This fall, the Windsor Lancer football program is celebrating its 50th anniversary, culminating with a celebration on Saturday September 29th. Over the course of this week, the Windsor Lancers are proud to highlight a few of the best memories of the program in a series of stories.
By Chris Zorbas
Scott Mallender should need no introduction to older Lancer alum, but as the football program celebrates its 50th anniversary some new Lancers may need a bit of an introduction to one of the most electrifying quarterbacks to don the Blue and Gold.
A three year starter for the legendary Gino Fracas, Mallender moved the ball at a record setting pace for the Lancers; capturing the prestigious Hec Crighton trophy in his third and final season in 1978 as the best university football player in Canada.
As the "bookend" quarterback to the greatest decade of Lancers football, no one can tell this story better than Mallender himself. Scott's answers have been slightly edited for brevity and clarity.
Can you tell us a little bit about your Hec Crighton season?
SCOTT: So it was my third year starting as the Lancers quarterback, I started '77,78 and '79. We had winning seasons every year. 1978 was really our best year as far as getting to the conference finals, we lost to Western in a heartbreaker. But the following year was just the fact that I was three years under an offense with Gino Fracas, which made a world of difference. He was way, way ahead of the game back in those days, we had six eligible receivers moving behind the line of scrimmage and that was a little bit out there, back in the seventies. It was still pretty traditional to keep it in the backfield.
We didn't have very many team meetings but I would meet with Gino every Friday from 1:00 to 4:00pm religiously. We'd go over the entire game plan and what we want to do, bit by bit, situation by situation and I think it got a point in my third year that I got so comfortable and knew the offense that, it just came so natural. We may have lost some better players the year prior, but it was the fact that the players who did stick around were just so well versed in the offense that we just put up astronomical numbers back in those days…
Gino would always tell me to never be afraid to throw the ball on first down and always use play action and it was little things like that really, really made a difference…we had quite a field day.
Looking back, what's it like to have your name in the prestigious Hec Crighton list?
We had another winner in the early seventies, Andy Parici. He won it in '71 and me in '79 - we bookend the seventies! The way it worked was the MVP's from the four different conferences would be the candidates. So I won MVP and all of the sudden I got a call to Toronto. I was totally shocked, but I had a great season and the beauty of Gino's football was a strong offense and I was in it for three years.
I think it helped the school. Recruiting wasn't a big thing back in the days but it definitely showed, especially if you played quarterback there was a place for you in Windsor. Not sure what happened later on but in the seventies there weren't many schools that could touch us.
So Gino Fracas was well before my time here as a Lancer. Can you talk about what it was like playing for Gino?
So there was a quarterback that was one year ahead of me and his name was Bruce Walker. By the time I got to the University of Windsor Bruce had been there two years. My first year Gino calls us both into his office. He points at Bruce and says you're going to be a receiver and tells me I'm the quarterback. I thought Bruce might jump out of his chair but he took it well. It was a great decision, there was no quarterback controversy and Bruce went on to play ten years for the Ottawa Rough Riders. It was the right move for the team and I loved playing quarterback for Gino because he was a thinking man and we'd always quiz each other.
Gino was a very aggressive coach. If they were single covering Bruce Walker, we'd throw it there until they shifted, then we'd counter to the other side. We certainly never got shut out, the Canadian game is a great one when it's coached the way Gino coached it.
What makes you most proud to be a Lancer?
The fact that I had the opportunity to play with so many great athletes and great guys. They were all local, we all grew up through high school together, we'd read about each other in the paper. Back then high school football games, both sides of the field were packed, they were big outings back then. We all couldn't wait to get together and play together at Windsor. It was really special, I saw that from the guys that started the program and won the championship in '69, I remember watching those guys in public school and couldn't wait to get there. It was a lot of camaraderie, we all met Thursday's after the game, we were all one big family; even with the guys before us we felt like were just taking the next step to create this great Lancer football program.
