Mark Rypien Mark Robert Rypien ( born October 2 , 1962 ) is a former professional football player , a quarterback in the National Football League . He is the first Canadian - born quarterback to start in the NFL and win the Super Bowl MVP award . Early years . Born in Calgary , Alberta , Rypien moved to the United States in 1965 and was raised in Spokane , Washington . He was a star three - sport athlete at Shadle Park High School , and led the Highlanders to the state title in basketball as a senior in 1981 . All three of his varsity numbers ( football , basketball , and baseball ) were later retired by the school . He accepted a football scholarship to Washington State University in Pullman , and joined the Delta Tau Delta fraternity . A knee injury in spring drills in 1982 redshirted him for that season and he nearly left football and WSU in November 1983 . After a good showing as a late replacement to the roster in the Senior Bowl , he was selected by the Washington Redskins in the sixth round of the 1986 NFL Draft , the 146th overall pick and the eighth quarterback selected . Pro career . Rypien spent his first two years as a professional on the Redskins ' injured reserved list , first with a bad knee in 1986 , then a bad back in 1987 . He watched from the sidelines as the Redskins won Super Bowl XXII under coach Joe Gibbs in January 1988 . With Doug Williams aging and the trading of Jay Schroeder to the Los Angeles Raiders , Rypien emerged . In his first full year as a starter in 1989 , he threw for 3 , 768 yards with 22 touchdowns . He gained his first Pro Bowl berth , albeit as an injury replacement . Rypien was best known for his accuracy as a deep passer , developing an incredible sense of timing with receivers downfield . The running joke among sportswriters in Washington was that Rypien couldn ' t keep a ten yard game of catch going during warmups , but from fifty yards he could play catch with a guy who was sitting down . According to former head coach Joe Gibbs , " " Rypien ' s sideline throws would wobble and didn ' t look all that pretty . But that man could seriously throw the deep stuff . " " A 1992 " Sport Magazine " article touted him as one of the best deep passers ever . 1991 was Rypien ' s best season ; he threw for 3 , 564 yards and 28 touchdowns with 11 interceptions , leading the Redskins to Super Bowl XXVI after recording a 14 - 2 regular season record . He was named the MVP ( Most Valuable Player ) of the game , passing for 292 yards and 2 touchdowns and leading his team to a 37 - 24 win over the Buffalo Bills . Rypien , a native of Calgary , Alberta , became the first foreign born player to earn the honor . Rypien was named to the Pro Bowl in both 1989 and 1991 . Rypien was one of several players to benefit from the team ' s success following their championship season . The Redskins signed him to a 3 - year , $ 9 million deal entering the 1992 season . However , the team battled age and injuries and finished the regular season with a 9 – 7 record , barely making the playoffs . His passing yardage was a respectable 3 , 282 yards , but his passer rating fell from 97 . 9 in 1991 to 71 . 7 in 1992 and his interceptions outnumbered his touchdowns 17 to 13 . Although a dominant team performance in the playoffs brought victory over the Minnesota Vikings in an NFC Wild Card away game , the Redskins eventually lost on a rainy , muddy field in a bruising game vs . the San Francisco 49ers , and the Rypien era was essentially over . Under new Head Coach Richie Petitbon , Rypien had his best training camp in 1993 and expectations were high following a Monday Night win over the defending Super Bowl Champion Dallas Cowboys . However , Rypien injured his knee in Week 2 against the Arizona Cardinals and the team began a precipitous slide toward a 4 – 12 season finish . When he was healthy enough to return , Rypien performed spot duty , sharing time with the newly acquired Rich Gannon . The Redskins hired Norv Turner as their head coach in 1994 . Rypien participated in off season workouts , but the team released him from his contract . He went on to become a backup , serving with the Cleveland Browns in 1994 , the St . Louis Rams in 1995 and 1997 , the Philadelphia Eagles in 1996 , and the Indianapolis Colts in 2001 . His last touchdown pass came in relief of Eagles quarterback Ty Detmer . It was an 8 - yarder to Irving Fryar with five seconds remaining in a 37 - 10 loss to the Indianapolis Colts . His last professional game was June 10 , 2006 ; as part of a promotional gig , Rypien played one game for the Rochester Raiders of the Great Lakes Indoor Football League . In 2011 Rypien ' s daughter , Angela Rypien , served as the quarterback of the Seattle Mist in the Lingerie Football League . According to technology journalist Patrick Seitz the league lacked stars in its first two seasons , so the limited press coverage the league received treated it solely as a " " peep show " " . He asserted that Rypien and Krista Ford , due to the reflected notability of having famous relatives , were two potential stars the league could offer in its third season to counter the peep - show coverage . Angela now plays for the LFL ' s Baltimore Charm . NASCAR . Rypien had a brief stint in NASCAR racing as a team owner , and was the original owner of the 2004 Nextel Cup championship - winning # 97 team driven by Kurt Busch , having sold it to Jack Roush ' s Roush Racing in 1997 . Passing statistics . Key to Abbreviations GP = Games Played GS = Games Started Att = Passes attempted Com = Passes Completed Pct = Completion percentage Yds = Yards TD = Touchdown s Int = Interception s Rate = Passer rating Notes . Rypien is one of five players to throw for at least 300 yards in his first NFL game and also has the distinction of becoming the first Canadian - born player to receive the Super Bowl MVP in the Redskins ' Super Bowl XXVI victory . In his 11 NFL seasons , Rypien completed 1 , 466 of 2 , 613 passes for 18 , 473 yards and 115 touchdowns , with 88 interceptions . He rushed 127 times for 166 yards and 8 touchdowns . He signed with the Atlanta Falcons for the 1998 season but never made it to Atlanta . His son ' s death from a malignant brain tumor that August caused Rypien to leave the game ( although he would return in 2001 for a stint with the Colts ) . In August 2002 , Rypien was signed by the Seattle Seahawks as a backup quarterback , played in two pre - season games and finished 13 - of - 21 passing for 97 yards , but was cut early in September . On June 8 , 2006 Mark Rypien was inducted into the National Polish American Sports Hall of Fame . Rypien ' s cousin Rick Rypien was a member of the Winnipeg Jets of the NHL before the latter ' s August 15 , 2011 death . Former NHL player Shane Churla is also Rypien ' s cousin . Mark Rypien ' s daughter , Angela , played the 2011 season for the Seattle Mist of the Lingerie Football League . She is currently playing for the LFL ' s Baltimore Charm . An avid golfer , Rypien has been known to participate in charity tournaments at various locations across the nation . He has played in one PGA Tour event ( 1992 Kemper Open ) and one Nationwide Tour event ( ' 00 BUY . COM Tri - Cities Open ) and in both instances missed the cut by a substantial margin . He has been a regular competitor at the American Century Championship , the annual competition to determine the best golfers among American sports and entertainment celebrities . He won the tournament in 1990 and has a total of six top ten finishes . The tournament , televised by NBC in July , is played at the Edgewood Tahoe Golf Course in Lake Tahoe , Nevada . External links .