When talking about great Argo quarterbacks, Condredge Holloway should be at the top of everyone's list. He's at the top of most of the statistical categories, anyway.
First in career passing (16,619 yards), first in completions (1,149), first in attempts (1,988), first in touchdowns (98) and the best single season of any quarterback in Argo history (1982). During that '82 campaign, Holloway completed 299 of 507 passes for 4,661 yards and 31 touchdowns, and was named the CFL's most valuable player, one of only three Argos to receive the honour (the others being Bill Symons in 1968 and Mike "Pinball" Clemons in 1990).
"After what we went through, I accepted the (MVP) accomplishment as part of the team," said Holloway, who thought receiver and good friend Terry Greer should have received the award. "I was just happy for all of us."
The year before, Holloway and company were struggling through an 0-11 start that resulted in head coach Willie Wood losing his job. The team finished 2-14, but rebounded the next year to go 9-6-1 and end up in the Grey Cup game.
"The one thing we did by going about it that way, was that the people who were telling you how great you are, were the same people who were telling you how lousy you were the year before," laughed Holloway. "The best part of the turnaround was using the same people who were unsuccessful and putting them in a system that worked."
That system was the run'n'shoot, brought over by new coaches Bob O'Billovich and Darrell "Mouse" Davis. Holloway ran a similar offence while in high school, and therefore he adjusted to it quicker than most. "The thing about the run 'n shoot, it's based on repetition," said Holloway. "When you throw on time, you have to do it until you can do it in your sleep."
The run 'n shoot clicked all the way to the Grey Cup, where it sputtered against the dynastic Edmonton Eskimos. However, it succeeded in the 1983 title game in B.C., but it's hero was one Joe Barnes, who was employed with Holloway in a two-QB platoon for the better part of two seasons after Holloway's record-breaking 1982 campaign.
"That's what they felt they wanted to do, but I've done the two-QB system with a lot of good guys in the CFL," said Holloway, who also won a Grey Cup in 1976 platooning with Tom Clements in Ottawa. He came to the 'Riders from the University of Tennessee in 1975, and was traded to the Argos before the 1981 season. He finished his 13-year CFL career with the B.C. Lions in 1987.
After football, he stayed in the Vancouver area doing various promotion-related jobs until 1990, when he returned to his native Tennessee, where he currently resides. He became a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater, where he finished his degree in urban studies in 1991. More recently, he was involved with a clothing manufacturer called Sports Belle Inc., but "the highlight of my life right now" is his six-year old daughter Jasmine.
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