Former CFLers Kapp, Harris, Lewis and Ware inducted into U.S. college football shrine

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (CP) - Joe Kapp's never-say-die attitude was in the U.S. College Football Hall of Fame long before he was.
Every day fans visit the hall and watch the five-lateral kickoff return the Kapp-coached Cal team used in 1982 to beat Stanford 25-20. Kevin Moen finished The Play by running over a Stanford band trombonist.
"The play didn't fall out of the sky," Kapp said Saturday. "Was it an accident, good luck or coaching? It wasn't an accident."
It wasn't an accident Kapp was being inducted Saturday in the College Football Hall of Fame, either. But the former CFL star was inducted for his ability to play the game, not coach it.
Kapp spent eight seasons in the CFL, in 1964 leading the B.C. Lions to their first Grey Cup win. He is the only quarterback to play in a Super Bowl, Grey Cup and Rose Bowl.
He was twice a CFL all-star during his career in Canada, passing for 22,925 yards. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1984.
But Kapp wasn't the only former CFL player inducted Saturday.
Joining him were Andre Ware, a quarterback who won a Heisman Trophy at the University of Houston, Arkansas linebacker Wayne Harris and Lincoln University running back Leo Lewis.
The Detroit Lions drafted Ware in the first round of the 1990 NFL draft but after unsuccessful stints with Detroit and Minnesota, Ware landed in the CFL in 1995 with the Ottawa Rough Riders. In 1997, he served as a backup to Doug Flutie with the Grey Cup-champion Toronto Argonauts. Ware was signed by the NFL's in 1998 but retired from football the following year.
Harris played on both offence and defence while at the University of Arkansas and was a first-team All-America selection at both offensive guard and linebacker.
He went on to join the CFL's Calgary Stampeders and spent 12 seasons there, winning the CFL's outstanding lineman award in 1965, '66, 1970 and '71. The Stampeders won the Grey Cup in his final season with the club, and two years later retired his No. 55 jersey. Harris was also later inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
Lewis was twice a first-team All-America selection at Lincoln and set school records for touchdowns in a season (22), career TDs (64), yards rushing in a season (1,239) and career (4,457).
He was drafted by the NFL's Baltimore Colts, but headed north to the CFL. In 11 seasons with Winnipeg, he was honours as a league all-star six times and was named to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
Also among the 20 players inducted were Oklahoma middle guard Tony Casillas, Penn State running back Lydell Mitchell and Southern Mississippi punter Ray Guy.
Kapp said it was the lessons he learned as a player at Cal in the late 1950s that helped the Golden Bears beat Stanford 24 years later.
"I learned: 'Be ready when opportunity comes. Never give up,' " he said. "My credo in the 1969 Super Bowl year for the Minnesota Vikings was '40 for 60.'
"Forty players for 60 minutes. That was the attitude of our Rose Bowl team."
That attitude helped the Golden Bears improve from 1-9 a season earlier to 7-4 in 1958, as Kapp threw for 775 yards and ran for 616 yards. He doesn't think of being enshrined as an honour for him, but for the entire team - the last Cal squad to play in the Rose Bowl.
"Quarterbacks get too much credit," he said. "Football's a team game.
"So when you get the honours, I know what goes into it. This is a team honour."
Casillas said he was overwhelmed when he learned that nearly five million men have played college football but fewer than 1,000 have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.
"That kind of puts everything in perspective," said Casillas, who won the Lombardi Award as U.S. college football's top lineman in helping the Sooners to an NCAA championship in 1985. "The hall really brings the adrenaline out in you."
Mitchell rushed for a then-NCAA record 26 touchdowns in 1971.
"Some of us had to wait longer than others," said Mitchell, who played for the Nittany Lions from 1969 to '71. "But whenever you get in it's just a fantastic feeling.
"Penn Staters who came before me said: 'Just wait for the experience. I can't describe it to you.' And it's been wonderful."
Guy, despite being the first punter enshrined, doesn't believe the position is overlooked.
"I think it's just a matter of time before they start putting more in here," he said. "It's a part of the game that's very important.
"It's very critical to the game. The recognition is coming."

The Canadian Press