(Ed. Note: This is the tenth in the series of digital postcards commemorating 75 years of the FWAA All-America Team.  The first FWAA All-America Team was published in 1944 during World War II and is the second longest continuously published team in major-college football.) 

In 1984….Terms of Endearment won Best Picture….The Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles…Bruce Springsteen released Born in the USA….Jeopardy began its syndicated series with Alex Trebek…President Ronald Reagan was re-elected in a landslide…The average home that year in the U.S. cost $21,600.00…The original Apple Macintosh PC was on sale for $2,500.00.

Boston College’s Doug Flutie was the quarterback on the FWAA’s 1984 All-America Team by virtue of his 48-yard “Hail Mary Pass” for a touchdown that beat defending national champion Miami, Fla., 47-45, on the last play of the Eagles’ final regular-season game.  Mississippi Valley State wide receiver Jerry Rice, who later would go on to stardom in the NFL, was a member of the FWAA team despite playing in Division I-AA (FCS).

Big-name linemen dotted the team: Pittsburgh’s Bill Fralic, Virginia Tech’s Bruce Smith (the 1984 Outland Trophy winner) and Oklahoma’s Tony Casillas. Texas defensive back Jerry Gray, a two-time selection, and Georgia’s Kevin Butler, one of two kickers in the College Football Hall of Fame, were other big names on the team. BYU and Coach LaVell Edwards swept the FWAA’s Grantland Rice and Coach of the Year Awards.

Flutie Play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3ykWbu2Gl0

COTTON BOWL NUGGET:

Flutie followed up the Miami thriller by directing a 45-28 Boston College victory over Houston on Jan. 1, 1985. Flutie was the seventh Heisman Trophy winner to play in the Cotton Bowl game. Defensive lineman Mike Ruth, a Boston College junior in 1984, claimed the Outland Trophy in 1985.

Your 1984 FWAA Selectors

• Gordon White, New York Times
• Wilt Browning, Greensboro News & Record
• Alf Van Hoose, Birmingham News
• Jack Gallagher, Houston Post
• Tom Shatel, Kansas City Star-Times
• Kaye Kessler, Columbus Dispatch
• Dick Rosetta, Salt Lake City Tribune
• Murray Olderman, Newspaper Enterprise Association
• Pat Harmon, Cincinnati Post