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Condredge Holloway

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Condredge Holloway
Holloway in 2023
Born: (1954-01-24) January 24, 1954 (age 70)
Huntsville, Alabama, U.S.
Career information
CFL statusAmerican
Position(s)Quarterback
CollegeUniversity of Tennessee
High schoolLee (Huntsville, Alabama)
NFL draft1975, round: 12, pick: 306
(By the New England Patriots)
Career history
As player
1975–1980Ottawa Rough Riders
1981–1986Toronto Argonauts
1987BC Lions
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star1982
CFL East All-Star1978, 1982, 1983
HonorsTennessee Sports Hall of Fame
Career stats
Games played181
Comp–Att1,710–3,013
Completion %56.8
Passing yards25,193
TD–INT155–94
Passer rating88.4

Condredge Holloway Jr. (born January 25, 1954) is a former quarterback for the University of Tennessee and later in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Holloway was one of the first African-American quarterbacks to receive national exposure. His nickname at Tennessee was the "Artful Dodger".[1]

Early life and college

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Holloway was born to Condredge Holloway Sr., and Dorothy Holloway. Condredge's grandfather on his father's side was born a slave, but was emancipated as a child in 1865. Dorothy was hired to work at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville in 1962.[1]

Holloway starred as a high school baseball player at Lee High School in Huntsville, where he was named to the ABCA High School All-America Baseball Team.[2] He was selected as a shortstop by the Montreal Expos in the 1971 Major League Baseball draft.[3] Holloway was Montreal's first pick, and he was the fourth player selected overall.[4] However, Holloway's mother, insisting her son attend college, refused to sign the contract (Condredge was 17, too young to sign a contract under Alabama law) and instead he went to Tennessee. In so doing Holloway became the first African-American to start at the quarterback position in a Southeastern Conference school.[5] In addition to being the first black quarterback at Tennessee and in the Southeastern Conference, Holloway also was the first black baseball player in Tennessee history. The outstanding prospect bypassed a baseball career, and Holloway opted instead, for a two-sport collegiate career and went on to excel on the diamond. He garnered All-SEC and All-America honors as a shortstop in 1975 and finished with a .353 career batting average. Holloway — still the owner of Tennessee's longest hitting streak at 27 games — was selected to Tennessee's All-Century Baseball Team, making him the only Tennessee student-athlete named to all-century squads in both baseball and football.

In his three seasons (1972–74) as a starter, Holloway directed the Vols to the 1972 Astro-Bluebonnet, 1973 Gator, and 1974 Liberty Bowls and an overall record of 25–9–2. He ended his career with the best interception-to-attempt ratio in Tennessee history, throwing just 12 interceptions in 407 collegiate attempts. During his three seasons, he completed 238 of 407 passes for 3,102 yards and 18 touchdowns, and rushed 351 times for 966 yards and nine touchdowns.[6]

Canadian Football League

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After leading the Volunteers to three bowl game appearances from 1972–74, Holloway was drafted by the NFL in 1975—but only in the twelfth round, as a defensive back, by the New England Patriots (few pro teams had African-American quarterbacks at that time). Instead, Holloway went to the Canadian Football League, playing for the Ottawa Rough Riders starting in 1975.[7] Later, he moved to the Toronto Argonauts, capturing the CFL's Most Outstanding Player award in 1982 and guiding the Argos to a Grey Cup championship the following season—Toronto's first title in 31 years. Holloway finished his career with the BC Lions and was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1999.[8]

After football

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Currently, Holloway is the assistant athletic director at the University of Tennessee.[9] Holloway is a co-owner of D1 Sports Training in Huntsville, Alabama.

In 1996, he was part of the SEC Football Legends, representing Tennessee.

In 2010, he was selected to the 1970s all-decade team of Madison County, Alabama, high school basketball players by The Huntsville Times.[10]

On February 20, 2011, ESPN Films released The Color Orange: The Condredge Holloway Story. It was produced and narrated by country music star Kenny Chesney.

References

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  1. ^ a b Fuchs, Cynthia. "The Color Orange: The Condredge Holloway Story." www.popmatters.com, February 21, 2011. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  2. ^ "1971 ABCA/Rawlings High School All-America Teams". www.abca.org. American Baseball Coaches Association. Retrieved January 14, 2022.
  3. ^ "1971 Baseball Draft by Baseball Almanac". Baseball Almanac. May 1, 1967. Retrieved December 4, 2024.
  4. ^ "The Real South: Famous People". AL.com. Archived from the original on May 4, 2008.
  5. ^ "University of Tennessee Athletics". www.utsports.com.
  6. ^ Career Football Statistics Archived October 31, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, UTSports.com. Retrieved: June 26, 2014.
  7. ^ Drake, Stephen (2009). Weird Facts about Canadian Football: Strange, Wacky and Hilarious Stories. Montreal: Editions de la Montagne Verte. p. 132. ISBN 978-1-897277-263.
  8. ^ "Condredge Holloway". Hamilton, Ontario: The Canadian Football Hall of Fame. 2012. Retrieved April 26, 2018.
  9. ^ "Turn Back Time – Part 2". Toronto Argonauts Football Club. July 25, 2006.
  10. ^ Bryant, Bill (November 28, 2010). "All-Decade Basketball Teams: 1970s expert picks". The Huntsville Times. Retrieved September 9, 2012.
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