Bernie Faloney (June 15, 1932 – June 14, 1999) was a professional

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 ...

player 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 c ...

(primarily with the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fie ...

) and an outstanding

American 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 o ...

player at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

. Born in

Carnegie, Pennsylvania Carnegie () is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and is part of the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The population was 7,972 in the 2010 census. Geography Carnegie is located at . It is approximately southwest of Pittsbur ...

, Faloney is a member of the

Canadian Football Hall of Fame The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about ...

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canada ...

, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, the Western Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, and the

University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame The University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame was established in 1982 by the M Club Foundation to honor student-athletes, coaches, and administrators who made significant contributions to athletics at the University of Maryland. The Hall of Fa ...

. Faloney's jersey #10 was retired by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1999. In 2005, Faloney was inducted into the

Ontario Sports Hall of Fame The Ontario Sports Hall of Fame is an association dedicated to honouring athletes and personalities with outstanding achievement in sports in Ontario, Canada. The hall of fame was established in 1994 by Bruce Prentice, following his 15-year tenure ...

. In 2006, Faloney was voted to the Honour Roll of the CFL's Top 50 Players of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.

Early life & college career

B.J. "Bernie" Faloney was born in

, where he played high school football before attending the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

. There, 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 in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

as a

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 Am ...

, helping the Terrapins make it to the

Sugar Bowl The Sugar Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in New Orleans, Louisiana. Played annually since January 1, 1935, it is tied with the Orange Bowl and Sun Bowl as the second-oldest bowl games in the country, surpassed only ...

in 1952. In his senior season of 1953, Faloney quarterbacked Maryland to be

NCAA Division I-A national football champions A national championship in the highest level of college football in the United States, currently the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), is a designation awarded annually by various organizations to their selection of the best coll ...

and into the 1954

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game in ...

. At season's end, Faloney finished fourth in the balloting for the 1953

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

Professional football career

Faloney was drafted in the first round of the 1954

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

draft by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's Nationa ...

. (originally appeared in ''The Globe and Mail'') San Francisco offered Faloney $9000 to play

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 ...

and back-up quarterback. However

Pop Ivy Lee Frank "Pop" Ivy (January 25, 1916 – May 17, 2003) was a football player and coach who was the only person to serve as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL), the American Football League (AFL) and the Western Interprovincial ...

, coach of the University of Maryland's Orange Bowl opponent,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

, was moving to 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 Comm ...

of the

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, Faloney helped the Eskimos win the 1954 Grey Cup but then fulfilled his mandatory service in the

United States armed forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is ...

, serving with the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

from 1955 to 1956. A free agent after his military service, Faloney signed with the

in 1957 and became one of the major stars of the Canadian Football League, winning two Grey Cup championships with the Ti-Cats. Traded from Hamilton in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

, he played for the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes ( 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 East Division of the Cana ...

and 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 seas ...

before retiring in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

. Faloney was the Eastern Conference's All-Star quarterback on five occasions,

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

and

. In

, he won the

CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award The Most Outstanding Player Award is annually awarded to the best player in the Canadian Football League. The two nominees for the award are the Terry Evanshen Trophy winner from the East Division, and the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy winner from ...

. His career CFL stats include 1,493 pass completions of 2,876 attempts for 153 touchdowns and 24,264 yards. He is the first CFL quarterback to win a Grey Cup championship with both Eastern and Western Conference teams. Bernie Faloney was inducted into the

in 1974, the Western Pennsylvania Hall of Fame in 1983, the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1985, the University of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988, and

in 1999. In November 2006, Faloney was voted to the Honour Roll of the CFL's top 50 players of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.

Later life and death

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 Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

. Faloney was the first Tiger-Cat player to have his number retired by the club when the team announced his number retirement on June 8, 1999. He died six days later on June 14, 1999, in Hamilton, Ontario.

Tribute

Cannon Street Cannon Street is a road in the City of London, the historic nucleus of London and its modern financial centre. It runs roughly parallel with the River Thames, about north of it, in the south of the City. It is the site of the ancient London ...

in Hamilton, Ontario, in the Brian Timmis Stadium and

Tim Hortons Field Tim Hortons Field, nicknamed "The Donut Box", is a multi-purpose stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Built as a replacement for Ivor Wynne Stadium, Tim Hortons Field is primarily used for Canadian football and association fo ...

area is also known as ''Bernie Faloney Way.''

Video clips

Canadian Football Hall of Fame member

References

External sources

* Graham Kelly, ''The Grey Cup'' (1999) {{DEFAULTSORT:Faloney, Bernie 1932 births 1999 deaths American football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football BC Lions players Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian Football League announcers Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners Canadian football quarterbacks Deaths from cancer in Ontario Deaths from colorectal cancer Edmonton Elks players Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Maryland Terrapins football players Montreal Alouettes players People from Carnegie, Pennsylvania United States Air Force airmen Sportspeople from Hamilton, Ontario Players of American football from Pennsylvania