Greg Vavra (FB | Student-athlete)

NAME: Greg Vavra

UNIVERSITY: Calgary

CATEGORY: Student-Athlete

SPORT: Football

YEARS ACTIVE: 1979-1983

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Four-time WIFL All-Star (1980-1983)

• Two-time All-Canadian (1982, 1983)

• Hec Crighton Trophy winner (1983)

• Vanier Cup champion (1983)

BIOGRAPHY:

Greg Vavra quarterbacked the University of Calgary Dinos to their first Vanier Cup in 1983 and became the first Dinos player to win the Hec Crighton Trophy as the most outstanding player in Canadian university football.

Calgary’s all-time leading passer (8,401), Vavra is the only Dinos football player to have his number (17) retired. He won back-to-back WIFL Player of the Year awards in 1982 and 1983, and was a four-time WIFL all-star from 1980 to 1983.

The storied 1983 season saw Vavra unanimously voted the CIAU’s most outstanding football player, named an All-Canadian, and culminated with Calgary defeating Queen’s 31-21 in the Vanier Cup. Vavra was additionally named the University of Calgary Male Athlete of the Year.

Originally from Red Deer, Vavra joined the Dinos in 1979 after graduating from Bishop Grandin High School in Calgary and quickly became the team’s starter under centre. He also handled placekicking and often punted throughout his five-year career.

He was picked second by the Calgary Stampeders in the territorial exemption portion of the 1983 Canadian Football League Draft and went on to play five CFL seasons, from 1984 to 1988, with the Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos and BC Lions.

From 2006 to 2016, Vavra was a member of the Dinos football coaching staff, initially working as offensive coordinator and later as quarterbacks coach.

A lawyer with over 25 years of corporate experience in the energy sector, Vavra received the Order of the University of Calgary in 2019.