Jackie Parker, RIP

[GA Russell]

Jackie Parker died yesterday. I had his bubble gum card when I was a kid. When Doug Flutie was named the Most Outstanding Player every year, people were saying that he was the greatest player in the history of the Canadian league. But the old timers said, No, that would be Jackie Parker.

Here is his obituary from The Toronto Globe & Mail. It doesn't mention that when he was finished playing college ball, the Edmonton executives met with him in a motel room and laid out $25,000. on the bed, and said, "Sign the contract and it's yours." That was a huge amount of money for a pro football rookie in 1954.

Jackie Parker passes away

JOHN CHAPUT

Canadian Press

Regina —

Former CFL great Jackie Parker, who starred on both offence and defence and helped bring three Grey Cups to the Edmonton Eskimos, has died at the age of 74.

There is the utility that spawned the cliché "Jack of all trades, master of none." Then there is the incomparable versatility that was Parker, master of every facet of football and in many minds the greatest player in the history of the Canadian game.

He was a sensational running back, pass receiver and quarterback, an excellent defensive back, a capable punter and reliable place kicker. As for intangible qualities, he made huge plays in clutch situations, had exceptional perceptivity and instinct, and combined the confidence of a natural leader with the deference of an ideal team player. As a sports idol and celebrity, he responded to the public's adulation with friendly modesty.

"I had an advantage as a quarterback because I had him as a receiver," says Don Getty, former premier of Alberta and Mr. Parker's teammate on the Edmonton Eskimos for eight seasons. "Jackie was the best receiver I ever had. He had unbelievable hands and, being a quarterback himself, he knew there was only a brief time available to get open before the quarterback would go down.

"Jackie joined the Eskimos [in 1954] a year before I did and at first he wasn't an accomplished passer. His throws would wobble somewhat, but he would roll out and either dump the ball off to a receiver or kill you with his running. My rookie year was a little goofy in that I was a Canadian coming from [the University of Western Ontario in] London, but [head coach] Pop Ivy told me I was the best passer he'd ever seen. Eventually Pop would send Jackie and I off by ourselves during practice and tell us, 'You two go down there and Don, you show him how to throw a spiral.' Within a year Jackie was throwing as well as anyone in the league — except that he didn't have anyone like himself to throw to."

Although he would become a superlative performer in Canada over a 13-season playing career (1954-65 and 1968), nine of them with the Eskimos, the young Mr. Parker's arrival in Edmonton didn't cause much of a stir.

Raised in Tennessee, he starred at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, Miss., for two years before transferring to Mississippi State University. There he led all American college football in scoring with 120 points, including 16 touchdowns, in 1952 and was selected both All-American and Academic All-American in 1953. Mr. Parker was not drafted by any National Football League team, however, so he turned pro with the Edmonton Eskimos of the Western Interprovincial Football Union.

At the time — four years before the WIFU and the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (Big Four) officially became the Canadian Football League, and seven years before interlocking play between Eastern and Western teams was initiated — Canadian teams could pay American stars virtually on a par with their NFL counterparts. In fact, Edmonton's primary quarterback in 1954 was another rookie, Bernie Faloney, who had been the first-round draft choice of the San Francisco 49ers. Mr. Parker made a tremendous impression in camp on at least one person, but not for his football prowess.

"Here's this spindly-legged guy with huge hands, curly blonde hair and ears that stuck out from the side of his head," says Bryan Hall, who has covered Eskimos football since 1953 and has been their radio play-by-play man since 1968. "The first thing I thought was, 'Jeez, the guy's a dead-ringer for Bing Crosby.'"

The skinny lower limbs inspired Mr. Parker's enduring nickname of "Spaghetti Legs," although surviving film of the era suggests that his speed and subtle moves made tackling him like trying to grip freshly cooked pasta. In his rookie campaign of 1954, he led the Eskimos in rushing with 925 yards on only 117 carries for a gaudy 7.9-yard average, was the team's best passer with 36 completions in 55 attempts for 558 yards, caught nine passes for 115 yards, scored 13 touchdowns (10 running, three receiving), punted 49 times for a 41-yard average, and intercepted four passes on defence. Yet that exceptional debut season would be instantly relegated to footnote status by Mr. Parker's role in the most famous single play to occur in the spectacular annals of the Grey Cup game.

Montreal, prohibitive favourites for the 1954 national final in Toronto, held a 25-20 lead (when touchdowns counted for five points, not six) and threatened to seal the victory by driving inside the Edmonton 20-yard line with three minutes remaining. Then the shocking drama unfolded: Alouettes quarterback Sam Etcheverry gave the ball to halfback Chuck Hunsinger, who tried to sweep left but was quickly sandwiched between Edmonton's Ted Tully and Rollie Prather. In a moment of panic, Mr. Hunsinger pushed out an awkward two-handed toss that might have been an attempted lateral or, as he claimed after the game, a forward pass. The ball bounced into Mr. Parker's eager hands and the rookie tore up the field for a touchdown. Bob Dean kicked the convert to put the Eskimos ahead 26-25. Montreal couldn't penetrate beyond midfield on its last two possessions, and Edmonton won its first national championship.

"I don't remember much about the play and the run, except that I was so damned tired and so sore," Mr. Parker would say decades later of his 90-yard gallop to glory. "I didn't think the play was anything special, that people would remember it."

Many considered the Eskimos' triumph a fluke and didn't discern the powerhouse of offensive talent that was being assembled in Edmonton. Mr. Faloney was drafted into military service in the United States and would return to the CFL, but not with Edmonton. Mr. Parker became the quarterback until Mr. Getty was seasoned, then went to halfback along with Rollie Miles, a versatile offensive performer and even better defensive player. Rounding out the five-man Split-T formation backfield were two superlative fullbacks: Normie Kwong (now Alberta's Lieutenant-Governor), "The China Clipper," who was rarely thrown for a loss, and Johnny Bright, who was acquired from Calgary late in the 1954 campaign for $350 after the Stampeders overused him at linebacker and he had injured both shoulders.

"He was really our leader," Mr. Getty says, "yet when I was the quarterback he would never interrupt me in the huddle or suggest a play. Nothing would undermine a team's confidence in a quarterback as much as that, yet never in our eight years together did he do it."

These Eskimos had a simple game plan: run the ball into their opponents' guts, down their throats, and up their anatomies. Never was their relentless ground attack more overpowering than in their 1955 and 1956 Grey Cup rematches with the Alouettes. In 1955 at Vancouver, Mr. Etcheverry threw for a Grey Cup record 508 yards while Mr. Parker had a modest 125 yards on 8-for-16 passing, but the Eskimos set records with 62 rushing attempts and 438 yards rushing en route to a 34-19 decision. The 1956 final in Toronto was even more devastating.

"After we won the West," Mr. Getty recalls, "it was so cold in Edmonton that we headed east early and practised for a few days at an old equestrian barn in London. Pop Ivy installed a "first sound" offence, where the ball was snapped on the first word out of my mouth. I'd call the play, we'd be out of the huddle and on the line within about eight seconds, and we'd go. We ran more plays per minute than anybody even before this, and this really made Montreal work hard.

"Our backfield timed the moves off our guards' hands touching down and I either handed the ball or faked it to every running back on nearly every play. Then there were potential laterals and passes to deal with. You couldn't make that work except with the quality of athletes we had."

Montreal hung in and had a 20-19 edge early in the third quarter before the dizzying pace had its inevitable result. Edmonton waltzed home 50-27, forfeiting its last convert attempt because the referees had run out of footballs. The year-old record of 438 yards rushing was surpassed with 456 on a mind-boggling 83 attempts. Mr. Parker contributed 131 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns, another touchdown on a 10-yard reception, a 67-yard punt single, and an interception that snuffed an Alouettes' drive on the Eskimos' goal line.

By then, Mr. Parker's reputation was established. He was named the West's most valuable player six times in a seven-season stretch (1956-62) and earned the Schenley Award as the nation's outstanding player in 1957, 1958 and 1960. He was a Western all-star in all of his first eight seasons — five times as a quarterback, thrice as a running back. When Edmonton was without a place kicker in 1958, he added that task for four years and made good on 66 per cent of his field-goal attempts in an era when those were a 50-50 proposition.

"At least when Getty was playing quarterback, you knew that Parker wouldn't touch the ball on every play," says Norm Fieldgate, a 14-year defensive veteran of the B.C. Lions who, like Parker, started his pro career in 1954. "They were hard to read as it was, but when Parker was quarterback, you didn't know what they were going to do. There was one game where a guy came up to me just after we'd finished playing and asked me why I was smiling. "I touched Parker today," I told him.

"Once he got outside on you, unless you had a good angle on him, you were dead meat. And he was hard as nails, really tough. He had to be to do all that and last as long as he did."

That durability was all the more remarkable in light of his hobby of staging marathon card games, with spirited refreshment, usually at a hotel adjacent to the City Centre Airport, often prior to home games at Clarke Stadium.

"He loved to play cards," says Mr. Hall. "He'd whip your ass at gin; that was his favourite. Jackie would get together with some teammates and cronies, sometimes for several days, and they'd drink, relax and enjoy themselves — but no broads! I never saw any women there. Jackie loved to gamble and be with the boys, but he never messed around.

"On game day, after playing all night, around 9:15 in the morning he'd say, 'Last hand, boys, Pop'll get upset if we're not on time for pregame [meetings].' Jackie had an unbelievable constitution; you never saw him slurry or drunk. He never did anything to endanger himself, his team or his organization. What he did do, maybe, was cause problems for other guys who couldn't keep up with him."

Mr. Parker played 209 games (including postseason) and missed only 17 because of injury in an era when schedules were compressed into four months (not six), playing two games on a long weekend was commonplace, Western finals were best-of-three (not single-game) affairs, and rosters ranged from 28 to 32 players (as opposed to the current 42). Mr. Parker played in only one more Grey Cup after 1956, losing the 1960 final 16-6 to the Ottawa Rough Riders. As stars aged and retired, the Eskimos failed to find new talent of such stature. Mr. Parker was traded in 1963 to the Toronto Argonauts and played three more years before his legs wore out and he retired, only to be lured back into action with B.C. for the last half of the 1968 campaign.

After his playing days, he settled down in Edmonton and enjoyed life as an executive with Ipsco, the analyst for radio coverage of Eskimos games, with golf course management, and as Edmonton's head coach for a 3½-year stretch (1983-87) when he helped rebuild a crumbling dynasty, took the team to a first-place finish and Grey Cup berth in his last year, and set the stage for a new era of prosperity.

"He came to Edmonton from Mississippi and had that drawl and never lost it," Mr. Hall says, "and he had a style about him. You never heard him yell or say a bad word about anyone. About the angriest or most emphatic he'd ever get was if, for instance, I'd tell him that what he said was a crock, he'd respond, 'Weh-yull, damn-fire, Bryan, ah'm tellin' yuh, that's whut's gonna happen. Yew mark mah words. Yew listen tuh me, 'cuz ah'm tellin' yuh.' I never heard him use the F-word, never even heard him call anyone sonofabitch."

Mr. Getty echoes the memory and rounds out the portrait of what made Mr. Parker an institution and a hero.

"People instantly liked him. He made friends because his intent was to be friendly and show it. And yes, he was a fast-living card player but still a superb father who found time for his children. I hope people realize what a sensational, feeling, laughing, kind, thoughtful, talented, person he was. He gave so much to football.

"While we were playing, I worked full-time for Imperial Oil while he was a part-time salesman and he told me, 'Don, you work and play football. If I put the effort you do into building up my business, I know it will hurt my football. I have to make football number one.' It was tough for him to have a job and be as great as he was because he didn't want to water down his performance."

If anything watered down Mr. Parker's performance, it was his unique trait of being so versatile at such a high level. He could have been, but wasn't, the CFL's greatest quarterback, greatest running back, or greatest receiver.

Just maybe its greatest player.

John Dickerson Parker was born on Jan. 1, 1932. in Knoxville, Tenn. He died yesterday in Edmonton. He was 74.

edit for typo

Edited November 7, 2006 by GA Russell

[Indestructible!]

Hi GA,

Well... hell!

This is upsetting news, for sure, but thanks so much for posting this.

I didn't get a chance to see Jackie play (as he was well before my time), but his accomplishments would definitely rank him up there as one of the best ever!

By far the coldest Grey Cup I went to personally was back in 1984 (I think) in Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton... Winnipeg thrashed the TiCats in -35 degree weather. Had great seats, though... right on the 55 yard line! And I talked to a few folks there about the players from Edmonton's "glory years"... Jackie Parker was ALWAYS mentioned!

R.I.P. Mr. Parker

Shane

[B. Clugston]

Thanks for posting. Jackie Parker was before my time, but football fans still talk about him to this day. Too bad the Eskimos played so poorly in his last year on Earth.

[GA Russell]

I've been to four Grey Cup games - '78, '79, '85 and '96. The '78 game in Toronto at CNE Stadium was the coldest. I remember seeing Bryan Hall (quoted above) during the game and he was miserable! I still remember the look on his face!

But the '96 game is the one that will be remembered, because that was the one with all the snow in Hamilton. It was a great game, but unfortunately was decided by a bad call right in front of me. Doug Flutie fumbled on a quarterback sneak before he reached the first down line. The refs gave the Argos both the ball and the first down. They went on to score a TD, as I recall the one that won the game.

Reggie Pleasant played very briefly in that game for Edmonton. The year before he and Damon Allen came to my Grey Cup party, so I was rooting for Edmonton that game.

edit for typo

Edited November 7, 2006 by GA Russell

[Indestructible!]

Reggie Pleasant played very briefly in that game for Edmonton. The year before he and Damon Allen came to my Grey Cup party, so I was rooting for Edmonton that game.

edit for typo

Damn GA... Nice guest list! How do I get on that???

I met Damon and his brother Marcus once in Sarasota (of all places)... was at a Spring Training game for some team (Pittsburgh, maybe?). Both very nice guys!

Oh, and "GO RIDERS"!

Cheers,

Shane

[GA Russell]

Shane from 1989 to 2001 I hosted a Grey Cup party in Atlanta. We would talk a sports bar into putting the game off the satellite onto the big screen.

A number of former and current players lived in the area. Among those who came to the party over the years were Randy Rhino, Gerald Alphin, Ron Williams, Pleasant and Allen.

One year the CBS affiliate sent a camera crew and I was on television that night!

We always had Canadian beer, usually Molson's, on tap. I belonged to a social club which every year had twelve Christmas parties (for the twelve days of Christmas), and we used the Grey Cup party as an unofficial 13th party to kick off (no pun intended) the Christmas season.

You would have enjoyed it!

[B. Clugston]

We may have the makings of a CFL corner.

[GA Russell]

We may have the makings of a CFL corner.

BC, when the time comes I'll post a Grey Cup contest.

[GA Russell]

Here's an article by Allan Maki:

Raise a glass to Jackie Parker, one of the greatest football players this country has ever seen. His friends say old Spaghetti Legs would have wanted it that way — a few drinks, lots of laughs, no tears.

If you knew Parker, who died yesterday of throat cancer at 74, or simply saw him hobble around in his aging years, you couldn't help but smile. The guy was your grandfather. He wore old sweaters and needed a shave. Once, when he was coaching the Edmonton Eskimos in the late 1980s, he walked around the dressing room in his long underwear and slippers.

He looked like he'd crawled off a park bench and made it to Commonwealth Stadium in the nick of time.

In his prime, Parker, who played on both sides of the ball as quarterback, running back and defensive back during his 15-year Canadian Football League career, resembled a big-eared Bing Crosby.

He was slim, he was gangly but he was amazingly gifted — and it was that Parker, the one who scored arguably the most memorable touchdown in Grey Cup history, who rambled through the memories of his closest friends yesterday, chief among them was Mike Lashuk.

Lashuk was a fresh-faced turnip out of junior football when he joined the Eskimos in 1957. From then on, he and Parker were pals. They played together, they socialized together. And after their football careers ended, they stayed close and played golf with former Eskimos president Norm Kimball and former Calgary Stampeders president Roy Jennings, better known as the Palm Springs mafia.

"I saw him in the desert last winter," Lashuk said of Parker. "We tried to get him to go to the Super Bowl. He could hardly get out of bed. Then, I saw him in the hospital [in Edmonton]. He was sleeping.

"Jackie would have no regrets," Lashuk added. "He used the full 100 per cent of the warranty. He lived life and he lived it to the fullest, absolutely."During his seven years with the Eskimos, Lashuk said there was little doubt Parker was the team's main character — and a good guy to learn from. In one game against the hometown Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Lashuk recalled a play just before halftime when a defensive tackle took exception to a running play Parker had called and drilled him with a cheap shot.

Lashuk said Parker never uttered a word as he left the field for halftime. But before the second half began, Parker ran out of the Edmonton dressing room and headed straight for the Bombers' room. A surprised Lashuk followed.

"He runs to where the Bombers are and he yells at the guy who hit him," Lashuk said. "The guy apologized and that was the end of it. Jackie took care of it himself. He had no fear."

Parker had no fear. And if you saw him in uniform, just standing there, you might have wondered if he had any talent, either. His legs were toothpicks (hence the Spaghetti Legs nickname). He was hardly the "after" shot in a Charles Atlas advertisement but he had a knack for making plays — and his biggest occurred in the 1954 Grey Cup.

With the Montreal Alouettes leading 25-20 with three minutes left in the fourth quarter, Montreal's Chuck Hunsinger lost control of the ball deep in Edmonton territory. Parker recovered and took off like a man whose pants were on fire. His 90-yard run gave Edmonton the win in what historians dubbed "the first Grey Cup of the modern era."

That touchdown came to symbolize everything that was great about Parker, from his ability to produce when it counted to his aw-shucks-I-didn't-think-the-play-was-anything-special attitude. Parker won three Grey Cups and was selected the CFL's top player three times in his playing days with the Eskimos, Toronto Argonauts and B.C. Lions.

"He was really the antithesis of today's athlete," Lashuk said. "The guy was humble. You never heard him boast. The one thing I learned from him was respect, not only for the game but for people. He always called older people sir until he felt comfortable calling them by their first name."

As for Parker's unusual brand of athleticism, Lashuk simply marvelled at how Parker worked things out until finally he had it all down.

"He played golf differently. He had his own swing and it was ugly but it worked for him. He did it through experimentation and learning," Lashuk said. "And aside from golf, he was a helluva curler. . . . He'd come out of the hack sliding on his right knee and he threw it so awkwardly but he was successful."

Why? Because Parker was a competitor no matter the stakes, no matter the game.

"Curling, golf, drinking, shooting birds," Lashuk said. "He wanted to win without abusing his opponent. That's the way he was."

So raise a glass to the man who made a lot of Canadians smile. He played the game. He helped make the Grey Cup great. Better still, he lived life. He lived it to the fullest.

[GA Russell]

Eastern Final - Toronto at Montreal

The Als went 3-8 their last eleven games. But I am picking them to beat the Argos because the Argos can't stop the run, and the Als have a great runner in Robert Edwards.

Western Final - Saskatchewan at British Columbia

The Lions are the best team in the league. But the Roughriders had their number, beating them their last three meetings. I'm picking the Lions because they have the best QB tandem in the league.

edit for typo

Edited November 10, 2006 by GA Russell

[GA Russell]

Shane, I think this is a shocker: The Stamps today fired Steve Buratto, their offensive coordinator. I thought he was considered one of the most valued people on the payroll.

This from The Globe & Mail:

Stampeders fire Buratto

ALLAN MAKI

Globe and Mail Update

Calgary — The immediate future of the Calgary Stampeders has been settled: Tom Higgins stays, Steve Buratto goes and no further front-office changes are expected for the Canadian Football League club that fell hard on its facemask last Sunday.

At a special meeting this week, the Stampeders' executive committee of owners Doug Mitchell, John Forzani and Ted Hellard met with Higgins to determine the next step for a club that has lost in the West Division semi-final, at home, two years in a row.

The committee decided Higgins will remain as the senior vice-president of football operations and head coach, while associate head coach and offensive co-ordinator Steve Buratto be fired. News of Buratto's dismissal was released Friday, less than a week after the Stampeders were beaten in the semi-final by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Initially, it was thought Higgins would be rushed out the door because some people within the organization weren't happy with his work months ago. Instead, Higgins's position has been solidified, for now at least.

"I've been told I'm the head coach for the Calgary Stampeders," said Higgins, who is believed to have two years remaining on his contract with the Stampeders. "That's been made clear. Now, nothing is ever 100-per-cent certain. Things can wane and fluctuate. But I've been told I'm staying. I have a nice contract."

Higgins said he didn't like having to fire Buratto, who joined the Stampeders two years ago after serving as the offensive co-ordinator of the B.C. Lions. Higgins described Buratto as "a friend of mine who is dedicated and creative."

Still, in the West semi-final, Calgary's offence sputtered, stalled and turned the football over seven times. Quarterback Henry Burris was a one-man disaster show and lost his effectiveness as the game went on. Getting the most out of Burris will be a priority for whoever replaces Buratto.

"I'm not sure what exactly it was," Higgins said when asked why Burris didn't flourish under Buratto's experienced tutelage. "Maybe it's a system change we're looking for."

Higgins added there were no further plans to alter his coaching staff, barring the possibility that one of his assistants may wish to leave for a better position with another club.

Another matter addressed at the executive committee meeting was Hellard's role as an on-site owner who took in practices, often spoke to the players and was usually on the sidelines during home games. Several sources inside and outside the organization said Hellard's hands-on approach has rubbed some people the wrong way and created a rift between the football and business operations at McMahon Stadium.

Higgins did his best yesterday to pour cold water on that hot issue. While acknowledging there were "some glitches," he said this of his boss: "Ted Hellard doesn't call the offensive or defensive plays. He's been nothing but positive about putting the best product on the field and selling tickets.

"We're trying to quash the stories coming out of this building," Higgins continued. "I think having two years together under our belt, this gives us our best chance [to win games and get to the Grey Cup]."

The Stampeders are 21-15 under Higgins, but have yet to win a playoff game with him at the helm.

[GA Russell]

Montreal Alouettes 33....Toronto Argonauts 24

As I expected, the Als ran Robert Edwards. The Als dominated the game, but the Argos scored two TDs in the fourth to close to within six to make it interesting. But a FG with a minute left clinched it for the Als.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/New...2327244-cp.html

British Columbia Lions 45....Saskatchewan Roughriders 18

The Lions controlled the game on both sides of the ball. The score flatters the Roughriders, as they scored two TDs in the third to close to within 14.

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Football/CFL/New...2327458-cp.html

edit for typo

Edited November 13, 2006 by GA Russell

[B. Clugston]

The Lions looked great yesterday. Didn't make it to the game, but caught half of it on TV--it was really loud in there, so loud that the 'Riders couldn't hear the count.

I feel for Danny Barrett. He never gets any breaks and may be finished in Regina.

The Als are having a weird Cardinals-like season.

As long as the Lions' coaching staff don't have any brain cramps, I think they'll win a close one on Sunday.

[GA Russell]

BC, did you ever go to a Grey Cup game?

Last year it was in Vancouver as I recall.

[B. Clugston]

BC, did you ever go to a Grey Cup game?

Last year it was in Vancouver as I recall.

I'm sorry to say, I haven't. Grey Cups didn't come around too often in the Empire Stadium days and B.C. Place isn't my favourite venue--it's weird and kind of muffled in there, like you are in a parallel universe. I prefer TV, especially when you get colourful anaylsis from Pinball Clemons. Next time the Grey Cup is in Calgary, I will think about going.