70 Facts About Doug Flutie

1.

Douglas Richard Flutie was born on October 23,1962 and is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 21 seasons.

2.

Doug Flutie played 12 seasons in the National Football League, eight seasons in the Canadian Football League, and one season in the United States Football League.

3.

Doug Flutie 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.

4.

Doug Flutie left the NFL in 1990 for the CFL, where he became regarded as one of the league's greatest players.

5.

Doug Flutie 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.

6.

Doug 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.

7.

Doug Flutie was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2007 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2008.

8.

Doug Flutie was inducted to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first non-Canadian inductee.

9.

Doug Flutie's family moved to Melbourne Beach, Florida when he was six, where his father worked as a quality engineer in the aerospace industry.

10.

Doug Flutie graduated from Natick High School, where he was an All-League performer in football, basketball, and baseball.

11.

Doug Flutie 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.

12.

Doug Flutie became the first quarterback to win the Heisman since Pat Sullivan in 1971.

13.

Doug 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.

14.

Doug Flutie earned Player of the Year awards from UPI, Kodak, The Sporting News, and the Maxwell Football Club.

15.

Doug Flutie gained national attention in 1984 when he led the Eagles to victory in a high-scoring, back-and-forth game against the Miami Hurricanes.

16.

Doug Flutie won the Heisman trophy a week later, but the voting had finished before the game; Doug Flutie said that "without the Hail Mary pass I think I could have been very, very easily forgotten".

17.

Doug Flutie was a candidate for the Rhodes Scholarship, for which he was named a finalist in 1984.

18.

In November 2008, Doug Flutie was honored by Boston College with a statue of him throwing his famous "Hail Mary" pass outside of Alumni Stadium.

19.

Doug Flutie was seen as extremely attractive to the USFL, which was desperate for a star to reinvigorate the league as it was in financial difficulty.

20.

Doug Flutie was selected by the USFL's New Jersey Generals in the 1985 territorial draft, which took place in January, months before the 1985 NFL Draft.

21.

Doug Flutie went through negotiations with the Generals and agreed on a deal that would make him the highest paid pro football player and highest paid rookie in any sport with $7 million over five years; Doug Flutie was officially signed on February 4,1985.

22.

In February 1985, Doug Flutie made his USFL debut against the Orlando Renegades.

23.

Doug Flutie's debut was not impressive, as his first two professional passes were intercepted by Renegades linebacker Jeff Gabrielsen.

24.

Doug Flutie completed 134 of 281 passes for 2,109 yards and 13 touchdowns with the Generals in 1985 in 15 games.

25.

Doug Flutie suffered an injury late in the season that saw him turn over the reins to reserve quarterback Ron Reeves.

26.

Doug Flutie appeared in 4 games for the 1986 Chicago Bears.

27.

Doug Flutie crossed the picket lines in order to play for the Patriots, one of many NFL players to rejoin their respective teams, and the strike quickly collapsed.

28.

Doug Flutie played in the Canadian Football League for eight years.

29.

Doug Flutie is considered one of the greatest players in Canadian football history.

30.

Doug Flutie struggled in his first season, which would be his only losing season in the CFL.

31.

Doug Flutie was rewarded with a reported million-dollar salary from the Calgary Stampeders.

32.

Doug Flutie won his first Grey Cup in 1992 with the Stampeders.

33.

Doug Flutie won two more Grey Cups with the Toronto Argonauts, in 1996 and 1997, before signing with the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League in 1998.

34.

Doug Flutie holds the professional football record of 6,619 yards passing in a single season.

35.

Doug Flutie led the league in passing five times in only eight seasons.

36.

Doug Flutie once held four of the CFL's top five highest single-season completion marks, including a record 466 in 1991 which was surpassed by Ricky Ray in 2005.

37.

Doug Flutie won three Grey Cup MVP awards, and was named the CFL's Most Outstanding Player a record six times.

38.

Doug Flutie passed 5,000+ yards six times in his career and remains the only player in pro football history to pass 6,000+ yards in a season twice in his career.

39.

On November 17,2006, Doug Flutie was named the greatest Canadian Football League player of all time from a top 50 list of CFL players conducted by TSN.

40.

Smith convinced the organization that Doug Flutie would be a great asset to the team, and the Bills signed him in the 1998 offseason.

41.

The Bills' attempt at making Todd Collins their starting quarterback was a failure, and Doug Flutie was one of two quarterbacks, the other being Rob Johnson, to join the Bills in the 1998 offseason.

42.

The nine-year gap between starts for a quarterback in the NFL is the third-longest in duration behind Tommy Maddox and the man Doug Flutie replaced, Todd Collins.

43.

Doug Flutie was the hero of the Bills' victory as he scored the winning touchdown against the Jaguars by rolling out on a bootleg and into the end zone on a fourth-down play in the waning seconds.

44.

Doug Flutie then threw for 360 yards in a wild card playoff loss at Miami.

45.

Doug Flutie was selected to play in the 1998 Pro Bowl and is currently the shortest quarterback to make the Pro Bowl since 1970.

46.

Doug Flutie prevailed as the new ex-Bill broke a sack attempt and ran 13 yards for the game-winning touchdown.

47.

Brees idolized Doug Flutie growing up, and credits Doug Flutie with mentoring him during their time together at San Diego.

48.

The 41-year-old Doug Flutie became the oldest player to score two rushing touchdowns in a game, the first player over 40 to accomplish that feat.

49.

Doug Flutie became the oldest AFC Offensive Player of the Week, winning the award for the fourth time.

50.

On January 2,2005, the season finale of the 2004 season, Doug Flutie broke Jerry Rice's record set two weeks prior, to become the oldest player ever to score a touchdown, at 42 years and 71 days.

51.

Doug Flutie was released by the Chargers on March 13,2005.

52.

Doug Flutie became the backup behind Tom Brady and played several times at the end of games to take a few snaps.

53.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, known for his knowledge of the history of the game, made comments that suggested that the play was a retirement present of sorts for his veteran quarterback, although Doug Flutie made no comment on whether 2005 would be his last season.

54.

However, on May 15,2006, Doug Flutie announced his decision to "hang up his helmet" at the age of 43 and retire.

55.

Doug Flutie was the second-to-last former USFL player to retire, behind Sean Landeta.

56.

Doug Flutie has the most rushing yards for any player over 40 years old.

57.

Doug Flutie did not plan to play long-term, for he had planned on doing college football commentary on ESPN in the coming season.

58.

Doug Flutie was pondering a return to the CFL because of his relationship with Argonauts head coach and former running back Pinball Clemons, and the desire to "say goodbye to the CFL".

59.

Doug Flutie served as a studio and pre-game analyst for Notre Dame Football on NBC from 2011 through 2013, then served as the lead analyst from 2014 through 2019.

60.

On March 8,2016, Doug Flutie was announced as one of the celebrities who would compete on season 22 of Dancing with the Stars.

61.

Doug Flutie is the older brother of the CFL's fourth all-time receptions leader, Darren Doug Flutie.

62.

Doug Flutie has an older brother, Bill, and an older sister, Denise.

63.

Doug Flutie is the second son of Richard and Joan Doug Flutie.

64.

Doug Flutie is married to his high school sweetheart, Laurie.

65.

Doug Flutie created a cereal, Doug Flutie Flakes, with the benefits going toward this organization.

66.

Doug Flutie has spent his summers in Bethany Beach, Delaware, frequenting basketball courts.

67.

Doug Flutie is a member of the Longfellow Sports Clubs at their Wayland and Natick locations.

68.

Doug Flutie relocated from Natick to Florida, but was honored by Natick in November 2007 by being inducted into the Natick High School Wall of Achievement.

69.

Doug Flutie endorsed Scott Brown for the US Senate in Massachusetts for 2010, and the Doug Flutie Brothers Band played at Brown's victory celebration.

70.

In 2014, Doug Flutie, who has a charity team that was running, decided to run the Boston Marathon two days before the race, and finished in 5:23:54.