Ian "Rocky" Butler


Ian "Rocky" Butler is former quarterback who last played professionally in the Canadian Football League.

College career

He attended college at Hofstra University, where he started two seasons at Quarterback. He finished second in 2001 for the Walter Payton Award, given to the top player in NCAA Division 1-AA football.

CFL career

Rocky Butler was signed as a free agent by the Saskatchewan Roughriders on May 23, 2002. He was the fourth-string quarterback that year. But after a bizarre rash of injuries to all three of Saskatchewan's roster quarterbacks, Butler earned his first CFL start in the 2002 Labour Day Classic against the powerful Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Although he only completed 9 of 16 passes for 165 yards that day, he rushed for three touchdowns and helped the Riders score a convincing upset victory. He failed to duplicate that success in his next two CFL appearances. However, in 2006, Kerry Joseph, the Riders starting quarterback, had been injured and was unable to start a game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, backup Marcus Crandell was injured early in the game, and Rocky Butler pulled off two more wins against the struggling Tiger-Cats 43-13 and 51-8 and threw for five touchdowns and ran for two more. On January 31, 2007 Rocky Butler was dealt in a multi-player trade to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. On June 27, 2007 Rocky Butler was cut from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. On July 16, 2007, Butler signed a practice roster agreement with the Toronto Argonauts.
Butler was released by the Argonauts in April, 2008, after having signed Kerry Joseph in March.

Other Pro Experience

During the 2006 off-season, he signed with the New York Dragons of the Arena Football League. He was cut during training camp and spent the rest of the AFL season on the team's practice roster.

Personal information

During the CFL offseason, he is a substitute teacher in New York. He generally goes by the nickname Rocky and in Saskatchewan was played the Rocky theme whenever he entered the game at Quarterback. Fans of the Saskatchewan Roughriders have been known to chant his name in reference to the 1976 film Rocky on the occasions he has pulled off upset victories.