Marvin Pope (born January 18, 1969) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

and

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 ...

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

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 ...

for the

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

. He played college football at

Central State University Central State University (CSU) is a public, historically black land-grant university in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Established by the state legislature in 1887 as a two-year program for te ...

Early years

Pope attended Eastside High School, where he lettered in football, basketball, wrestling, track and

weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift Weight training#Equipment, weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various t ...

. In football, he was a two-way player at fullback and linebacker. As a senior, he received Class AAAA All-state and Florida High School Athlete of the Year honors honors, after averaging 13 tackles per game. Although he was considered an elite football prospect, he was not offered Division I scholarships because of grades. As a senior, he won the state Class AAA heavyweight weightlifting champion, including the District 5 meet with a record lift totaling 750, 330 on the clean-and-jerk and 420 on bench press. In wrestling, he was ranked third in the state as a junior and senior.

College career

Pope initially accepted a football scholarship from

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 ...

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a quarter-century earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glasgow, Elizabethtow ...

, only to later commit to NAIA

, because of its reputation for developing professional football players. As a junior in 1990, he led a defense that dominated in the NAIA playoffs, holding opponents to 13.2 points per game. His 13 tackles, earned him the NAIA Defensive Most Valuable Player trophy in the 38-16 championship win over Colorado-Mesa State University. He finished his college career with 52 games, 363 tackles. He was named an NAIA All-American and Black College Football All-American in the 1989 and 1990 seasons. In 2018, he was inducted into the Central State University Athletics Hall of Fame.

Professional career

In May 1992, he signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the

of the

. As a rookie, he contributed from his linebacker position to the team winning the

Grey Cup 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 ...

. He set a CFL record with 14 tackles against 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 ...

. He played as a linebacker and

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

. He took part of 5 consecutive Western Conference Championship games and was a two-time CFL Western All Star.

Personal life

Pope began his coaching career at Calgary's

Springbank Community High School Springbank Community High School is a public senior high school in Springbank, Alberta, Canada. Located on the west side of the city of Calgary, the school provides programming to students in grades nine to twelve from the communities of Bragg ...

, contributing to the 1999 City Championship title. In 2000, he was hired as an assistant coach at Calgary's

Henry Wise Wood Senior High School Henry Wise Wood High School (HWW) is a public high school located in the southwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta. The school was built in 1961 and is named after Henry Wise Wood, an Alberta pioneer who was instrumental in forming the Alberta W ...

, contributing to both a City and Provincial Championship titles. In 2010, he joined the

staff as an assistant defensive line and linebackers coach for one season. In 2013, he returned to high school coaching at

Robert Thirsk High School Robert Thirsk High School is a public senior high school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It derives its name from Robert Thirsk, a Canadian engineer and physician, and a former Canadian Space Agency astronaut. The high school is located in the Northwe ...

, contributing to a City Championship. In 2014, he was named the defensive coordinator for the

Calgary Colts The Calgary Colts are a Canadian Junior Football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Colts play in the six-team Prairie Football Conference, which itself is part of the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) and competes annually for the national ...

in the

Canadian Junior Football League The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is a national Major Junior Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in five provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl. Many CJFL players move on to profess ...

. In 2018, he was hired as the defensive coordinator for the

Langley Rams The Langley Rams (formerly the South Surrey Rams and Big Kahuna Rams) are a Canadian Junior Football team based in Langley, British Columbia. The Rams play in the six-team B.C. Football Conference, which itself is part of the Canadian Junior Foot ...

in the

. In 2019, he was named the defensive line coach for the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

References

External links

Marvin Pope statistics
at JustSportsStats.com
Central State University Hall of Fame bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Marvin 1969 births American football linebackers American players of Canadian football Calgary Stampeders players Canadian football linebackers Central State Marauders football players Living people Sportspeople from Gainesville, Florida Eastside High School (Gainesville, Florida) alumni Calgary Stampeders coaches Calgary Dinos football coaches Players of American football from Gainesville, Florida