Bashir A. Levingston ( ; born October 2, 1976) is a former professional

Canadian football Canadian football () is a team sport, sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's sco ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

and

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

who played in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

College football career

After transferring from

Monterey Peninsula College Monterey Peninsula College (MPC) is a public community college in Monterey, California. Established in 1947, it is a part of the California Community Colleges system. There are two additional MPC campuses located in Marina, CA, and Seaside, ...

, Levingston played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

Eastern Washington University Eastern Washington University (EWU) is a public university in Cheney, Washington. It also offers programs at a campus in EWU Spokane at the Riverpoint Campus and other campus locations throughout the state. Founded in 1882, the university is ...

, where, as a senior, he earned seven

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n honors as a

return specialist A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

. He was also named first-team All-

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

as a kick returner. He scored 12

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

and totaled 1,597 all-purpose yards during his senior year at Eastern Washington. Livingston also is the leader for

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic ...

and is fifth on the all-time

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

list in

punt returns In gridiron football, a punt is a kick performed by dropping the ball from the hands and then kicking the ball before it hits the ground. The most common use of this tactic is to punt the ball downfield to the opposing team, usually on the final ...

averaging 20.8 yards. He broke or tied seven I-AA records including kickoff returns for a touchdown in a game (three) and season (three), kickoff return yards in a game (326), average kickoff returns in a game (65.2), yards in kickoffs and punt returns in game (349) and touchdowns on kickoffs and punt returns in a single game (three) and season (six).

Professional football career

NFL and NFL Europa career

Levingston was originally signed by the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

and spent two years on the team. Eventually, he was released from the team and allocated to

NFL Europa NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

with the

Amsterdam Admirals The Amsterdam Admirals were a professional American football team based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, playing in the NFL Europe. History The Admirals were formed in 1995 as part of the NFL's plan to restart the World League of American Football, to ...

in 2000, where he earned All-NFL Europa honors for his contributions on

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

CFL career

After being cut by the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

during their

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

training camp, Levingston caught on with the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

. Since being signed in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, Levingston has developed into one of the CFL's best kick returners, earning CFL Special Teams Player of the Week honors ten times in his career to go along with earning East Division All-Star honors in

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. Levingston was named the CFL's Outstanding Special Teams Player and the East Division Special Teams Player of the Year in

as well. In

, Levingston also won a

Grey Cup championship The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

with the Toronto Argonauts. On June 28, 2007 in a game against the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

, Levingston broke a CFL record when he returned a missed

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

by Paul McCallum for a 129-yard touchdown. That record has since been tied by his then teammate

Dominique Dorsey Dominique Ramone Dorsey (born May 7, 1983) is a former professional gridiron football running back and kick returner. He most recently played for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. He was originally signed by the Roughri ...

on August 2, 2007. On August 30, 2007, Levingston was released by the Argonauts. On November 4, 2007, Levingston was signed by the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

References

External links

Montreal Alouettes profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Levingston, Bashir 1976 births Living people African-American players of Canadian football American football defensive backs American players of Canadian football Amsterdam Admirals players Canadian football defensive backs Canadian football return specialists Eastern Washington Eagles football players Montreal Alouettes players New York Giants players People from Inglewood, California Toronto Argonauts players Players of American football from California People from Seaside, California 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople