Doug Flutie, who became famous for one of the most dramatic passes in college football history and who won the Heisman Trophy in 1984, announced his retirement Monday after 21 years in professional football.
"I've had more fun and enjoyment at this game than anything else," Flutie said during a news conference at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. "I love competing. I'm just a big kid. I think that's pretty evident in the fact that I joined a men's baseball league with my brothers this spring. I had told them all along, `When I retire, as long as I can still walk, we're going to do this."'
Flutie, 43, said he had been contemplating retirement for nearly a dozen years. He said Monday that he would become a college football analyst for ABC Sports and ESPN.
PHOTO: AFP
His legend was secured during his senior season at Boston College in 1984, when he produced one of the most famous moments in college football: a 48-yard touchdown pass as time expired to upset Miami. He went on to win the Heisman Trophy.
The play overshadowed the two productive decades he spent in the Canadian Football League and in the NFL, where his height -- he is listed at 5 feet 10 inches -- was seen as an impediment.
Flutie played for the New Jersey Generals of the US Football League in 1985. From 1986 to 1989, he played in the NFL, including a stint as the Patriots' backup quarterback.
He then went to Canada, where the wide-open style meshed well with his skills and allowed him to have his greatest professional success.
Flutie led his teams to three Grey Cup championships in eight seasons, and he was named the league's most outstanding player six times. His final season in Canada was 1997, when he won the championship and the outstanding player award with the Toronto Argonauts.
Flutie compiled 64,938 yards of total offense -- 58,179 passing and 6,759 rushing -- in the three leagues during his professional career. In the NFL, he started 66 games, winning 38.
In the Patriots' regular-season finale last season, coach Bill Belichick provided a fitting coda to Flutie's career by allowing him to convert a drop kick for an extra point. It was the first one converted in the NFL since 1941.
Belichick said it was the play he had the most fun with in his career.
It was the final play for Flutie, who said, "Bill putting that drop kick in for me to do kind of put the fun back in the game."
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