BC-born football players

[David]

I came across an interesting site that lists all of the BC born CFL and NFL players. A great reminder of all of the great athletes from this province and a concern about how the loss of SFU's football program and the dwindling number of high schools participating in the sport may affect our numbers.

Not sure I agree with the rankings, but an interesting scroll nonetheless. What has stood out to me in the last decade or two is the large number of exceptional black players from this province, despite only being about 1.5% of the province (e.g., Millington, Cornish, Jackson, Pathon, Durant etc.).

https://www.famousfix.com/list/players- ... h-columbia


DH

[Gridiron Ernie]

An interesting scroll indeed, David. Enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing. One is left to wonder what the criteria for ranking was though. Seems pretty haphazard to have Angus Reid merely one slot above Dean Valli. I can's see it. But aside from the questionable rankings, hats off to whoever researched and complied this fascinating list of BC -born football players.

[PGSSS74]

Obviously the rankings are completely bogus. I think they just threw a bunch of collected names into a helmet and started picking them out. Al Wilson Number 58? Not on this planet.

[squishy35]

I came across an interesting site that lists all of the BC born CFL and NFL players. A great reminder of all of the great athletes from this province and a concern about how the loss of SFU's football program and the dwindling number of high schools participating in the sport may affect our numbers.

Not sure I agree with the rankings, but an interesting scroll nonetheless. What has stood out to me in the last decade or two is the large number of exceptional black players from this province, despite only being about 1.5% of the province (e.g., Millington, Cornish, Jackson, Pathon, Durant etc.).

https://www.famousfix.com/list/players- ... h-columbia


DH

Notable Receiver missing from the list is Nick Mazzoli (born August 8, 1968) who played for seven seasons for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Ottawa Rough Riders, Edmonton Eskimos, and BC Lions. He was drafted first overall in the 1991 CFL Draft by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He played college football for the Simon Fraser Clan.

[David]

Notable Receiver missing from the list is Nick Mazzoli (born August 8, 1968) who played for seven seasons for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Ottawa Rough Riders, Edmonton Eskimos, and BC Lions. He was drafted first overall in the 1991 CFL Draft by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He played college football for the Simon Fraser Clan.

If I'm not mistaken though squishy, the list is for BC born/bred football players. Although Mazzoli attended Simon Fraser, I believe he is from Ontario.


DH

[squishy35]

Notable Receiver missing from the list is Nick Mazzoli (born August 8, 1968) who played for seven seasons for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Ottawa Rough Riders, Edmonton Eskimos, and BC Lions. He was drafted first overall in the 1991 CFL Draft by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He played college football for the Simon Fraser Clan.

If I'm not mistaken though squishy, the list is for BC born/bred football players. Although Mazzoli attended Simon Fraser, I believe he is from Ontario.


DH

Ah yes. You are correct. He was born in Markham. My bad...

[Robbie]

One BC-born CFL player who is clearly missing on the list and who has a very unique distinction if you bring up the always sensitive race and ethnicity issue is long-time Montreal Alouettes centre Bryan Chiu.

Bryan Chiu was born and bred in Vancouver and played high school football for the Vancouver College Fighting Irish where he is now a coach. He's a three time Grey Cup winner, a 7-time CFL all star, and won Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman in 2002. But what makes him very unique is that he is the very first Chinese-Canadian from BC to play in the CFL and may very well be the second overall Chinese-Canadian to play in the CFL after Norman Kwong who was born in Calgary, Alberta.

Even nowadays, I'm not aware of any current CFL players who are Chinese-Canadian despite the very large Chinese-Canadian population in Canada and apparently, there's no affirmative action and recognition for Chinese-Canadian minority groups in professional sports unlike say, there's special treatment and recognition for Jackie Robinson who was the first African-American to play in the MLB.

[David]

Good catch about Bryan Chiu, Robbie. Great career with the Als.

Kind or reminds me though about a conversation I had with a buddy the other day.

When I suggested (before we re-signed Couture) that we should make a pitch for Sean McEwen, he immediately shot it down saying, "McEwen won't leave the Stamps because he's from Calgary."

While he may be right, so many Vancouverites from this list didn't seem to have a burning desire to play for, or stay in, BC. I'm not saying none did (Covington is a good example of wanting to play for his hometown team), but I believe it matters slightly less to a lot of CFLers unless they are already set up in a local business/career that will see them through their post-CFL days (e.g. firefighting).

Chris Czarka, Doug Brown, Ante Milanovic-Litre, Ray Elgaard, Bryan Chiu, and Jon Cornish immediately come to mind without even going through the list.



DH