PLAYER #79 - MEL PROFIT (1966-71)

By nature, you have to be a little nutty to play professional football. Most mere mortals would recoil in horror at the sight and sound of endless body contact, much of it at top speed, but there are a certain few in the minority who get excited by the prospect.

These are the free spirits who play football, who by their ability, toughness and general lack of concern stand out from the crowd. However, few stood out like tight end Mel Profit, who in his day and age was the epitome of a rebel in uniform.

After attending U.C.L.A. in the 1960's, Profit was drafted by both the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL and Kansas City Chiefs of the AFL in 1964, but showed his resilience by refusing to report to both of them. Instead, he did the usual college-age thing and travelled through Europe in 1965, no doubt experiencing the cultural revolution that was breaking through London's Piccadilly Circus, Paris's Champs D'Elysees and Amsterdam's red-light district.

When he came back to North America, he decided to move up the western coast to B.C., where he played briefly with the Lions before joining the Argos in 1966. That year, he caught 32 passes for 473 yards, and it was the beginning of a consistently top-notch six-year Argo career.

A quick look at the stats would prove this: 1967 - 30 catches for 432 yards, 1968 - 40 catches for 805 yards, 1969 - 40 catches for 599 yards, 1970 - 39 catches for 649 yards, and 1971 - 39 catches for 725 yards. He was an eastern all-star from 1968-71, and a CFL all-star in his final season as well.

"He was probably one of the best tight ends ever to play the game," said his teammate and long-time Argo broadcaster Peter Martin. "He was just a tough bugger, a real hard-noser."

But off the field, Profit made as many headlines as he did on the field. In the psychedelic era of the late '60's, football was still a conservative, tough-guy, Vince Lombardi-type of game, where men in crewcuts did battle in military-like fashion. But in the bars, cafes and university across North America, the fashions and styles were changing, and Profit was one of the first to bring them to the football field: men having long hair, doing drugs, wearing crazy clothes, etc...Profit was in on it.

"He was the California, hippie, surfing type dude with long hair," was how slotback Dave Cramner remembered his receiving partner, who also laughed at Profit's many anti-establishment episodes, which were funny yet harmless. "I remember one time, Leo Cahill said, 'Okay guys, you have to wear a shirt, tie and jacket for road trips. So Mel had a shirt, tie and jacket, but he also was wearing jeans, big boots and a cowboy hat."

Away from football, Profit owned a boutique (how many football players could say that?) called The First Asylum (great name!) and was a radio personality on CFRB, among other things. He moved back to Santa Monica, California in the 1980's, where it was rumoured he was involved in the fitness craze, and then he relocated to Sacramento, where efforts to track him down failed.

Peace, Mel, wherever you are!