Irrelevant Week XXV: No show no more

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - The only Mr. Irrelevant honoree to skip his own

party, Florida A&M;’s Tyrone McGriff, is making up for lost time.

Twenty years ago, McGriff was so miffed at being the absolute last man

picked in the NFL draft that he fled directly to Canada for a tryout in

the CFL.

“I didn’t come to (Irrelevant Week V in 1980) when they did it for me,”

McGriff said Monday at the Arrival Party for the silver anniversary

edition of the zany, out-of-control, anything-goes Irrelevant Week.

“I missed out on Disneyland and everything, but (IW) was nothing compared

to what it is now. After seeing this (Arrival Party for Mr. Irrelevant

XXV, Mike Green), I’m a little jealous.”

McGriff, one of eight members of the Mr. Irrelevant Club to return to

Newport Beach this week for the 25th ultimate celebration of the

underdog, forfeited his 1980 irrelevance to Arkansas quarterback Kevin

Scanlon, the next-to-last pick in the NFL draft that year by the Rams.

But McGriff, an award-winning offensive lineman at Florida A&M;, was cut

in Canada that summer and then showed up late to training camp with the

Pittsburgh Steelers, who selected McGriff 333rd and dead last in the ’80

NFL draft.

McGriff not only made the squad that year in Pittsburgh, but lasted three

years in the NFL, then three more years in the USFL with the Michigan

Panthers and Memphis Showboats.

In 1981, McGriff also had a change of heart about Irrelevant Week and

asked IW founder Paul Salata, who has never said no in his life, if he

could make amends. So Salata fixed Irrelevant Week VI so that McGriff and

the legit ’81 last choice, Delaware tight end Phil Nelson, were roasted,

toasted and boasted all week in Newport Beach.

“To tell you the truth, in all my years playing pro football, nothing

tops (Irrelevant Week),” McGriff said, after Mr. Irrelevant XXV was

welcomed ashore at the Newport Dunes, which hosted its first IW event.

To this day, McGriff is known as Mr. Irrelevant 5 1/2, after serving as

Nelson’s caddie and bodyguard.

In 1996, McGriff was named to the NCAA Division I-AA Football Hall of

Fame along with Walter Payton of Jackson State and Terry Bradshaw of

Louisiana Tech in the new shrine’s inaugural class.

McGriff, these days, is married and the father of two children. He’s a

teacher and coach at Dillard High in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

McGriff’s IW history is “all irrelevant,” anyway.

The madcap Irrelevant Week, once again bravely saluting and honoring the

last collegiate football player selected in the NFL draft, continues

tonight with the All-Star Sports Banquet and Lowsman Trophy presentation

to Green, the Northwestern State (La.) defensive back who was picked

254th and last in the NFL draft by the Chicago Bears, at the Newport

Beach Marriott (6 p.m.).

Green, who went to Disneyland Tuesday in Day 2 of Irrelevant Week, will

be the target of much buffoonery tonight by Salata, celebrity guests and

well-wishers in a format similar to the old Dean Martin Roasts on

television in the 1970s.

Green will become the 22nd player to receive the coveted Lowsman Trophy,

an award at the opposite end of the college football spectrum from its

more famous counterpart -- the Heisman Trophy. Details: (949) 263-0727.

The highly successful Arrival Party was produced for the first time by

the Commodores Club of the Newport Harbor Area Chamber of Commerce.

“They’re just fabulous,” IW executive Pat Taylor said of the volunteers

from the Commodores Club. “They’re all sharp guys. They say this will be

happening and that will be happening and it does. I’m really impressed.”

The ultimate celebration of the underdog is becoming the ultimate

community event.