George Johnson
Calgary Herald
 
CALGARY -- For four unforgettable seasons here, he led all manner of menace on a merry, malevolently mischievous chase.

Played roadrunner to various incarnations of the determined but doomed Wile E. Coyote. Beep! Beep!

Just a puff of smoke, really. A fleeting glimpse of quicksilver. A rumour up ahead in the distance. As easy to grab hold of as a moonbeam.

Well, Henry Burris suddenly finds himself on the verge of doing something neither Willie Pless nor Bobby Jurasin, Elfrid Payton, Mike O'Shea, Jearld Bayliss or O. J. Brigance could seem to during those four touchstone years out at McMahon Stadium, 1992-95.

Catch Doug Flutie.

"Wow! Really?'' marvelled Burris, as the Calgary Stampeders finished a media availability and headed into team meetings following Monday practice.

"I did not know that. To accomplish. When I'm finished playing.

"You don't think of these things in the middle of a season, you're just so zoned in on what you can do to help your team win games that you sort of . . .''

He stopped, mid-sentence. " Really? Wow!''

Smilin' Hank now requires only 238 yards to equal and one more to surpass Flutie's Stampeder career standard of 20,551.

It'll happen most likely as soon as Thursday, when the Stamps head up to Commonwealth Stadium for a first-place tussle against Ricky Ray and the Eskimos.

So, how's it feel to be closing hard on an icon?

"You hear the stories, from Jeff (Garcia) and Dave (Dickenson).

"Of what a competitor Doug was."

"Of how people were saying Matt Dunigan was the greatest quarterback in the CFL at that time, how he'd thrown for 600 yards or something along those lines in a game and the next week, Dunigan's team played Calgary and a guy named Flutie threw for 100 more than that.

"Being an eastern guy," says Burris, "I remember first seeing Flutie when he played for Boston College. The Hail Mary, yeah, sure. But in other games, too. When BC played Temple. Doug Flutie. The Phelan boys. Darren Flutie. That was an exciting time for college ball.

"He was such an inspiration to so many people. He proved that you could play a big man's game at any size if your heart and your talent were large enough. You didn't have to be six foot four or six-foot-five. I've always admired Doug Flutie. We all have.

"It was really great to finally be able to meet him here last year when he was put on the Wall of Fame. Everybody knows him.

"The Magic Flutie, right?''

Oh, there was magic, all right. He sprinkled stardust on this league for the seasons he spent here up north. In the minds of most, not only the most influential player to ever don a Stampeders uniform, but the best--eight teams, nine teams or American teams --that has yet been seen.

The man at the summit of TSN's Top 50 All-Time CFL players poll. By consensus, only the late Jackie Parker, ol' Spaghetti Legs himself, could match Flutie in terms of jaw-dropping drama, heart-palpitating moments.

And now, Henry Burris is readying to supplant him at the crest of the mountain.

To be No. 1.Like the digit on either side of the jersey.

Don't even for a moment believe that Smilin'Hank won't cherish this milestone. Why?The ties he now has to Calgary. This has become his team. He is the face of the franchise, the way Doug Flutie was once. He has chosen to make this city his home. He has himself in the community.

For so long, he chased. A starting job. Respect. A championship. We wondered if he'd ever reach any of them. Well, he caught the lot.

And now he's set to sack Doug Flutie, the standard by which all others are measured.

Sure, Flutie racked up his record-setting yardage in four years and it's taken Henry Burris almost five and a half. That's just nit-picking. The struggles Burris was forced to overcome in reaching the now exalted position he holds in this town make his story as compelling, if different, as Flutie's.

"So much of the success you have as a quarterback is down to the people around you,'' said Burris, trotting out a cliche and truism in one. "I've been fortunate a lot of great players as teammates.''

So did the guy who made No. 20 famous hereabouts.

While Burris has been blessed with an emerging offensive line, Jeremaine Copeland and Nik Lewis to throw to and Joffrey Reynolds to hand off to, Flutie had Kelvin Anderson, Allen Pitts and a rugged O-wall to work with. Both were surrounded by an array of talent that helped them excel.

Call that a wash.

"When I passed Jeff Garcia, it was an unbelievable feeling,'' recalled Burris. "I'd watched Jeff play, backed him up here. I had so much respect for Jeff.

"And now, to be so close to a quarterback like Doug Flutie . . . it's an honour. An amazing feeling. A great accomplishment.''

Undoubtedly. Still, Smilin' Hank isn't expecting the Esks to stop the game for a short celebration to mark even such a historic occasion.

"No, no, no,'' chortled Burris. "Being a quarterback himself, Ricky (Ray) might not think it's such a bad idea. But, well . . . call me skeptic, I just don't think that is gonna happen.''

courtesy of www.calgaryherald.com