Ralph Dieter Brock (born February 12, 1951) is a former Canadian Football League and National Football League player and now works as a coach. He is best remembered as the quarterback for the CFL Winnipeg Blue Bombers where he led the league in passing for four years.[1]
Early life
Brock was born in Birmingham, Alabama.[2] He attended Auburn University and Jacksonville State University,[3] and graduated from Jacksonville State University in 1974.
Professional career
After college graduation, Brock signed a one-year contract with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and was a starting quarterback in 1975. Nicknamed "The Birmingham Rifle", Brock is the only Blue Bombers player to win back-to-back CFL Most Outstanding Player awards in the 1980 and 1981 CFL seasons. In 1981, Brock broke Sam Etcheverry's 1956 record of 4,723 passing yards with 4,796 yards. Brock started his illustrious pro football career as a little used back-up quarterback for the Bombers in 1974. That season the team traded away their aging star passer Don Jonas to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for the much younger Chuck Ealey. About midway through the 1975 season Brock became the starter and that resulted in Ealey being sent to the Toronto Argonauts.
In 1983, Brock was traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for quarterback Tom Clements. This trade led to an exciting Grey Cup in 1984, as the Tiger-Cats and Blue Bombers faced each other in the championship game. Brock's Tiger-Cat team lost the game to Clements's Blue Bombers and Brock ended his career with many accomplishments, but without a Grey Cup victory.
Brock left the CFL after ten seasons and joined the National Football League for the 1985 season. In what would be his only season playing in the NFL, Brock signed with the Los Angeles Rams as a 33-year-old rookie. Brock led the team to a division title, the #2 seed in the NFC playoffs, and set team rookie records for passing yards (2,658), touchdown passes (16), and passer rating (81.8) (most of his rookie passing records have since been broken). Brock's final game was the 1985 NFC Championship Game against the Chicago Bears, where he only managed 66 yards passing and lost a fumble that Wilber Marshall returned for a touchdown to close out the scoring in a 24-0 game.
Brock still holds the Blue Bombers record for career passing yards with 29,623. In 2005, for the commemoration of the Blue Bombers 75th anniversary, Brock was named one of the 20 All-Time Blue Bomber Greats. He was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1995.[4]
In popular culture
In every episode of the Dave Dameshek Football Program on iTunes Dave and Adam Rank compete in who can make the best organic reference to Dieter Brock. He appeared as a guest on their 100th episode.
References
- ↑ 2007 CFL Facts, Figures, and Records. Canadian Football League. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-9739425-2-1.
- ↑ "Dieter Brock". NFL Historical Players. NFL.com. Retrieved 2008-08-08. ;
15 February in Gadsden is recorded by "Ralph Dieter Brock". Alabama Sports Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2008-08-08. - ↑ "Dieter Brock". Pro-Football-Reference.Com. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
- ↑ "Dieter Brock". Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
External links
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- Dieter Brock (1974)
- Maurice Mullins (2004–2005)
- Matt Hardin (2006)
- Cedric Johnson (2007)
- Ryan Perrilloux (2008–2009)
- Marques Ivory (2010–2012)
- Coty Blanchard (2011)
- Max Shortell (2013)
- Kyle West (2013)
- Eli Jenkins (2014– )
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