Everything about the Canadian Football League presented a positive opportunity for Bernie Faloney, who quarterbacked the University of Maryland to its only national title and then went on to fulfill a bountiful 13-year playing experience, including the most valuable player award, four winning performances in seven Grey Cup games and, after all that, ultimately an outstanding career in business.
Faloney is considered the "John Unitas" of Canada and, with a touch of irony, they unknowingly faced each other in a Pittsburgh-area high school rivalry, Faloney and St. Luke's vs. Unitas and St. Justin's.
It wasn't that Faloney fled north of the border because the NFL wasn't interested in his abilities. The San Francisco 49ers spent their first-round draft choice on him in 1954, but the money wasn't right. He talked with coach Frankie Albert and general manager Lou Spadia, who offered $9,000 and another $1,000 if he made the roster. But the Edmonton Eskimos came calling and signed him for a salary of $12,500 and a $500 bonus.
"I played for Frank 'Pop' Ivy in Edmonton, who had been Bud Wilkinson's chief assistant at Oklahoma when they beat us, 7-0, in the Orange Bowl," recalled Faloney. "He wanted me to run the split-T, as I had at Maryland. We won the Grey Cup when I was a rookie, beating Montreal, 25-24, when Jackie Parker, a great player from Mississippi, picked up a fumble and ran 95 yards. Bob Dean, from Maryland, kicked the extra point."
As Faloney compares the past and present in the CFL, he says the "best thing that ever happened is expansion" and believes the move south of the border, to Baltimore and now to Memphis and other places, saved it from extinction. He furthermore predicts Baltimore, besides being the first American team to play in the Grey Cup, will win. "It's the better team, no question, and Tracy Ham and Mike Pringle are sound physically. Believe me, it'll be tremendous for the CFL if Baltimore takes the Grey Cup."
That kind of thinking may not play well in Canada, where provincialism in the provinces runs so deep, but for the overall benefit a Baltimore victory will gain the most attention. Faloney's son, Bernie Jr., who heads a family company located in Baltimore, Fascan International Inc., quickly agrees.
Meanwhile, Bernie Sr., who lives in Ancaster, Ontario, and operates a highly successful organization known as Contractors Machinery & Equipment Ltd., hasn't played since 1967 but continues to dominate all the Grey Cup passing records, including attempts, completions, yards and touchdown passes. He's in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and recognizes with gratitude all the good things that have happened to him.
He holds Canadian citizenship but retired from the U.S. Air Force with the rank of captain, so there's no denying the loyalty he holds for both countries. He met his wife, the former Janet Wallace, when they were both students at Maryland.
They have three children, both holding dual citizenships, and he often relates to them how he almost became a Baltimore Colt: "It was in 1957 and I had just been discharged from Bolling Air Force base. I was a free agent because Canadian football didn't have a reserve clause. Jim Trimble, who had been with the Philadelphia Eagles, wanted me to sign where he was then coaching, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
"I told him I really wanted to play in Baltimore. Guess what he did? Jim set up a meeting with the Colts general manager, Don Kellett, at Washington National Airport. I said, 'I'd love to play for you,' and he was interested. But then he explained since I had been drafted by San Francisco I belonged to them. Had I gone to Baltimore I would have been with Unitas, two quarterbacks from the same part of Pennsylvania."
Wasn't it especially commendable that Trimble, eager to have Faloney in Hamilton, still went out of his way first to provide entree to Baltimore?
"If you want to know the truth, that clinched it for me," Faloney said. "I realized Trimble was a tremendous man. I knew I'd be happy playing for a straight shooter. He's a close friend today."
Trimble, now a scout for the New York Giants, and Faloney were together for a Baltimore CFLs game this season as guests of Irv Cross, special adviser to club owner Jim Speros. Bernie has watched the progress of the CFL and the NFL and, from the perspective of a former player, believes the Grey Cup is a better game to watch than the Super Bowl. The NFL has become boring.
Amplifying his statement, Faloney said: "The CFL has only two downs to move the ball. A CFL quarterback has to take risks. The large field allows you to do more things."
The salary scale for most players is between $30,000 and $40,000, a far cry from the NFL. Another comparison: Sunday's game for the Grey Cup brings each winning player $12,000 and the losers $6,000 each. The Super Bowl brings its champion $38,000 per player and $23,500 apiece for the beaten adversary.
But money is not what the Canadian game is all about. Faloney defines it as "guts football," some players going both ways. He even remembers a center, Eagle Keys, who had to be helped off and on the field because of a broken leg but still played and helped his Edmonton team win the Grey Cup. There's no place for a prima donna in the CFL.