"Rufus Baby": A Dream to Defeat the Odds

Steven Lehman teaches English at John Abbot College in Montreal.

This memoir of the football career of Rufus “Baby” Crawford starts
in the backyards and sand-lots of Gastonia, North Carolina, and gives a
humorous and unpretentious account of Crawford’s exploits.

The highlights include the story of his record-setting high-school
state championship in the high jump, his year returning punts for the
Seattle Seahawks, and his single-season total-yardage record (set with
the CFL’s Hamilton Ticats in 1984). One of the most interesting
passages tells of Crawford’s first visit to Canada as a native
American. Following the advice of his agent, he took the trip to confer
with the Hamilton football organization but was detained in Vancouver
trying to change planes. He couldn’t tell the immigration officer the
name of the coach or the name of the team in Hamilton: he didn’t even
know where the city was located. Crawford learned fast, however, and had
a brilliant career there, the details of which are related in Rufus Baby
with candor and rough-hewn charm.

Unfortunately, the book is not very professionally done. There are
countless typos and misspellings, and the binding will probably not
survive a second reading. There is one glaring factual error which
places the University of Pittsburgh in the U.S. college football’s Big
Ten Conference. Readers may wonder how many others may have crept into
the text.

The grand finale of Rufus Baby is a wedding. It celebrates Crawford’s
rite of passage to personal happiness and into a second career in show
business. Considering the heart and soul Crawford displayed as an
athlete, one can only expect him to enjoy equal success as a comic
actor. Best of luck, “Baby.”