Bernie Faloney
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bernie Faloney (born 1932 – died June 14, 1999) was a star football player in the United States and Canada.
B.J. "Bernie" Faloney was born in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, where he played high school football before attending the University of Maryland, College Park. There, he played college football, helping his team make it to the Sugar Bowl in 1952. In his senior year, he quarterbacked Maryland to be NCAA Division I-A national football champions and into the Orange Bowl. At season's end, Faloney finished fourth in the balloting for the 1953 Heisman Trophy and was drafted in the first round by the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League. San Francisco offered Faloney $9000 to play defensive halfback and back-up quarterback. However Pop Ivy, coach of the University of Maryland's opponents Orange Bowl opponents, Oklahoma, was moving to the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League and offered Faloney a $12,500 contract to accompany him. At the time the Canadian dollar was worth 10 per cent more than its American counterpart so the choice to head north was easy, Faloney later recalled.
A scrambling quarterback, he helped the Eskimos win the 1954 Grey Cup but then fulfilled his mandatory service in the United States armed forces, serving with the U.S. Air Force from 1955 to 1956. A free agent after his miliary service, Faloney signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1957 and became one of the major stars of the Canadian Football league, winning four Grey Cup championships with the Tiger Cats. Traded from Hamilton in 1965, he played for the Montreal Alouettes and the British Columbia Lions before retiring in 1967.
Faloney was the Eastern Conference's all-star quarterback on five occasions, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1964 and 1965. In 1961 he was voted the Schenley Award as the league's most valuable player. His career CFL stats include 1,493 pass completions of 2,876 attempts for 153 touchdowns and 24,264 yards. He still holds the Grey Cup record for most passes completed, most yards thrown, and most touchdowns.
Bernie Faloney was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1974, the Western Pennsylvania Hall of Fame in 1983, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1985 and the University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988.
In retirement, Faloney made his home in Hamilton, Ontario where he became a part owner of a construction company. An avid horseman, he remained active in community and business affairs until being stricken with colorectal cancer.
Bernie Faloney died on June 14, 1999, in Hamilton, Ontario.
[edit] Sources
Graham Kelly, The Grey Cup (1999)
Categories: 1932 births | 1999 deaths | Canadian Football League quarterbacks | Grey Cup champions | Edmonton Eskimos players | Montreal Alouettes players | British Columbia Lions players | Hamilton Tiger-Cats players | People from Pennsylvania | People from Hamilton, Ontario | American football quarterbacks | Maryland Terrapins football players | Canada's Sports Hall of Fame | Canadian Football Hall of Fame | CFL MOP Award winners | American expatriate sportspeople in Canada
