Ed Foley Sr. is a former
American football
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
quarterback
The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...
who played for the
Boston College Eagles
The Boston College Eagles are the athletic teams that represent Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivis ...
from 1963 to 1965.
High school
Foley attended
Woburn High School in
Woburn, Massachusetts
Woburn ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 40,876 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Woburn is located north of Boston. Woburn uses Massachusetts' ...
. During his sophomore year, Foley batted .400 and pitched a no-hitter for the school's baseball team and was a top basketball guard in the
Northeastern Conference
The Northeastern Conference (NEC) is a high school athletic conference in District A of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association.
Schools
In 2019, teams from Everett, Malden, Medford, Revere, and Somerville, left the NEC to ...
. He became the football team's starting quarterback during his junior season. He completed 66 of 96 passes and threw for 10 touchdowns. As a senior, Foley led Woburn's football team to an undefeated season, was named to the
Boston Globe
''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
All-Scholastic team, and was chosen as a ''Scholastic Magazine'' All-Star by the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
. He was also named to the Globe's All-Hoop Second team and as a "bench" player on the Globe's All-Scholastic baseball team.
Boston College
Foley was recruited to Boston College by
Bob Cousy
Robert Joseph Cousy ( , born August 9, 1928) is an American former professional basketball player. He played point guard for the Boston Celtics from 1950 to 1963, and briefly with the Cincinnati Royals during the 1969–70 season. A 13-time NBA ...
. He averaged 30 points per game for the Boston College freshman team, but gave the sport up after one season because he believed that he would be better at football and baseball.
During the
1964 season, Foley began pressing Larry Marzetti for the starting quarterback job. He replaced Marzetti as starter for the team's October 10 game against Tennessee. Head coach
Jim Miller played both Foley and Marzetti against undefeated
Villanova. BC won the game 8 to 7 after Foley led a late touchdown drive and ran in a two-point conversion. Foley finished the year completing 72 of 144 passes for 947 yards with four touchdowns and nine interceptions. He also had 56 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown. Foley began the 1965 season as BC's starting quarterback, however after throwing three interceptions in a 17–0 loss to
Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...
he was benched in favor of junior John Blair. Miller played both Blair and Foley in a 27 to 6 loss to Miami and returned Foley to the starring role the following week for the team's
Senior day game against
William & Mary. In that game, Foley broke
Jack Concannon's record for passing yards and total yards in a game with 300 passing yards and 317 yards of total offense.
He finished the season completing 57 of 120 passes for 979 yards with five touchdowns and eight interceptions. He also had 266 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. He finished his BC career with 129 completions in 263 attempts (49.1%), 1916 passing yards, 17 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions.
Personal life
In 1971, Foley moved to
Cherry Hill, New Jersey
Cherry Hill is a Township (New Jersey), township within Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As a suburb of Philadelphia, the township is part of the South Jersey and Delaware Valley regions. Cherry Hill ...
, where he worked as a regional manager for
Confederation Life
Confederation Life Insurance Company was a Canadian insurance company and financial services provider. Its global head office was located in Toronto in what is now the Rogers Building. The company had operations in Canada, the United States, the ...
.
He and his wife Sue had four sons and two daughters. Their eldest son,
Ed Jr. played offensive line at
Bucknell University
Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...
and has since worked as a coach. Their second oldest, Cliff (1969–2018) was a starting quarterback at
Cherry Hill High School East
Cherry Hill High School East (also known as Cherry Hill East or CHE) is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Cherry Hill, in Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, operating ...
and played baseball at
Villanova. Cliff was succeeded as East's quarterback by his brother
Glenn, who led the school to its first championship and followed in his father's footsteps by playing quarterback at Boston College before moving on to the
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...
.
Their youngest son, Kevin, followed Glenn at East and signed with the
Maryland Terrapins
The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's college sports in the United States, varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate ...
after high school. After two seasons backing up
Scott Milanovich
Scott Stewart Milanovich (born January 25, 1973) is an American professional football coach and former player who is the head coach for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was also the head coach of the Toront ...
, he transferred to
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...
in order to receive more playing time. He has remained in sports as a producer for
NFL Films
NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces advertisement film, commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentary film, documentaries ...
,
NASCAR Productions, and the
NFL Network
NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League NTP and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and N ...
and as a regional manager for XOS Digital.
In 1998, Foley donated a kidney to his wife, who had lost both of hers to
polycystic kidney disease
Polycystic kidney disease (PKD or PCKD, also known as polycystic kidney syndrome) is a genetic disorder in which the renal tubules become structurally abnormal, resulting in the development and growth of multiple cysts within the kidney. These ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Foley, Ed Sr.
Living people
Players of American football from Cherry Hill, New Jersey
American football quarterbacks
Boston College Eagles football players
Year of birth missing (living people)
Woburn Memorial High School alumni