Canadian football

Candy also became a co-owner and one-man pep squad for the Toronto Argonauts, the Canadian Football League team.

Undrafted yet undeterred, Tino pivoted to the Canadian Football League.

After three years in the Canadian Football League, Ebell became a Ventura County sheriff’s deputy, seemingly the epitome of a high school and college football hero giving back to his community.

“Rhoda was my mentor, and always encouraged me. Friends for 79 years,” said Wheeler, a 1956 Olympic downhill bronze medalist who married Canadian Football League Hall of Famer Kaye Vaughan.

Those teams were in major cities, the fast-paced, hyperviolent games were regularly televised on ESPN, and the players had a plausible shot at climbing their way into bigger leagues, like the Canadian Football League or even the NFL.