Doug Falconer (football player)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Doug Falconer (born January 30, 1952) is a former professional football player, having played in the Canadian Football League (CFL)
Doug was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His father was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces. Growing up, Doug was constantly on the move. After attending no less than 5 public schools across Canada, Doug split his high school years between Base Borden Collegiate Institute outside of Toronto and then La Salle Secondary School in Kingston, Ontario.
While attending high school Doug was a 4 sport star. He participated in football, basketball, track & field and soccer. In his senior year at La Salle, Doug scored 42 points in the Eastern Ontario Secondary School Basketball Championship game in a miracle 33 point come from behind win. He was the city scoring champion in both basketball and football. He was the city long jump and high jump champion that same year.
Following high school Doug went on to play basketball at St. Lawrence College where he starred at the guard position. Doug was a member of the 1971-72 St. Lawrence College O.C.A.A. Eastern Division Championship team.
In 1973 Doug transferred to the University of Ottawa where he starred as a wide receiver and as a defensive back on the football team. He once scored 2 touchdowns as a wide receiver against McGill University and intercepted 2 passes as a defensive back against the University of Windsor in the 1975 Churchill Bowl. Doug was a member of the legendary 1975 National Championship Vanier Cup Team. The 1975 team is considered by many to be the greatest Canadian college football team ever. The 1975 undefeated Gee Gees team (11-0) still holds several team and individual CIS records. No less than 12 players from that 1975 University of Ottawa Gee Gee's team went on to play professional football in the CFL and NFL.
In 1976 the prestigious "Achievement Award" in recognition of Distinguished Performance in the Field of Amateur Sports was presented to Doug by the Government of the Province of Ontario. The award was presented to Doug by the Premier of Ontario, William Davis.
Following his college career, Doug went on to play professional football in the Canadian Football League with the Ottawa Rough Riders and the Calgary Stampeders. He was best known as a player who was always around the ball, a ferocious hitter and a player who made big plays in key situations. Doug was a member of the 1976 Grey Cup Champion Ottawa Rough Riders. On the way to the 1976 Grey Cup Doug intercepted passes in the end zones in two key games to halt winning drives by both the Montreal Alouettes and the Toronto Argonauts. In 1978 during a game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Doug picked off a Ralph Brock pass late in the 4th quarter and ran it back 35 yards for the winning touchdown that would help secure the Stampeders a playoff birth. In 1979 while playing for the Ottawa Rough Riders Doug was at it again. This time it was against the Edmonton Eskimos. Late in the 4th quarter Doug picked off a Warren Moon pass and ran it back 36 yards to set up the winning field goal by Gerry Organ. Doug played until 1979.
Doug moved to Los Angeles in 1980. With his professional playing days behind him, he took up and helped to pioneer the sport of inline hockey in California. Today California is considered by many to be the birth place of inline hockey. Like all other sports in which he participated previously, Doug set out to become a champion. He achieved his goal in 1998 at the age of 47 when he was captain of the NHL Breakout World Championship team. The best of the best from around the world including Canada, Sweden and teams from the USA competed. The Championship Trophy was awarded to Doug by the NHL's Willie O'Ree, the first black player to play hockey in the NHL (1958-1961, Boston Bruins).
On September 26, 2006 Doug was nominated for induction into the City of Kingston & District Sports Hall of Fame in Canada.
