged a dramatic drive to take the lead, 45–41, in the closing minute of the game. The game was nationally televised on CBS the day after Thanksgiving and thus had a huge audience. The quarterback coach for Boston College from 1981 to 1983 was Tom Coughlin.įlutie gained national attention in 1984 when he led the Eagles to victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against the Miami Hurricanes (led by QB Bernie Kosar). He earned Player of the Year awards from UPI, Kodak, The Sporting News, and the Maxwell Football Club. Flutie left school as the NCAA's all-time passing yardage leader with 10,579 yards and was a consensus All-American as a senior. Flutie became the first quarterback to win the Heisman since Pat Sullivan in 1971. Flutie graduated from Natick High School, where he was an All-League performer in football, basketball, and baseball.įlutie played football at Boston College, the only Division I-A school to recruit him, from 1981 to 1984, and won the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award, and the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award in his senior year (1984). While there, Flutie led Hoover Junior High School's football team to two Brevard County Championships.Īfter the dramatic slow-down of the space program in the mid-1970s, the Flutie family again moved in 1976 to Natick, Massachusetts, 20 miles west of Boston. His family moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida when he was six, where his father worked as a quality engineer in the aerospace industry. His paternal great-grandparents were Lebanese immigrants. Flutie was also inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.įlutie was born in Manchester, Maryland to Dick and Joan Flutie. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2008. Flutie held his last starting role with the San Diego Chargers in 2001 and spent his final professional season as a backup for the Patriots. He again helped the Bills obtain a playoff berth the following season, but was controversially benched in their subsequent Wild Card defeat Flutie would be the last quarterback to bring the Bills to the postseason over the next 17 years. In all three of his championship victories, two with the Argonauts and one with the Stampeders, he was named Grey Cup MVP.įollowing his CFL success, Flutie returned to the NFL in 1998 with the Buffalo Bills, earning Pro Bowl and NFL Comeback Player of the Year honors for leading Buffalo to the playoffs. As a member of the BC Lions, Calgary Stampeders, and Toronto Argonauts, Flutie was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times and won three Grey Cups. After the USFL folded, Flutie spent his first four NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and New England Patriots.įlutie left the NFL in 1990 for the CFL, where he became regarded as one of the league's greatest players. This resulted in him being selected 285th overall by the Los Angeles Rams in the 11th round of the 1985 NFL Draft, the lowest drafting of a Heisman winner. He chose to begin his professional career with the USFL's New Jersey Generals as Flutie had already begun playing with the Generals, NFL teams mostly ignored the Heisman winner. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CFL), and one season in the United States Football League (USFL).Ī high school standout from Natick, Massachusetts, Flutie played college football at Boston College, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1984 amid a season that saw him throw the game-winning touchdown pass in the final seconds against Miami. 6× CFL All-Star (1991–1994, 1996, 1997)ĭouglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 21 seasons.Sporting News Player of the Year (1984).
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