All-Canadian (National) B.C. Lions Dream Team

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Blitz
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The Canadian Football League has a great history of exciting games because of its wide field, rules, and three down football concept.

While there have been many exciting American born football players showcase their talents and skills in CFL Football, I always have a special place in my heart when I see a National player make a key contribution to a victory or a season of play.

Here is my B.C. Lions National Dream Team.

Center: Al Wilson
Guard: Jamie Taras (Hon. Mention Gerald Roper)
Guard: Tom Hinton
Tackle: John Blain
Tackle: Jim Mills (Hon. Mention: Cory Mantyka)
Fullback: Sean Millington
Tailback: Andrew Harris
Receiver: Jim Young
Receiver: Jason Clermont
Receiver: Paris Jackson
Receiver: Ryan Thelwell
Fifth Receiver/Tight End: Sonny Homer/Pat Claridge (Hon. Mention: Shawn Gore)
Quarterbacks: Peter Ohler, Julio Carravata, Eric Guthrie,

DEFENCE:
Defensive End: Brent Johnson
Defensive End: Nick Hebeler (Hon. Mention: Bill Baker)
Defensive Tackle: Mike Cacic
Defensive Tackle: Rick Klassen
Linebacker: Norm Fieldgate
Linebacker: Glenn Jackson (Hon. Mention Greg Findlay)
Linebacker: Kevin Konar
Defensive Back: Neil Beaumont
Defensive Back: Bernie Glier
Defensive Back: Nelson Martin
Defensive Back: Dave Easley
Defensive Back: Tom Europe

SPECIAL TEAMS

Punter: Lui Passaglia (Hon. Mention: Neil Beaumont)
Kicker: Paul McCallum
Downfield Tackler: Jason Aragki
Kickoffs: Brett Anderson

Head Coach: Wally Buono
Assistant Coaches: Annus Stukus, Cal Murphy, Jim Young, Frank Smith, Jaques Chapdelaine, Mike Benevedes.

My toughest choice was picking Sonny Homer over Shawn Gore. But Homer could also play running back and the game was played differently back then. Both are worthy choices.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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Gridiron Ernie
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Love it -- that you selected Homer. You'd have broken my sentimental old heart if Sonny H. had not made the cut. And anyhow, anybody that played this hard-hitting game with only one kidney is a first-line hero in my book. Thanks for the list and all the wonderful memories it stirred. (Funnily, back in the '60s when I was but a boy, I for a couple seasons had the misconception that Sonny H. played with but one lung! Now that would have been more than heroic --of course impossible!) Cheers.
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Rammer
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You nailed it Blitz, outstanding list compiled by you and of course just a great history of Canadian talent have worn the Lion's Jersey over the years. I may have found a way for Jan Carinci to make that lust also, from a personal perspective albeit he may be better known as an Argonaut.
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TheLionKing
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No Bill Baker ?
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Hambone
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TheLionKing wrote:No Bill Baker ?
While he was very good "The Undertaker" was a Leo for only 3 of his 11 CFL seasons.
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Blitz
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You nailed it Blitz, outstanding list compiled by you and of course just a great history of Canadian talent have worn the Lion's Jersey over the years. I may have found a way for Jan Carinci to make that lust also, from a personal perspective albeit he may be better known as an Argonaut. Rammer
Thanks Rammer.

Carinci played four our Leos from 1986-90. He played for the Argos from 1981-1985. During his seasons with our Leos he had season reception yardage of 634 yds, 532 yds, 262 yds, 645 yds, and 171 yds. He was a good slot back and it would have been nice to have included on the list but, giving Ryan Thelwell, Paris Jackson, Jason Clermont and Jim Young their due, they won more awards, had 1,000 yd. reception seasons, and numerous all-star awards.

Gore's average yards per season are also higher than Carinci's and Sonny Homer's 17.7 yds. per reception during a period of time when we threw the football less gave him the nod. But its good that you mentioned Carinci - he deserves recognition as a former Leo.

TheLionKing wrote:No Bill Baker ?
I gave him Honorable Mention in the original post. It was a tough call between him and Nick Hebeler. The 'Undertaker' was named to the Western and CFL All-Star team two of his three seasons with our Leos.

Hebeler played 86 games for our Leos and recorded 68.5 sacks during that time. He was a part of the 1985 Lions' Grey Cup championship team and was voted a member of both the 25 and 50 year anniversary B.C. Lions dream teams. He was also our Leos defensive player of the year in both 1981 and 1982.
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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DanoT
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AFAIK, Jamie Taras was a fullback converted to centre. So I would give him honorable mention at that position and I would give Kelly Bates a mention at guard.
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Robbie
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Good list, Blitz.

This reminds me when I attempted to make an essentially identical list almost six years ago in November 2010:
http://lionbackers.com/bc_lions/viewtop ... =2&t=19144

A few comments and questions about your selections.

1. I'd say by far the most toughest choice is selecting any Canadian at the quarterback position and it appears that the three listed are done simply by default in that they were the only ones available. For all the other positions one can make a case that the Canadian is just as good as their American counterparts for those positions. But there's absolutely no case whatsoever that any Canadian BC Lion quarterback that existed is better than all the good American BC Lion quarterbacks.

2. Just like in my list, it looks like in the special teams section you couldn't think of any good Canadian for the kick return specialist.

3. In the coach and executive section, don't forget Owner and President – David Braley.

4. It would be extremely difficult not to include a Lion who won CFL Most Outstanding Canadian. That said, should 2009 Most Outstanding Canadian Ricky Foley get at least an honourable mention in DE, if not outright replace Nick Hebeler and Bill Baker? 2001 CFL Most Outstanding Canadian finalist Cameron Legault should get an honourable mention in DT position or even replace non-award winners or finalists Klassen and Cacic.

5. Since Neil Beaumont is listed twice, with the second time as an honourable mention, then obviously don't forget that Lui Passaglia should at the very most be an honourable mention as the kicker as well especially since he is professional football all-time leading scorer. I won't argue though that Bret Anderson did a better job than Passaglia when it came to kickoffs.

6. While not replacing Al Wilson, Angus Reid gets an honourable mention at Centre.
祝加拿大加式足球聯賽不列颠哥伦比亚卑詩雄獅隊今年贏格雷杯冠軍。此外祝溫哥華加人隊贏總統獎座·卡雲斯·甘保杯·史丹利盃。還每年祝溫哥華白頭浪隊贏美國足球大联盟杯。不要忘記每年祝溫哥華巨人贏西部冰球聯盟冠軍。
改建後的卑詩體育館於二十十一年九月三十日重新對外開放,首場體育活動為同日舉行的加拿大足球聯賽賽事,由主場的卑詩雄獅隊以三十三比二十四擊敗愛民頓愛斯基摩人隊。
祝你龍年行大運。
恭喜西雅图海鹰直到第四十八屆超級盃最終四十三比八大勝曾拿下兩次超級盃冠軍的丹佛野馬拿下隊史第一個超級盃冠軍。
TheLionKing
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The only Canadian I can think of as kick return is Bill Lasseter when there was no blocking permitted on punt returns.
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DanoT
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TheLionKing wrote:The only Canadian I can think of as kick return is Bill Lasseter when there was no blocking permitted on punt returns.
Kick returner=Marco Iannuzzi.
Blitz
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Here is a revised list, based mostly on Lionbackers input. No active Lions players are eligible.

Center: Al Wilson (Hon. Mention: Angus Reid, Gary Schwertgeger)
Guard: Jamie Taras (Hon. Mention Gerald Roper, Glenn Leonhard,
Guard: Tom Hinton (Hon. Mention: Kelly Bates, Steve Cotter, Trevor Ekdahl)
Tackle: Jim Mills (Hon. Mention: Rob Smith, Vic Stevenson)
Tackle: John Blain (Hon. Mention: Dan Payne, Cory Mantyka)
Fullback: Sean Millington (Hon. Mention: Lyle Green, Bob Swift, Terry Bailey)
Tailback: Andrew Harris (Hon. Mention Mark Norha)
Receiver: Jim Young
Receiver: Jason Clermont (Hon. Mention Matt Clark)
Receiver: Paris Jackson (Hon. Mention: John Pankratz
Receiver: Ryan Thelwell
Fifth Receiver: Sonny Homer
Tight End: Pat Claridge (Hon. Mention: Jim Carphin)
Quarterbacks: Peter Ohler, Julio Carravata, Eric Guthrie,

DEFENCE:
Defensive End: Brent Johnson (Hon. Mention: Gary Robinson)
Defensive End: Nick Hebeler (Hon. Mention: Bill Baker)
Defensive Tackle: Mike Cacic (Hon. Mention: Cameron Legault)
Defensive Tackle: Rick Klassen (Hon. Mention: Glenn Scrivener
Linebacker: Norm Fieldgate
Linebacker: Glenn Jackson (Hon. Mention Greg Findlay)
Linebacker: Kevin Konar (Hon. Mention: Javy Glatt)
Defensive Back: Neil Beaumont
Defensive Back: By Bailey
Defensive Back: Nelson Martin
Defensive Back: Dave Easley
Defensive Back: Tom Europe
Nickel Back: Bill Lassetter (Hon. Mention: Bernie Glier)


SPECIAL TEAMS

Punter: Lui Passaglia (Hon. Mention: Neil Beaumont)
Kicker: Paul McCallum (Hon. Mention: Lui Passaglia)
Downfield Tackler: Jason Aragki, Kelly Lochbaum
Kickoffs: Brett Anderson (Hon. Mention Ted Gerela)

Head Coach: Wally Buono
Assistant Coaches: Annus Stukus, Cal Murphy, Jim Young, Frank Smith, Jaques Chapdelaine, Mike Benevedes.

Owner: David Braley

Football Reporter: Jim Taylor, Lowell Ullrich
"When I went to Catholic high school in Philadelphia, we just had one coach for football and basketball. He took all of us who turned out and had us run through a forest. The ones who ran into the trees were on the football team". (George Raveling)
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QB Club 63
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Can I nominate a football reporter for Honourable Mention? A schoolmate I played many noon-hour touch football games with at WVSS went on to become a sportswriter for the Vancouver Province. Kent Spencer wasn't officially assigned to the football beat, but whenever he wrote an article about the Leos he did so in a fair and unbiased fashion. I suppose some will say I'm biased, but I found his style of reporting to be a breath of fresh air during some tough times when others in the media were going out of their way to trash the club and the CFL in general. Thanks Kent!
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Hambone
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I'd have given Ted Gerela an honourable mention for kicker. Maybe that's just because he was one of very few bright spots on some very bad Leo clubs. His accuracy wasn't near what today's kickers supply. However back in Ted's day the FG accuracy of the best of the best would be considered very poor by today's standards. Placekicking is one area where the numbers show how impossible it is at times comparing eras. I was just comparing Leone's numbers to Lui. Leone's current 70.0% is better than Lui's average in 9 of his 25 seasons and only slightly behind #5's career average of 73.1%. Only twice in his career did Lui turn in an average better than 80%; 1978 and 2000. Today a kicker under 80% is looking over his shoulder.
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prj
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A fine list of great Lions. But I have one definitional quibble: To be counted as a Canadian, perhaps they have to be born here. Everybody that I recognize on this list qualifies, save one: the great Tom Hinton, a fine football player and a fine citizen, was born in Louisiana.

He is deserving of being on ANY list of great BC Lions. But even if he "naturalized" his citizenship -- which I think is the case -- should he be on this list?
footballtom
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Were is Mervin Fernandez Best Receiver ever to play for the Lions
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