Tracy Ham (born January 5, 1964) is an American former 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

(CFL). He played for 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 ...

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 ...

Baltimore Stallions The Baltimore Stallions (known officially as the "Baltimore Football Club" and previously as the "Baltimore CFL Colts" in its inaugural season) were a Canadian Football League team based in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, which played ...

, and

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 ...

. He was known for his abilities as a

dual-threat quarterback In gridiron football, a dual-threat quarterback, also known as a running quarterback, is a quarterback (QB) who possesses the skills and physique to run with the ball if necessary. With the rise of several blitz heavy defensive schemes and increa ...

. In his

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 ...

career with Georgia Southern he became the first quarterback to rush for 3,000 yards and pass for 5,000 yards in a career. Ham is an inductee of both 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 ...

and 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 ...

Playing career

College

With the

Georgia Southern Eagles The Georgia Southern Eagles are the athletic team(s) of Georgia Southern University (GS). The Eagles compete in the Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) (formerly I-A) and are members of the NCAA Division I Sun Belt Conference. Prior to jo ...

, Ham helped lead the team to back-to-back Division I-AA titles. The Eagles defeated Furman in the

1985 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game The 1985 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Furman Paladins and the Georgia Southern Eagles. The game was played on December 21, 1985, at the Tacoma Dome in Tacoma, Washington. The ...

, with Ham throwing for 419 yards and four touchdowns along with running in a

two-point conversion In gridiron football, a two-point conversion or two-point convert is a play a team attempts instead of kicking a one-point conversion immediately after it scores a touchdown. In a two-point conversion attempt, the team that just scored must run ...

. The following year, the Eagles defeated

Arkansas State Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage la ...

in the

1986 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game The 1986 NCAA Division I-AA Football Championship Game was a postseason college football game between the Arkansas State Indians (now the Arkansas State Red Wolves) and the Georgia Southern Eagles. The game was played on December 19, 1986, at ...

, with Ham rushing for 180 yards and three touchdowns, while also passing for 306 yards and one touchdown. In 2007, Ham was inducted into the

Professional

After his college career, Ham was drafted by the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC Wes ...

in the 9th round of the

1987 NFL Draft The 1987 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 28–29, 1987, at the Marriot Ma ...

. However, on May 22, 1987, Ham signed a three-year deal with the

of the CFL due to a belief that NFL teams wanted him to play a position other than quarterback. With the Eskimos, he served as the third-string quarterback behind Matt Dunigan and Damon Allen and was a member of their

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 ...

winning team that season. With the trading of Dunigan to 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 ...

and injuries to Allen, Ham established himself as their new starting quarterback. He passed for 2840 yards and ran for another 628. In 1989, 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 ...

in leading the Eskimos to a 16-2 record, throwing for 4366 yards on 268 completions out of 517 attempts with 30 touchdowns to 18 interceptions. Ham became the first CFL quarterback to rush for over 1,000 yards with 1005 on 125 carries and with 10 touchdowns. Unfortunately for the Eskimos, they were upset in the West Division Final to the 9-9 Saskatchewan Roughriders, who went on to win the Grey Cup. In 1990 Ham added another 1000 yard rushing season with 1096 and passed for 4286 yards leading the Eskimos to the Grey Cup. However, the team was handily beaten by 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 ...

50-11. The next year Ham ran for 998 yards and passed for 3862. Ham endured an injury plagued season in 1992 but played well enough to pass for 3655 yards and to run for 655. He was dealt to the

in a blockbuster eight-for-eight trade 1993, but the Argos suffered through a 3-15 record. He threw for 2147 yards and ran for 605, struggling to adapt to the

Run & Shoot The run and shoot offense (also known as Run N' Shoot) is an offensive system for American football which emphasizes receiver motion and on-the-fly adjustments of receivers' routes in response to different defenses. It was conceived by former ...

offense. With the CFL expanding into the United States, Ham joined the newly-established Baltimore team in 1994. He gained his last plus 4000 yard passing season with 4348 and ran for 613 yards. Ham led the team, not yet named the Stallions, to the Grey Cup, where they were defeated by the Lions. Finally, in 1995, Ham led the Stallions to the only Grey Cup win by a US-based team in a 37-20 defeat of 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-o ...

; he won

Grey Cup MVP 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 ...

honours for his efforts. In the regular season, he passed for 3357 yards and ran for 610. With the demise of the US-based teams, the core of the Stallions franchise was transferred to Montreal where they became the third incarnation of the Alouettes. The team's offense was geared to the running attack, especially when Mike Pringle returned from the NFL midway through the 1996 season. Ham would spend two seasons as the clear-cut starting quarterback, but in 1998 he began to share passing duties with Anthony Calvillo and he retired after the 1999 season. In his career from 1987 to 1999 Ham accumulated 40,534 passing yards which currently ranks seventh all-time. He threw 4943 times with 2670 completions, 164 interceptions and 284 touchdowns. His 8043 rushing yards presently puts him in tenth all time and second among quarterbacks, behind only Damon Allen. He tallied 1059 carries with 62 touchdowns. In 2010, Ham was inducted into the

Coaching career

In 2002, Ham was hired to serve as head coach of the

Clark Atlanta Panthers football The Clark Atlanta Panthers are the athletic teams that represent Clark Atlanta University, located in Atlanta, Georgia, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Panthers compete as members of the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Confer ...

team. He led the Panthers to records of 2–9 in 2002 and 0–11 in 2003 before he was fired prior to the start of the 2004 season.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ham, Tracy 1965 births Living people African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football African-American players of Canadian football American football quarterbacks American players of Canadian football Baltimore Stallions players Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian Football League Most Outstanding Player Award winners Canadian football quarterbacks Clark Atlanta Panthers football coaches College Football Hall of Fame inductees Edmonton Elks players Georgia Southern Eagles football players Montreal Alouettes players Sportspeople from Gainesville, Florida Toronto Argonauts players 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople Players of American football from Gainesville, Florida