It's shaping up to be a season to forget for the Dallas Cowboys but veteran Canadian long-snapper L.P. Ladouceur is closing in a historic mark.
Dallas's game Sunday versus the Cincinnati Bengals will be the 250th of Ladouceur's NFL career. That will tie him with retired kicker Eddie Murray for the most regular-season contests played by a Canadian.
Ladouceur is poised to break Murray's mark Dec. 20 when Dallas hosts the San Francisco 49ers. The Cowboys (3-9) have dropped two straight and are currently last in the NFC East, two games behind the front-running New York Giants and Washington Football Club (both tied with 5-7 records).
The six-foot-five, 255-pound Ladouceur, a 39-year-old Montreal native, is in his 16th season with Dallas. He began his NFL career signing as an undrafted free agent with the New Orleans Saints in 2005 but was released before appearing in a regular-season contest.
Ladouceur, who played collegiately at Cal, was in California during the '05 season when after visiting the San Francisco 49ers, the Cowboys stayed in the area to prepare for the Oakland Raiders. Rookie snapper Jon Condo was struggling so Dallas gave Ladouceur a tryout.
Former Cowboys coach Bill Parcells was so impressed with Ladouceur that he cut Condo right off the team bus before practice. And Ladouceur has been a model of consistency with Dallas, having never missed a game or any of his career snaps on punts, converts for field goals since then.
Murray, a Halifax native, played for seven different teams — including twice with Dallas, where he won a Super Bowl title in 1993 — over an NFL career that spanned 19 seasons. Murray, a seventh-round pick of the Detroit Lions in 1980 out of Tulane, was last with Washington in 2000 and over his tenure south of the border made 352-of-466 field goals (75.5 per cent) and scored 1,594 points.
In 2014, Ladouceur was added to the Pro Bowl roster. He's one of four Canadians on Dallas's roster, joining defensive linemen Tyrone Crawford (Windsor, Ont.), Neville Gallimore and Eli Ankou (both of Ottawa).
Ladouceur remains the last active Cowboys player to have played at Texas Stadium — the team currently calls AT&T Stadium home — and for Hall of Famer Parcells. Mike McCarthy is the fourth head coach Ladouceur has played for while in Dallas.
It's easy to understand how few football fans might know of Ladouceur. After all, about the only time a long-snapper garners attention publicly is when he botches a snap.
"It (lack of recognition) is part of the job," Ladouceur told The Canadian Press in an interview in 2017. "I understood that a long time ago and I'm totally fine with it."
During that interview, Ladouceur also revealed that a treasured memento always remains in his locker. It's a hand-written note from Bruce DeHaven, Dallas's former special-teams co-ordinator (2003-06) who died in December 2016 of prostate cancer at age 68.
"Before our playoff game against Seattle in 2006, he gave me a note that says, 'Special teams wins championships,' on the front and 'Perfect snaps,' on the back," Ladouceur said. "I've kept it in my locker ever since.
"He's the one who gave me a first chance and trusted me . . . you never forget."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 11, 2020.
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press
