I stated before that there is always a strong correlation between the players who are on such a list and his seniority with the team, i.e. Lions with many seasons and games are usually selected over those who played fewer seasons despite how well he may have been and that was discussed in this thread I created a few years ago: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=10201
The same concept applies to Lions have been honoured in the form of being inducted in the Wall of Fame, Ring of Honour, and/or selected for the 50 Anniversary Dream Team. Obviously there’s always an affinity and bias towards long-term Lions who played for at least 5 seasons, and that’s clearly indicated in the 50 Anniversary Dream Team list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bc_lions
But there are still the odd exceptions that strait8 already listed in the other thread so I want to discuss if it’s possible for a player to be very famous for the Lions but was only a Lion for a short period of time? I will choose the generous and subjective number of no more than 2 seasons as a Lion to define a short-term Lion.
Is it possible to select a short-term Lion with only 2 seasons as a top/best/favourite Lion and dethrone other Lions with much more seniority for that position?
I will list some possible candidates, the first of which is the existing exception.
OFFENCE
Quarterbacks:
Doug Flutie (1990-91) – first and foremost despite the fact that he played only two seasons, and only one season as a starter in 1991 in which he played well and there’s little argument that he’s the best Lions QB and the only short-term Lion on the 50th list. He can easily dethrone other Lion QB’s who had much more seniority like Roy Dewalt, Joe Paopao, Joe Kapp, Dave Dickenson, and certainly the only other Lion QB MOP.
Matt Dunigan (1988-89) – he would be the second-best, albeit a distant second-best short-term Lion QB who was selected as the cfl all-star QB in 1988. He may or may not be more popular than Dewalt even though Dewalt was never selected as a western all-star ,or the injury-prone Dickenson, but I’d say most would say he’s much better and popular than the Lion QB with the second-longest seniority: Damon Allen.
Receivers:
David Williams (1988-89) – by far the least popular of the five Lion CFL MOP’s.
I don’t think anybody would dethrone the first Lion MOP Mervyn Fernandez, even though Williams broke the then-team record with 18 TD’s previously set by Fernandez with 17. And he wasn’t nearly as popular as other receivers like Darren Flutie, Matt Clark, Mike Trevathan, Ray Alexander, John Pankratz, Harry Holt, and Jim Young, even though they never won MOP.Running Backs:
Tony Cherry (1988-89) and Darrell Wallace (1989-90)
These pair of short, short-term running backs provided a lot of excitement on the field. Cherry was selected as an all-star in 1988, while Wallace was runner-up for rookie of the year in 1989 when he set a new team record of 1225 kickoff return yards and added 780 punt return yards. Perhaps not as popular to dethrone Sean Millington, but I’m sure that there were many cases in which watching Cherry and Wallace run was much more exciting than watching Millington.
Offensive Lineman:
Chris Perez (2000)
Traded for future CFL MOP QB Khari Jones, Chris Perez only played one year before retiring, and provided great protection with his all-star performance in helping DA and company winning the championship. I wouldn’t say he would dethrone the many other long-term lineman, but if I had to choose a top short-term lineman it would be him.
DEFENCE
Defensive Linemen:
Cameron Wake (2007-08)
First and foremost with the best exception example on defence, winning a pair of most outstanding defensive player along with a outstanding rookie award during his two all-star seasons. Probably not capable of dethroning James “Quick” Parker who also won most outstanding defensive awards in 1984 and 1986 in addition to his 1985 all-star status and GC Defensive Player of the Game. But perhaps capable of dethroning Nick Hebeler, Mike Cacic, and Rick Klassen who were all-stars for only one season and never a finalist for the most outstanding defensive player award.
Linebackers:
Alondra Johnson (1989-90) and Willie Pless (1990)
These great pair of linebackers were unfortunately overshadowed by their terrible defensive teams of 1989 and 1990. When it came to worst free agency losses, these two should definitely rank high in the list as they really shined with their new teams in Calgary and Edmonton and their many accolades. These are good examples of “what have beens”, and whether they would have outshined Tom Brown, Ray Nettles, Glen Jackson, and Norm Fieldgate.
Defensive Backs:
Less Browne (1993-94) and Charles Gordon (1994-95)
These pair of defensive backs were instrumental in the 1994 GC season. Ending off his fine career as a Lion in 1994 with the GC and all-star, Browne holds the all-pro record for most interceptions with 87 and most interception return yards with 1508. While Charles Gordon made two very important and memorable interceptions in the GC playoffs. That said, should they dethrone Joe Fourqurean who despite a great play in the 1977 WSDF was overshadowed by the bad teams of the 1970’s, and Andre Francis who was never an all-star as a Lion and who couldn’t adequately cover James Murphy in the 1988 GC?
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I think in terms of honouring short-term players in the various professional sports leagues, the best example would be when the Colorado Avalanche retired Ray Bourque’s #77 despite the fact that he only played 1.5 seasons with the team. And what I think it’s rather ironic and maybe disgustingly is that the Avalanche chose to unretired the numbers of four long-term Quebec Nordiques as if though they don’t give a damn about their ancestry: J.C. Tremblay #3, Marc Tardiff #8, Michel Goulet #16, Peter Stastny #26.
Therefore, do you think it’s time for the Lions break tradition and honour a great but short-term player?
I’ll add a poll with a simple Yes/No selection using Doug Flutie as the best representative of a great short-term player:
Should the BC Lions honour Doug Flutie by inducting him into the BC Lions Wall of Fame and Co-Retiring his #22 on the Ring of Honour?
