- Roy Dewalt
Roy Dewalt is a former
Canadian Football League quarterback who, in a career lasting nine years, played for theBritish Columbia Lions between 1980 and 1987, and theWinnipeg Blue Bombers andOttawa Rough Riders in 1988.Dewalt joined the Lions in 1980 after been originally drafted out of Texas-Arlington as a running back by the
Cleveland Browns in the ninth round of theNFL Draft that season, and served as the back-up quarterback to Joe "the Throwin' Samoan" Paopao for two seasons. In 1982 he succeeded Paopao, which coincided with the arrival ofMervyn Fernandez who became Dewalt's favourite target. The next season Dewalt helped to lead the team to first place in the CFL Western Division, with a 11-5-0 record, and to its firstGrey Cup appearance since 1964. However they lost to theToronto Argonauts , 18 to 17. In 1984 Despite a first place record of 12-3-1 the Lions lost the West championship to the Blue Bombers. However in 1985 the Lions roared back with a 13-3-0 record, again first in the West, and a 37-24 Grey Cup victory over theHamilton Tiger-Cats .Although in 1985 Dewalt completed 301 out of 476 pass attempts for 4,237 yards and 27 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, his best season, he was not chosen as the division's all-star quarterback. That honour went to Matt Dunigan of the Edmonton Eskimos.
For the next two seasons Dewalt was not as effective of a quarterback, in part due to an injury to Fernandez in 1985 and the receiver's departure for the
Los Angeles Raiders in 1986. In 1988 was allowed to sign with theWinnipeg Blue Bombers . The Lions replaced him withMatt Dunigan . An arm injury led Dewalt to a number of poor performances and he was sent packing to theOttawa Rough Riders where, overall, his play did not improve. He retired from pro football after the season.
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