“There’s been a gun-call situation…I won’t be able to make practice today.” The Varsity Blues’ newest quarterback coach is on the line from the 55th Division. Someone, somewhere in the city is wielding a gun, and the onus is on him to respond. Unlike the rest of the U of T coaching staff, this one doubles as a sargeant for the Metro Toronto Police Force and is, on occasion, allowed to miss practice. For Dan Feraday, duty regretably calls.
The name Dan Feraday probably means little to nothing to the bulk of U of T’s student body; but were you to roll the name off your tongue around campus during the early 1980’s, it would be sure to spark a potent reaction. This is a hometown Toronto boy who played football for his hometown U of T team-and proceeded to smash every Ontario University Association (OUA) passing record, including his own, in a four-year span. Quite literally, when he arrived at U of T, Dan Feraday was the best quarterback that Canadian university football had ever seen.
“I come from humble beginnings,” explains the football great. Growing up at Shaw and Bloor St., Feraday describes his family home, one that cozily slept all ten of his immediate family members, as being “a semi-detached that was 10 feet wide…and nine and a half on the inside.” But, he adds, after a sip of tea, “it was deep.”
Firmly rooted in Toronto, Feraday and his five brothers started a sort of dynasty-a football dynasty-at St. Michael’s College High School. Under the guidance of coach Tom Corrigan, the vice-president for the Teamsters of Canada, Dan led his high school team to victory in his grade 12 year. The film captured of Feraday from that season, and Corrigan’s contacts in the States, among whom ranked Miami coach Don Shula, brought the recruiting calls rolling in. Notre Dame and Stanford, two of the more illustrious football programs in the NCAA, came knocking on the Feraday family door with scholarhips in hand. Programs as close to home as York also worked hard to recruit the young quarterback. But he turned them all down to attend U of T.
“I was never recruited by U of T,” explains Feraday, with a mixture of incredulity and pride. His choice of U of T was mainly family oreinted-two older brothers were already attending the school, his father wanted him to attend U of T, and besides, “I wanted to stay at home,” he reasons.
For the next four years, between 1978 and 1981, home for Dan became Varsity Stadium. During that time, or that era-as some have called it-Feraday was nothing short of a force of nature.
What had predominantly been a running and kicking game at U of T changed to accommodate Dan’s uncanny ability at hurling the ball. In his last year of university play, having already logged a short stint with the Toronto Argonauts in the interim, Feraday proceeded to smash Ontario University Association (OUA) records left, right and centre.
The year 1981 saw Dan Feraday throw for a total of 2,656 yards in the season, setting a record that would hold until 2002. The same year, the kid with the “great, great arm,” as he was described by former coach Ron Murphy, put up the record for most yards passing in a game-546, and most yards passing in a career-7,159. Add to this impressive list the records for most completions-in a game, season, and career (41, 194, 501) -as well as most touchdown passes in a season and career (21, 50), not to mention a Hec-Crighton Trophy, and you can see why Feraday left an indelible mark in the minds of football fans nation-wide.
“It seems that memories of Varsity football ended in ’81 with Dan’s graduation,” says Paul Carson, assistant to dean Kidd at the Faculty of Physical Education and Health. In the early 80’s, Carson was the sports information director for U of T athletics. As far as he’s concerned, it was Dan that raised the bar for the players and the program, and thrust the Varsity Blues into the limelight.
While it may not be true that Varsity football was completely wiped off the mental map after 1981, Feraday’s glory days are uniquely memorable. If not for the exceptional level of play, then for the lasting legacies. According to Carson, there were two –“publicity for the football program, and the impetus for recruiting.”
Both came home to roost in the 1983 season. Although Feraday’s arm never threw for a championship, his fame and skill “got us a lot of good players,” admits Carson. In 1983, two years after Dan Feraday had graduated, the Blues went on to win the Yates Cup-the top title in the OUA.
Current head coach Steve Howlett was on that team. Dan Feraday, the quarterback who seemed destined for greatness in the professional leagues, helped coach that team.
“I was trying to find a home in football for almost five years,” recalls the former Blue, “it turned out to be an extended road trip.” Post-graduation, and while still on contract with the Argos, Feraday became the first Canadian university athlete to ever get drafted to an NFL team. Super Bowl champions, the Bengals, picked Feraday second-last in the 1982 draft. Dan would now be leaving Toronto-headed for Cincinnati.
But it proved to be a relatively short stint in the American big leagues. After playing in a pre-season game against the Kansas City Chiefs, to a crowd of 90,000, Feraday was released by the Bengals and snatched up by the Edminton Eskimos. From there, the quarterback bounced around the continent, spending time with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the Michigan Panthers (a USFL team), the Bengals again, the Detroit Lions, and the Green Bay Packers. All of this in only three short years.
The brevity of his NFL career doesn’t bother him. Instead, Dan Feraday likes to consider himself lucky for having had the opportunity to play, both in the NFL, and for his hometeam, the Toronto Argos. “If a kid could have two dreams” he reminisces.
Perhaps a third dream on a list of childhood goals, would be to follow in father’s footsteps. After coaching at U of T in 1983 and 1984, and spending a half year in teacher’s college here at the university, Feraday was accepted onto the Toronto Police Force. The senior Feraday, Dan’s father, had been a detective with the force for 37 years. Police work, claims Dan, is something he “came by honestly.”
At this stage, football was put on the backburner for this quarterback. Four or five years into his police work, Feraday joined the ETF-Toronto’s Emergency Task Force. They are the elite force that get called when serious trouble, like heavy artillery fire, is afoot.
“I did the SWAT thing for 10 years,” Feraday acknowledges casually, “I really enjoyed it.” One bump along the road, something that could have wrung some of the enjoyment out of SWAT work, was an incident that Dan likes to call “our own little Gulf War here in Toronto.”
On a cold, clear Saturday in January, 1991, as Operation Desert Storm played out in the Middle East, Feraday was one of four Toronto police officers caught in one of the biggest shootouts ever seen in North America. From a motel room on Lakeshore Blvd. West, the perpetrators of a cross-country crime spree were found holed up with 29 stolen firearms-including an M-16 assault rifle. After one officer went down with a bullet in the shoulder, it fell to Feraday-and his rookie partner-to get their man out before he bled to death.
After a successful rescue, which forced Dan to duck and run through the torrent of bullets, the shootout continued for six and a half hours. In total, 500 rounds of ammunition were unloaded on the officers that day. In return, they fired 54 rounds, Feraday himself accountable for 18. Following an investigation in which the ETF and the police were scrutinized for “excessive use of force,” Feraday received a Metro Toronto Medal of Merit for bravery for his part in the rescue and arrest.
Having moved on from the ETF, and now assuming the role of sargeant, Feraday is back with the Blues for the first time in close to 20 years. While he makes it to the sidelines whenever his schedule permits, he admits that he’s “not in a position in [his] career to devote a lot of time,” to coaching.
This doesn’t bother head coach Steve Howlett one bit. In fact, Howlett, who is reponsible for coaching the quarterbacks when Feraday’s police duties keep him away, wouldn’t have it any other way. “I saw whatever contribution he [Dan] could make being of great value,” he explains. “It’s good for us to bring that era back to our program.”
That’s precisely the aim of enticing Feraday back into the folds of the Blues football program. “There’s a rich tradition here,” says Howlett- undoubtedly one to which Feraday remains an integral part. Such an integral part, in fact, that Howlett actively sought him out for his coaching staff.
Unlike some alumni, who are occasionally accused of steering clear of the “bad news Blues”-the team that has won only two games in five seasons-Feraday was not daunted by the prospect of joining a team with a terrible track record of late. “It’s one of the reasons I came back,” he retorts. “This is a very difficult year. Steve [Howlett] needs a good supporting cast. The team needs proper support.”
While Dan Feraday is a hero returned, a title he would undoubtedly shrug off, he is here both because Howlett is here, and because he believes in the revitalization of the Varsity program.
He’s also incredibly enthusiastic about the Blues gathering potential. “I had eight really good quarterbacks at training camp this year,” the words come streaming out he’s so excited, “but they were willing to give up their dreams of playing quarterback, and use their athletic ability elsewhere on the team. The team goal is number one, and that says a lot about the type of values Howlett is instilling.”
Ideally, this optimism, and Feraday’s wealth of experience, will make its mark on the team in 2003. Fourth-year quarterback, and Feraday’s charge, Carter Livingstone is hopeful: “He’s a very positive man. He doesn’t dwell on the negative. That’s rubbed off on the coaches and players.”
Even while walking across Varsity Field, through where the stadium that witnessed his past victories once stood, Feraday manages to stay upbeat. “I’m just glad they’re playing here again.”
But the question remains-does this renewed involvement with the team make the former footballer miss playing the sport he once dominated? The corners of his mouth turn upwards, and his eyes glint with a look that screams “do I ever.” “Yeah,” Feraday answers quickly, “but right now I’m living vicariously through Carter.”
