Slap Shot (1977)

Charlestown Chiefs Player/Coach

It can’t be disputed that Paul Newman is one of the greatest actors of all time, but for many of us, nowhere was he more entertaining than when he was Reggie Dunlop, the player/coach of the Charlestown Chiefs.

With a lot of snow on the roof of his mid-40’s body, Dunlop was clearly in the winter of his playing career, but his youthful (juvenile?) antics on and off of the ice were balanced by his shenanigans to do whatever he could to keep the Chiefs afloat in the town where the mill’s closing spelled doom for the hockey team.

Like any great athlete, Dunlop didn’t quit.  When he got news that the news that the team was in fact going to fold, he made up a fictional buyer in Florida and with the acquisition of the Hanson Brothers, stumbled upon a goon style of hockey that packed the building.  

Dunlop’s ploy didn’t work, as the Chiefs owner was content to fold the team even though the organization became hot, but they did win the Federal League, albeit by forfeit.

The last we saw Reggie Dunlop he was set to ride north to Minnesota to coach a team there, but Slap Shot is one of the most iconic sports films of all time, and Dunlop was the star of the film.  

We are very proud to welcome Reggie Dunlop to the Fictitious Athlete Hall of Fame!

Place Kickers get no love from anybody, and when they screw up, nobody wears the goat horns higher. This brings us to Ray Finkle, who cost the Miami Dolphins the Super Bowl by missing what would have been the winning Field Goal by going “Wide Right”. His failure in the big game (which he blamed on Dan Marino, his place holder for not putting the ball, “laces out”) turned him insane; and in turn undergo a sex change which saw him/her become the Miami police Chef and orchestrate a lavish kidnapping of Marino and a dolphin who was pegged for the halftime show at the Super Bowl. Plausible? Of course not, but this is the movie that put Jim Carrey on the map, and taught us that Dan Marino should never act again.



The Bullet Points:
Movie Appeared:
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994)

Actor:
Sean Young

Position Portrayed:
Place Kicker

Played for:
Washington Sentinels

Why you should vote for him:
His character was (to us) the most interesting in the movie.

Why you should not vote for him:
Kickers? In a Hall of Fame? If Canton won’t do it, why should we?

Why did Bagger Vance care about this guy’s golf game anyway? Somehow, we think they could have made a triumphant period Golf piece without this plot device. Oh, and what kind of name is Rannulph anyway?



The Bullet Points:
Movie Appeared:
The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000)

Actor:
Matt Damon

Why you should vote for him:
Damon has a great body of work, and though we are not fond of this film it isn’t his fault.

Why you should not vote for him:
This movie has no staying power; rare for a golf film.

We almost totally forgot about this one. Dazed and Confused became one of the great cult movies of all time and a was great look at American High School Life in 1976. As much as this was an ensemble effort, the only linking character to everyone was the returning Quarterback, Randall “Pink” Floyd. We never saw him play, but we were led to believe he was very good, based on his teammates’ passive efforts to hope he would sign the pledge not to do drugs or do anything detrimental to the greater good of going for a State Championship.

Again, we state we never saw him on the field (unless it was drinking beer) and the only thing we saw him throw was the aforementioned pledge sheet (which was a nice tight spiral). We can say this much, this is the guy that almost everyone reading this would want to be friends with High School, and based on the way he came off, we all probably could. Now, can you vote for a fictitious athlete who didn’t seem to want play?



The Bullet Points:
Movie Appeared:
Dazed and Confused (1986)

Actor:
Jason London

Position Portrayed:
Quarterback

Played for:
Lee H.S.

Why you should vote for him:
Tell me you didn’t want to be friends with this guy?

Why you should not vote for him:
For a star Quarterback, he did not seem to care about Football that much.

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