Brian McClure (born December 28, 1963) 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 ...

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 ...

who played in the

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 ...

for the

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

. He played college football at

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

College career

McClure played for the Falcons from 1982–85, where he set numerous offensive records. His 900 completions and 10,280 yards passing are both school records. He also threw 63 touchdowns which was the school record until

Omar Jacobs Omar T. Jacobs (born March 3, 1984) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at Bowling Green and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the fifth round of the 2006 NFL Draft. Jacobs was also a member of the Phil ...

threw 71 from 2003–05. In 1985, he led the Falcons to an undefeated regular season, but lost to

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

in the California Raisin Bowl. *1982: 113/176 for 1,391 yards with 8 TD vs 13 INT. *1983: 298/466 for 3,264 yards with 16 TD vs 16 INT. *1984: 263/414 for 2,951 yards with 21 TD vs 13 INT. *1985: 226/371 for 2,674 yards with 18 TD vs 16 INT.

NFL replacement player

McClure was drafted in the 12th round of the 1986 NFL Draft by the

. The arrival of

Jim Kelly James Edward Kelly (born February 14, 1960) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons with the Buffalo Bills. He also spent two seasons with the Houston Gamblers of the United Stat ...

from the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

pushed him to fourth string on the team's depth chart (behind Kelly,

Frank Reich Frank Michael Reich Jr. (; ; born December 4, 1961) is an American football coach and former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills. He played college football at Maryland a ...

and

Art Schlichter Arthur Ernest Schlichter (, born April 25, 1960) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for four seasons with the Colts franchise. He also played one Canadian Football League (CFL) season wit ...

), and he was cut along with Schlichter prior to the start of the regular season after injuring his hand in the final preseason game. He was again cut by the Bills in training camp in 1987, but a got a chance to play after all when Buffalo signed him as a replacement player during that year's players strike. After two weeks of replacement games (both losses, in which Buffalo scored a total of 13 points) and mediocre performances by quarterbacks Dan Manucci and Willie Totten, the Bills named McClure their starting quarterback for the October 18 contest against 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. ...

in Buffalo. The game turned out to be a defensive struggle: neither team scored until New York kicked a field goal early in the fourth quarter. McClure was not helping much, throwing three interceptions. Late in the game, though, Buffalo drove down to the Giants 14, then

Todd Schlopy Robert Todd Schlopy (born June 17, 1961) is a motion picture cameraman and former American football placekicker. Born in Bradford, Pennsylvania and raised in Buffalo, NY, Schlopy attended Orchard Park High School in Orchard Park, New York. He ...

kicked a field goal to tie it and force overtime. In the OT, McClure (whose college nickname was the GOAT) again drove the Bills down the field, this time to the 10, when Schlopy won it with another field goal. The following week, the strike was over and McClure was released. Among players who appeared in only one NFL game, McClure's 20 completions, 38 attempts and 181 passing yards remain all-time records.

Honors

* MAC Freshman of the Year 1982 * MAC Offensive Player of the Year 1983,1984,1985 * MAC Most Valuable Player 1984,1985 *

Sammy Baugh Trophy The Touchdown Club of Columbus was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1956 by Sam B. Nicola at the request of state auditor James A. Rhodes, who later became governor of the state. Nicola served as the club's president until his death in 1993. More ...

1985 * Inducted in the Bowling Green Hall of Fame in 1991

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McClure, Brian 1963 births Living people People from Ravenna, Ohio American football quarterbacks Bowling Green Falcons football players Buffalo Bills players National Football League replacement players