Here’s to the Rouge (hopefully) leaving the basement soon!

Wallflower wrote:

Dan O'Mac wrote:

I love seeing the players I scouted do well, especially Silas O'Brien and Cliff Strautzenberger

Strauztenberger has quickly become one of if not the league's best offensive lineman and should follow Andrew Furrson's (BOS) footsteps in consistent All-Star nods.
Silas has had quite the start to his career being on his third team already, but with an All-Star season despite being injured for part of it shows he has potential and might see him stick around Louisville.

ThisIsFine wrote:

Here’s to the Rouge (hopefully) leaving the basement soon!

With Mallard-White and Ovechkin looking like strong players for the next few years, there is a good chance they can get back to the playoffs. They just have to work on the defence.

Hopefully my player can help in his second year with this defense.

I'm really loving the evolving relationship with other leagues. I'm wondering if it's possible that the NAAF could run the OFU out of business, with the Royals continued success, there's no way their one of Canada's biggest sports teams. The Tigers also finally getting out from the Toronto team's shadow and stealing a big market in London also seems like a big hit to the Union.

I think the ACL is the NAAF's biggest target right now though if they wanted to dominate the sport. I'm assuming they have Philly, Baltimore, Washington and probably even New York and Pittsburgh. All of those are pretty big markets which I think are crucial to sustaining long term top tier success.

1959 Retirements

RB Élisée Marchal - Montreal, QC
Teams: Montreal Rouge (1949-1956); Providence Gold Stars (1957-1958)
McCallister Cups: 2 (1951, 1953)
Awards: 3 MVP (1949-1951); Offensive Player of the Year (1953); Playoff MVP (1951, 1953); McCallister Cup MVP (1951)
All-Stars: 6 (1949-1954)
Marchal will leave the NAAF as the best running back the league has seen. He tore up the league in the early years taking home the first 3 MVP awards. He was able to lead Montreal to their two titles in 1951 and 1953 where he earned playoff MVP in both seasons. He took home an OPOY award in 1953 and had 6 All-Star seasons from 1949-1954. After the ‘54 season, Marchal took a step back with the Rouge going into a rebuild and a young RB Scott Mallard-White was coming up through the Rouge organization. In 1957, Marchal signed with the Gold Stars where he would pair up with RB Johnnie Stafford in helping Providence to a 9-3 season. This past year, Marchal didn’t see the field much which ultimately led him to retire at the age of 36. Marchal will forever be a hero in Montreal and I doubt anyone else will be wearing his #25. 

RB Arthur Conner - Buffalo, NY
Teams: Buffalo Blue Wings (1949-1958)
McCallister Cups: 2 (1952,1957)
Awards: Offensive Player of the Year (1955, 1957); McCallister Cup MVP (1952), Playoff MVP (1952)
All-Stars: 4 (1952, 1955-1957)
Captaincy: BUF - A (1957-1958)
Arthur Conner will be remembered very fondly by his hometown crowd. The running back was a centrepiece to their team for the first 10 seasons of the NAAF. His first major breakthrough was in the 1952 season, where he helped the team win their first title in any competition. However, his career really took off as he got older. He won two OPOY awards in ‘55 and ‘57 where he was at the top of the league in rushing categories in both seasons. He would also help the team to their second title in the 1957 season just before he finished out his career this season taking a step back from his dominant play. 

RB Laurent Brazeau - Montreal, QC
Teams: Toronto/Ontario Tigers (1950-1956); Providence Gold Stars (1956); Indiana Victors (1957-1958)
McCallister Cups: 0
Awards: Offensive Player of the Year (1951); Rookie of the Year (1950)
All-Stars: 2 (1951, 1952)
Captaincy: IND - A (1957-1958)
Laurent Brazeau made a huge statement entering the NAAF from the Quebec Amateur League with the lowly Tigers. He had a strong first season in 1950 which earned him the first rookie of the year award that the NAAF gave out. He then made a statement in the Tigers’ first trial game in Kitchener, where he laid a monster stiff arm on DB Lee Wolfe en route to a huge touchdown run. He would take home OPOY that season falling just behind Marchal in touchdowns. Brazeau continued to be a monster down the middle for the Tigers, however, he was never able to get the Tigers anywhere. In his 6.5 seasons with the team, he never played a playoff game. During the 1956 season, Brazeau was dealt to Providence where he would play his only playoff game, scoring a touchdown in a 26-24 loss to Worcester. He would spend his final two seasons with the expansion Victors rushing for 15 more touchdowns over the two seasons. 

K Thomas McFadden - Worcester, MA
Teams: Hartford Hawks/Long Island Hawks/Raiders (1949-1956); Louisville Thunder (1957-1958)
McCallister Cups: 0Awards: 5 Special Teams Player of the Year (1949, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1956)
All-Stars: 6 (1949, 1951, 1952, 1955-1957)
Captaincy: LOU - A (1957-1958)
Thomas McFadden has been the league’s most recognizable kicker over his career. He has reeled in 5 Special Teams awards which is the most a single player has won a single award. He was always consistent throughout his many years with the Hawks/Raiders franchise, however, had been picked up by Louisville before the team won their title this season. He was still able to play in the 37th McCallister Cup game in 1955 with the team. McFadden would serve as one of the Thunder’s assistant captains in his two years with the team, before finally calling it a career.  

WR John Osborn - Watertown, NY
Teams: Ottawa Royals (1949-1952); Providence Gold Stars (1953-1956); Long Island Raiders (1957); Ottawa Royals (1958)
McCallister Cups: 0
Awards: Breakout Player of the Year (1953)John Osborn was not a superstar by any means, but he still had one strong season in 1953 which earned him a breakout player award. The season followed a trade that sent him from Ottawa to Providence where he truly was able to make his mark. However, he was never quite as good as that breakout year, and slowly fell away before playing a season in Long Island and then returning to Ottawa for his last.

Other Notable Retirements
DB Ollie Guy - Worcester, MA - PRO (1949-1954); BUF (1955-1956); IND (1957-1958)
DB Paul Gregory - Markham, ON - TOR/ON (1949-1956); PRO (1956-1958); LI (1958)*DB Dylan Alston - Rochester, NY - BUF (1949-1958)**
LB Mickaël Beaumont - Montreal, QC - OTT (1949-1956)***; IND(1957); OTT (1958)
WR Micheal Mcleod - New Haven, CT - HAR (1949-1952); PRO (1953-1954); WOR (1955-1956); LOU (1957); OTT (1958)
LB Claude Adams - Orchard Park, NY - BUF (1949-1958)**
OL Samuel Weston - New York City, NY - LI (1954-1956); IND (1957); LI (1958)*
OL Bernard Gide - ON (1954-1956); PRO (1956-1958)
LB Leo Davenport - Rochester, NY - PRO (1951); OTT (1951-1957)***; LOU (1958)
DL Garret Mason - Pittsburgh, PA - BUF (1949-1958)** 

1959 Coaching Changes

Worcester Athletics
The first news of coaching changes came from Worcester, who dumped their entire coaching staff. It was clear that HC Emil Riddle and even OC Dewey Doyle were not able to get QB Gene Bishop going. In fact, Riddle’s decision to put QB Andrew Glover into the starting role was the clear indicator that he was not working well with Bishop and might have been showing his frustration over the Kiernan trade. GM Jack Mckinnon felt that it might be a time for a clean slate and fired all 3 coaches. 

Louisville Thunder
Louisville was the next to break the news that they would be making changes firing HC Perry Powell after two seasons and a 4-19-1 record. They would then announce the hiring of Emil Riddle not long after. Riddle is a strong hire for the Thunder, as he was the coach that got the Athletics from a basement dweller to a contender in a short time span. Riddle would continue to make changes by letting go of both OC Theodore Ortiz and DC Jerome Morris. He would hire his former DC from Worcester, Hugo Martinez to take on the defensive responsibilities. Then, he would go back to his days with the Pittsburgh Hammers and hire their most recent head coach Kelly Holder. Holder had worked offensive duties with Riddle back in the day. He took over for Riddle when he left Pittsburgh, but after several rough seasons, Holder was fired. Holder works well with QBs, making some mediocre starters look alright, which should be good news for the young QB Leonidas Dumont. 

Providence Gold Stars
While Providence had a strong turnaround under Interim Head Coach Dean Parrish, they would decide to go in a different direction and hire Ottawa Royals’ DC Harry Meadows as their new Head Coach. Meadows had been with the Royals since 1951 and coached a weaker defence to help in 3 McCallister Cup wins and 5 appearances in total. The head coach role has been a long time coming and he should help to build a crumbling Gold Star defence. They would also bring Ted McMahon back as the OC. McMahon works well with Connor O’Rourke and should make for a good coach for the offence. 

Worcester Athletics (cont.)
Worcester would ultimately hire Dean Parrish from Providence, looking at his 5-2 finish to last season as a strong resume. Parrish is offensively minded so might be a good hire for Bishop. They would then make some interesting hires elsewhere, bringing in Clyde Wall for OC, who is known for some frustration that happened between him and QB Riley Kiernan in London last season. They would then hire George Mitchell for DC who had one season as DC in Long Island during the winless 1954 season.  

Montreal Rouge and Ottawa Royals
Montreal would make a minor switch letting go of DC Paul Byers after a rough year for the defence. They would bring in Carroll Moss, a defensive-minded college coach out of the Boston area, to take on the role. While Ottawa would bring on former Tigers DC Matthew Carson. Carson had been in the OFU before his short time with the Tigers, so he has the experience, but it will be a high-pressure job in Ottawa for the younger coach. 

Which team do you feel made the best decision? or the worst?
Next: 1959 Draft Preview