Flutie

It was the spring of 1985, and Doug Flutie, who had won the Heisman Trophy and whose ""Hail Mary pass"" for Boston College against Miami in his senior year was deservedly famous, was looking for a professional football contract. But he didn't know about the thinking of NFL owners and coaches uneasy about drafting a quarterback who was only five-foot-nine. The result: he signed with the Donald Trump-owned New Jersey Generals of the short-lived United States Football League. When that league collapsed, Flutie got to the NFL, where he played with Chicago and New England, but he found his niche only in 1990 in the Canadian Football League, where the bigger field and wide-open style were ideally suited to his passing and scrambling talents. He has been named the Canadian Football League's most valuable player five times and has won three championship Grey Cups playing with Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto. Writing with Toronto Sun reporter Lefko, he confesses that his favorite sport as a youth was basketball, where his height would have been a handicap, so he decided to be realistic and concentrate on the gridiron. With color photos (not seen by PW) and quotes about Flutie from coaches and other players, this sports autobiography, one of the less egocentric in the genre, has great appeal. (Jan.)