Charles "Chuck" Ealey (born January 6, 1950) is a former

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 ...

Canadian football Canadian football () is a 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 scoring area ( ...

player for 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 ...

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 ...

and

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the CFL East Division, East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based i ...

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 c ...

. He became the first black quarterback to win 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 ...

when he led Hamilton to the title in 1972.Khalid, Sunni
"Pioneering QB Chuck Ealey doesn’t look back."
The Undefeated, September 20, 2016. Retrieved May 28, 2018. Ealey 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 ...

at the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a public research university in Toledo, Ohio. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, which includes the University of ...

and

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

for Notre Dame High School in

Portsmouth, Ohio Portsmouth is a city in and the county seat of Scioto County, Ohio, United States. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky, just east of the mouth of the Scioto River. ...

. He finished both his high school and collegiate careers without a single loss, and was named to several All-American teams as a senior at Toledo.

High school and college years

From 1964 to 1967, Ealey played for Notre Dame High School under Ohio High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Famer Ed Miller. In 1967, Notre Dame captured its first

Ohio High School Athletic Association The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) is the governing body of athletic programs for junior and senior high schools in the state of Ohio. The OHSAA governs eligibility of student athletes, resolves disputes, organizes levels of compe ...

state championship."Ohio state high school football champions."
''www.ohsaa.org.'' Retrieved February 3, 2013. Ealey was lightly recruited despite finishing his high school career with an undefeated record.Jares, Joe.

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence tw ...

, October 1, 1971. ''SI Vault.'' Retrieved June 22, 2013. He was offered a football scholarship to

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...

with then-coach

Bo Schembechler Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the University o ...

to be the team's third-string quarterback, but Ealey refused. Ealey was then offered a scholarship by

Head Coach Frank Lauterbur with an opportunity to start as first-string quarterback., Ealey accepted the offer and would lead Toledo to 35 consecutive wins in a three-year span from 1969–1971.Musselman, Ron
"In Their Own Words."
'' The Toledo Blade'', July 17, 2005.

Internet Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

. Retrieved March 26, 2016. Ealey's greatest triumph with Toledo was helping the Toledo Rockets win the

1970 Tangerine Bowl The 1970 Tangerine Bowl was held on December 28, 1970, at the Tangerine Bowl stadium in Orlando, Florida. The game pitted the #15 AP-ranked Toledo Rockets against the William & Mary Indians (now the Tribe), and ended with a 40–12 victory for th ...

. Ealey led the Rockets to three straight Top 20 finishes and three straight Tangerine Bowl victories during their run of unbeaten seasons, winning the MVP award in all three games."Capital One Bowl: All Time Game Results."
''www.capitalonebowl.floridacitrussports.com.'' Retrieved September 1, 2013. In 1971, Ealey's senior season, he was named First Team All-American by ''

Football News 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 co ...

'', Second Team All-American by the

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 2 ...

, and Third Team All-American by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. new ...

. He also finished eighth in the voting for the 1971

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 ...

,"Mid-America Conference Hall of Fame: Chuck Ealey, Toledo (Football)."
''www.mac-sports.com.'' Retrieved January 25, 2016. which was awarded to Pat Sullivan of Auburn. Ealey finished his career as a three-time first team all-conference selection, and a three-time Back of the Year selection in the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the t ...

, leading the conference in passing yards in 1970 and 1971. His jersey is one of four retired jerseys in the history of Toledo football,"A Championship Legacy."
''Toledo Football'', 2007. 122-150. Retrieved January 25, 2016. and was elected to the MAC Hall of Fame as a charter member in 1988. Due to his amateur accomplishments, Ealey is a member of the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...

. He was passed by in the

1972 NFL Draft The 1972 NFL draft was held February 1–2, 1972, at the Essex House in New York City, New York. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Buffalo Bills selected defensive end Walt Patulski. Player selections Round one Round two ...

, after making it known that he only wanted to play quarterback at a time when African-American quarterbacks were not seriously considered in the NFL."Chuck's Story."
''www.inductchuck.com.'' Retrieved June 22, 2013.

Canadian football career

In 1972, Ealey signed with the

of the

(CFL). He did not start as quarterback until the third game of his rookie season, but then proceeded to lead Hamilton to an 11–3 record and first place in the East Division. Ealey won the CFL's Most Outstanding Rookie Award and was named to the CFL All-Star team. He helped secure a 13–10 last minute victory over the

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 ...

in the 60th Grey Cup, when he also won the

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 pre ...

award after passing for 291 yards and a touchdown and rushing for 63 yards. Ealey was traded to the

halfway through the 1974 season and played one and a half injury-plagued seasons with the Bombers. In 1975, he was traded to the

and played three seasons before suffering a career-ending

collapsed lung A pneumothorax is an abnormal collection of air in the pleural space between the lung and the chest wall. Symptoms typically include sudden onset of sharp, one-sided chest pain and shortness of breath. In a minority of cases, a one-way valve is ...

in 1978. In total, Ealey played seven seasons in the CFL, passing for 13,326 yards and 82

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

Personal life

Ealey is now a regional director for

Investors Group Power Corporation of Canada () is a management and holding company that focuses on financial services in North America, Europe and Asia. Its core holdings are insurance, retirement, wealth management and investment management, including a port ...

Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popu ...

, and makes radio appearances as an investment and finance commentator on radio stations in the area. He currently lives in

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it t ...

with his wife. He has three children and seven grandchildren. Ealey's son, Damon, also played football for the

in 1995. A documentary film on his life, ''Undefeated: The Chuck Ealey Story'' was aired on November 27, 2008. Chuck Ealey is one of a number of black athletes featured in ''Choice of Colours: The Pioneering African-American Quarterbacks Who Changed the Face of Football'', a book for young readers released in 2008. Chuck is also the subject of the 2012 documentary "The Stone Thrower." It is part of ''

Engraved on a Nation ''Engraved on a Nation'' is a Canadian sports documentary anthology series commissioned by TSN. The series originally premiered in 2012, with an anthology of 8 documentaries surrounding the Canadian Football League and the Grey Cup, in honour ...

,'' a series of eight documentaries celebrating the 100th Grey Cup that aired on TSN in October 2012. Ealey's daughter, writer and broadcaster Jael Ealey Richardson, has also written about Ealey's life in a memoir published in 2012 and a children's book adaptation published in 2015, both under the title ''The Stone Thrower''."What writing about Chuck Ealey’s career taught his daughter about black heritage"

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

, July 6, 2016.

References

External links

Chuck Ealey's BioOfficial websiteInductChuck.com
Campaign to enshrine Chuck Ealey into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ealey, Chuck 1950 births Living people African-American players of Canadian football American football quarterbacks American emigrants to Canada Canadian Football League announcers Canadian Football League Rookie of the Year Award winners Canadian football quarterbacks Hamilton Tiger-Cats players People from Portsmouth, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio Toledo Rockets football players Toronto Argonauts players Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Black Canadian players of Canadian football 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople