Kenneth Ploen

LAYN Torah reading (; ') is a Judaism, Jewish religion, religious tradition that involves the public reading of a set of passages from a Sefer Torah, Torah scroll. The term often refers to the entire ceremony of removing the scroll (or scrolls) fro ...

(born June 3, 1935) is a former star

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 ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

college football and for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fie ...

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).

College football

In 1956, Ploen became the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized into 12 col ...

Hawkeyes starting quarterback. That year, he led his team to its first

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

title in 35 years and a victory in the

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

Rose Bowl Game. He was named an All-American and the Big Ten player of the year. He was voted the 1957 Rose Bowl's Most Valuable Player.

Canadian Football League

Ploen was selected by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

in the 19th round of the 1957 NFL Draft On June 10, 1957 it was announced that Ploen had signed a contract with the

in the

rather than report to the Browns. Ploen played quarterback for the Winnipeg from 1957 to 1967. He also filled in at halfback and

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly dif ...

. Ploen led his team to six Grey Cup appearances (1957, 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1965), including four victories:

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 ...

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

and two losses:

, 1965. In the

49th Grey Cup The 49th Grey Cup was the Canadian Football League's championship game of the 1961 season on December 2, 1961. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 21–14 at CNE Stadium in Toronto before 32,651 fans. It is considered to ...

game (1961), he scored one of the most memorable touchdowns in professional football history, eluding numerous defenders on an eighteen-yard run into the endzone during overtime to win it (see video below). He was voted the 1961

Grey Cup Most Valuable Player The Grey Cup's Most Valuable Player (MVP) award is awarded annually since 1959 to the player of the winning team who deemed to have had the best performance in the Grey Cup Game, the Canadian Football League's championship game. This award is pres ...

, was selected as a divisional All-Star three times. Kenny Ploen was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1975, the

Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum The Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum is a Canadian museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, dedicated to honoring the history and achievements of sports in Manitoba. The organization began in 1980, and then opened a museum in The Forks in 1993. Afte ...

in 1987, the

Rose Bowl Hall of Fame The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose ...

in 1997, and the Iowa Sports Hall of Fame in 2002. In 2005, Ploen was named one of the Blue Bombers 20 All-Time Greats.

After football

After Ploen retired from football, he and his wife made Winnipeg their home. He worked as a sales representative and as a colour commentator for a local

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

. In 2007, he was awarded the Order of Manitoba. In September 2009, he was recognized by fan vote and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, as the Most Outstanding CFL Player of the 1960s. In June 2011, the CFL announced the west entry service road off Chancellor Matheson Road next to the new Winnipeg Blue Bombers stadium will be named ''Ken Ploen Way'', to honor the former Blue Bombers quarterback and Canadian Football Hall of Famer. Ploen was also honored at half-time, during the Blue Bombers’ first 2011 home preseason game, where the street sign was unveiled.Bombers announce 'Ken Ploen Way'
CFL Official Site, 23 June 2011. Retrieved 5 September 2011. In 2012 in honour of the

100th Grey Cup The 100th Grey Cup was a Canadian football game between the East Division champion Toronto Argonauts and the West Division champion Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League to decide the Grey Cup champions of the 2012 season. Th ...

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

used his image on a series of commemorative postage stamps. The image was also used on presentation posters and other materials to promote the Grey Cup game and other celebrations associated with the centennial. Kenny Ploen is also the distant cousin to Tim Ploen, of Dexter, Iowa.

Video clips

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ploen, Ken 1935 births Living people American emigrants to Canada American football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian Football League announcers Canadian football quarterbacks Iowa Hawkeyes football players Members of the Order of Manitoba People from Lost Nation, Iowa Players of American football from Iowa Sports commentators Winnipeg Blue Bombers players