Advertisement

Six Degrees Of Canadian Bacon: tracing CFL history and the league's connections to movie stars

Former B.C. Lion Carl Weathers is one of several CFL players who later found success in Hollywood.
Former B.C. Lion Carl Weathers is one of several CFL players who later found success in Hollywood.

How many players does it take to connect through all of CFL history? How about to Hollywood? In both cases, the answer is probably less than you think. Inspired by Matt English tracing back 63 years of NHL history through three players (Jaromir Jagr, Guy Lafleur, and Jacques Plante), I embarked on a quest to get back to the origins of the CFL (officially formed in 1958, but effectively formed in 1954 when the B.C. Lions came into being). As I discussed on Twitter, it's possible to trace all of CFL history from 1954 through the present through four B.C. Lions teammates: Paul McCallum (in the CFL from 1993 to present), Lui Passaglia (played for B.C. from '76-'00, teammate of McCallum in '93 and '94), Jim Young (played for B.C. from '67-'79, teammate of Passaglia's from '76-'79) and Norm Fieldgate (played for B.C. from '54-'67, teammate of Young's in '67). However, that's just the start of what's possible.

Doug Tribou of WBUR/NPR's Only A Game made an excellent point when I brought this up on Twitter, asking if any of them had ever been in a film with Kevin Bacon (the actor who's the most famously-used six degrees of separation starting point). Tribou's question was facetious, but given the CFL's Hollywood connections, it's very possible to do! Here are seven CFL players-turned-actors, all with a Bacon Number (number of steps to Bacon, calculated using The Oracle Of Bacon) of two.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson: Briefly a member of the Calgary Stampeders in 1995, Johnson found more success in wrestling, and then in movies. He was in Planet 51 with John Cleese in 2009, Cleese was in The Big Picture with Bacon in 1989.

Carl Weathers: A B.C. Lion from 1971-73, Weathers famously played Apollo Creed in Rocky. He worked with Lloyd Kaufman in that 1976 film, Kaufman was in Super with Bacon in 2010.

Woody StrodeA Calgary Stampeder from 1948-49, Strode also wrestled professionally and played the Ethopian gladiator Draba in Spartacus. He was in 1995's The Quick and the Dead with Keith David, who worked with Bacon in 2001's Novocaine.

Bobby HoseaHosea played for the Montreal Alouettes in 1979 and the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1980 and 1981 before going into the movies. He famously played O.J. Simpson in the 1995 made-for-TV-movie The O.J. Simpson Story. He was also in 1996's Independence Day with John Bennett Perry, who was in 1981's Only When I Laugh with Bacon.

Joe Kapp: Kapp was a Calgary Stampeder from 1959-60 and B.C. Lion 1961-66 before the team traded him to the NFL's Minnesota Vikings for Jim Young. He went on to an anti-trust lawsuit against the NFL and a head coaching job at Cal, but he also found success in Hollywood, including appearing in The Longest Yard with Burt Reynolds in 1974. Reynolds was in Starting Over with Bacon in 1979.

Bill GoldbergSacramento Gold Miner, 1993, The Kid And I with Jaime Lee Curtis in 2005, Curtis was in Queens Logic with Bacon in 1991.

Gene Kiniski: Like Johnson and Goldberg, Kiniski (who dubbed himself "Canada's Greatest Athlete") was also more famous as a wrestler than a football player, but he played one game for the Edmonton Eskimos in 1953 before suffering a career-ending knee injury. He went on to wrestling and movies, working with Kevin Conway in 1978's Paradise Alley. Conway would later work with Bacon in 2003's Mystic River.

You could also throw in John Candy, who never played in the CFL, but owned the Toronto Argonauts (with Wayne Gretzky and Bruce McNall) from 1991-94. Candy appeared with Bacon in 1991's JFK (and also in 1987's Planes, Trains and Automobiles, where Bacon had a small role), giving him a Bacon number of one. That's an easy connection for anyone who played for the Argos during that time.

So, that should make it possible to calculate any CFL player's Bacon number; just trace them to one of the seven players-turned-actors (or Candy), then go from there. For example, how about Passaglia? He played with offensive lineman Rocco Romano, who later played with Johnson in Calgary. That would give him a Bacon number of four. Fieldgate? He played with Kapp, so he'd have a Bacon number of three, as would Young, who played with Weathers. Retired Montreal quarterback Anthony Calvillo? He played with Mike Pringle, who played with Goldberg, so he'd have a Bacon number of four. (Update: Calvillo's Bacon number is actually 2. See below.) Current Ottawa quarterback Henry Burris? He played with Allen Pitts, who played with Johnson, so he'd also have a Bacon number of four. You can go on from there, but it's a fun and different way to look at the CFL, which is both a remarkably small league, and one where lots of players have managed to last a very long time. Combine those factors and you get a lot of connections.

Update: It turns out the modern CFL is actually even closer to Hollywood than you'd think. Montreal Alouettes' director of communications Charles Rooke informs me that Alouettes and Argos players were used in the football scenes in The Sum of All Fears (2002), which featured Bruce McGill, who appeared in Animal House (1978) with Kevin Bacon. Anthony Calvillo even recieved an IMDB credit for his role in The Sum Of All Fears. Thus, he (and the other players involved) has a Bacon number of 2, not 4, and that means you can probably get much of the current CFL with Bacon numbers of 3 or 4. Impressive!