Dodging The Draft In Canada

Like most draft dodgers, Joe Theismann, Steve Worster and Jim Still-wagon just packed their things and took off for Canada. No, it's not the U.S. Army they are avoiding. It's the National Football League, or, as Theismann calls it, the "Establishment system." Despite their All-America watches and plaques they all drew bad numbers in the NFL draft, and then the numbers on the NFL contracts offered to them were even worse. "I may be a green-bottomed kid from Texas," Worster says, "but I'm not plain dumb like the NFL must've thought I was." So, goodby, NFL. Goodby, USA. And, hello, Canada.

In this period of tight money and the common draft, the Canadian Football League suddenly has become an attractive alternative to the NFL for players such as Theismann, Worster and Still-wagon. Rather than sit on a bench and earn comparatively low wages, they can go north and satisfy their egos and competitive appetites by playing regularly for big money in the CFL—even if the Canadian dollar was worth only 98� in the U.S. last week.

Theismann, the former Notre Dame quarterback whose name never did rhyme with Heisman, was drafted in the fourth round by the Miami Dolphins but spurned the NFL and signed a two-year contract with the Toronto Argonauts for an estimated $120,000. Worster waited three months for the Los Angeles Rams, who had selected him in the fourth round, to call with their first contract offer. "What they did offer was disgraceful," he says. "I knew what fourth-round running backs should be offered. Well, they tried to sign me for what they'd give a sixth-round lineman. A lineman!" Worster promptly signed with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats for a reported $100,000 over three years. Still-wagon, who was the most publicized defensive lineman in the country last year when he played for Ohio State, was drafted No. 5 by Green Bay, and three days later a Packer assistant coach dropped by Columbus for a chat. "He talked about moving me to middle linebacker, where Ray Nitschke plays," Stillwagon said. "Then he offered me a contract." Toronto offered more money, a starting job at defensive tackle and fringe considerations, so Stillwagon signed a two-year contract for $65,000.

The Argonauts, though, did not confine their raids on U.S. talent strictly to the class of'71. "The club directors told me to get a championship team," says Toronto Coach Leo Cahill, "and they gave me plenty of money to do it." Cahill lured Leon McQuay, an explosive running back who had decided not to return to the University of Tampa for his senior year, to Toronto with a one-year contract for $30,000, and then he signed Greg Barton, the quarterback who had played out his option with the Detroit Lions and had been traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for three draft choices, to a five-year contract for a reported $350,000.

Last week all these draft dodgers earned their money. Worster caught a 45-yard pass and carried it the last 10 yards for a key touchdown as Hamilton upset the Ottawa Rough Riders 20-17. "That was the longest pass I've ever caught," Worster said after the game. "At Texas all I ever caught were little screen passes. Wait. Once I did catch a pass five yards downfield. You know how much Darrell Royal likes the forward pass."

Theismann, meanwhile, powered the undefeated Argonauts to their third victory—the regular season begins early and ends Oct. 31—as he ran 84 yards for one touchdown on a draw play and passed for another on a 94-yard play in a 26-14 upset of the Montreal Alouettes. Barton, who alternates with Theismann, sent McQuay on an 81-yard romp for the Argonauts' third touchdown, and Stillwagon anchored the stiff Toronto defense.

McQuay, who wears white football shoes, calls himself X Ray because "an X Ray is so fast that you never see it." In three games he has scored five touchdowns, gained 363 yards rushing for an average of 8.6 yards per carry and caught seven passes for 113 yards. When the Argonauts huddle, X Ray tells the offensive linemen, "Remember, I don't need a hole—just a crack." Then, after he scores a touchdown, X Ray triumphantly raises his arms and bows to the crowd.

"There's a little bit of hot dog in him right now," Cahill admits, "but when you can run like he can, well, you can be a little loose." McQuay almost certainly will be an early first-round NFL draft selection next January. His one-year contract with the Argonauts contains the standard option-clause agreement, but not many people in Toronto—including most of the Argonauts—expect X Ray to return in 1972.

"Of course, the way Greg and I have been using X Ray he may not even survive this year," Theismann says. "He almost always gets a first down every time he carries, so we almost always give him the ball. I gave it to him eight straight times in one game and he gained about 80 yards. I called his number for the next play and he said, 'Joe, could you spread it around just this once?' I guess he was weary."

Thanks mostly to the performances of the Argonauts' fresh imports, Torontonians are talking Grey Cup for the first time in 19 years. The Grey Cup is Canada's Super Bowl and climaxes a week-long orgy that makes the Texas-Oklahoma weekend look like a sock hop.