Gill Fenerty

[devans]

In 1987, Leo signed the most exciting running back the Argos had had since Bill Symons was in his prime during the late 1960's. His name was Gill (The Thrill) Fenerty. Fenerty was the greatest running back in the history of Holy Cross University and had somehow been overlooked by the NFL. He had gone to Europe and was playing in Italy when Leo tracked him down.
Fenerty simply exploded in Toronto...rushing for nearly 900 yards, scoring 15 touchdowns and was named the CFL Rookie of the Year.
In 1989 Gill's last year with the Argonauts he enjoyed his finest season. Setting a club record for rushing yards that would stand for 12 season Fenerty rumbled for 1,247 yards on the ground. He scored 12 touchdowns leading the offence and being named to his third consecutive All-Eastern All-Star selection.
Following the 1989 season Fenerty signed with the New Orleans Saints, used primarily as a returner and reserve running back Fenerty enjoyed 2 successful seasons with the Saints before retiring. Gill Fenerty has been immortalized as one if the premiere return men in the cult Nintendo Entertainment System classic Tecmo Super Bowl.Article

 

[white is right]

I remember him well. I heard the NFL shyed away from him because he had a bad head injury while attending Holy Cross.

 

[Deus Vult]

Gil Fenerty was a New Orleans native who always wanted to play for the Saints. He was a good contributor, but did not really excel once he got there.

Black players were vocally upset when the Saints signed Gil Fenerty. Everyone knew the animosity was racially-motivated, because he was coming in as a tailback. Blacks on the team said it was unfair that Fenerty was signed to such a high salary, when he had not played a down in the NFL. If Gil had been a brutha, there would be no controversy, no open dissent.

That last I heard, Fenerty was working for an investment firm in Tampa, FL.

 

[devans]

Gil Fenerty was a New Orleans native who always wanted to play for the Saints. He was a good contributor, but did not really excel once he got there.

He did pretty well in his first year.
73 rushes for 355 yards average of 4.9, with 2 TD's and longest run of 60 yards.

His second and final year was not as impressive and the average fell to 3.4 yards per carry.
(From www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=FENERG IL01)

 

[Don Wassall]

I remember his 60 yard touchdown run in 1990, because even then the NFLhad beena white-free zone for a while when it came to running back and it was great to see. If memory serves, Fenerty was part of an unwieldy3 or 4 man RBBC in '91, the appropriately nicknamed "Ironhead" Heyward among them. Seeing thatFenerty only had 212 career carries and played but two seasons, he certainly wasn't given an abundance of opportunities, but may have had more touches than any white tailback since.

 

[Quiet Speed]

It's a shame he couldn't have had a genuine opportunity in the NFL

Funny how things can stick in your mind. Gil was a very good return man, that was obvious. So a belligerent caller to a radio show at the time had a critique of Gil. He said Gil was tippin' on his returns. The host asked what he meant. Never did figure out what he was getting at. Anyway, the little anecdote shows how ridiculously funny our foes can be.

 

[Bronk]

Devans, thank you for reminding this old man about Bill Symons and Gill Fenerty. Just hearing their names mentioned makes my heart glad.

A couple of pics of Big Bill fer ya:

 

[devans]

Gill is now a Tax Man

[url]http://www.bnkj.com/html/News/ProfitIn-pdf/ProfitInsightNov0 6.pdf[/url]

Remember this is a white running back who in his first year in the NFL in the nineties had 73 rushes for 355 yards average of 4.9, with 2 TD's. I would settle for that for Brian Leonard in 2007.

 

[Sean Carlisle]

Gil played his high school ball for Jesuit. He was going to go to LSU but ended up at HC. He had adequate NFL RB size and speed. I wish he had been given the chance to continued his NFL career later than age 28circa(1991). He did have a short stint with an expansion CFL team in 94 however. Long live Gil the Thrill!