William Jerome Cline (born September 2, 1943) is a former

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 ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

and

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

who played for the

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine ...

and

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 1 ...

of 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 ...

(CFL). He 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 ...

for

East Carolina East Carolina University (ECU) is a public research university in Greenville, North Carolina. It is the fourth largest university in North Carolina. Founded on March 8, 1907, as a teacher training school, East Carolina has grown from its orig ...

Early life and high school career

Cline was born on September 2, 1943, in

Valdese, North Carolina Valdese is a town in Burke County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,689 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Hickory-Lenoir- Morganton Metropolitan Statistical Area. One of the largest Waldensian congregations in the United St ...

and attended and played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

for Valdese High School. As a senior in 1960, he was named team MVP while also being selected to the Northwestern 3A All-Conference Team, North Carolina All-State Team, and he was also selected North Carolina Shrine Bowl Team.

College career

Cline played

for

. While with the Pirates he gained a total of 3,383 yards which was an East Carolina record for 25 years. He threw for 2,425 yards and 27 touchdowns while also returning punts for the team. In 1964 he led the Pirates to a win in the

1964 Tangerine Bowl The 1964 Tangerine Bowl was an American college football bowl game between the East Carolina Pirates and the UMass Redmen, played in Orlando, Florida. Background From 1964 through 1967, the Tangerine Bowl was one of four postseason games in the N ...

and was also named the game's MVP.

Professional career

Ottawa Rough Riders

In 1965, Cline signed with the

of the

(CFL). With the team he was mainly used as the punter. He also played defensive back and quarterback sparingly for the team. Cline was once again used as a punter in 1966, while also playing his other positions on offense and defense. As a member of the Rough Riders in 1966 he was a part of the league runner-ups as they lost the

1966 Grey Cup The 54th Grey Cup was hosted at Empire Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia on November 26, 1966. The Saskatchewan Roughriders won their first Grey Cup after 53 years of competition for this trophy, after losing eight times. With Eagle Keys as ...

. In 1967, Cline played his final year with the Rough Riders as he continued to be a punter, defensive back, and quarterback.

Saskatchewan Roughriders

In 1968, Cline signed with the

. During the season he was used mainly as a defensive back with a diminished role, only catching two

interceptions In ball-playing competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for a player of the same team b ...

for seventeen yards in five games.

Honors

Cline is a member of the East Carolina University Athletics Hall of Fame and the Burke County Sports Hall of Fame.

References

Living people 1943 births Players of American football from North Carolina American football defensive backs Canadian football defensive backs American players of Canadian football East Carolina Pirates football players Ottawa Rough Riders players Saskatchewan Roughriders players People from Valdese, North Carolina {{Canadianfootball-bio-stub