‘I was caught completely off guard’: Erik Meyer, former EWU and Spokane Shock quarterback, to enter Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame
Rightly so, Erik Meyer calls Spokane his second home.
First in Cheney for five years playing football and attending Eastern Washington University, then five more seasons playing for the now defunct Spokane Shock indoor team, it all comes full circle for the former quarterback this week.
The native Californian will be inducted into the Big Sky Conference Hall of Fame Saturday (July 20) in ceremonies in Spokane, thanks to the illustrious career he had for the Eagles from 2002-05. But he also fondly remembers spending the majority of his professional playing career with the Shock, a former powerhouse franchise in arena football.
In five seasons (2010-14) for the Shock, Meyer completed 67.7% of his passes (762 of 1,125) for 8,721 yards, 199 touchdowns and just 26 interceptions in the regular season. In 2013, he was the league MVP and the Offensive Player of the League after leading the team to a 14-4 record.
His tenure in Cheney gave him a glimpse of what the club was all about. Then, after other avenues in pro football closed for him, the path back to Spokane opened up.
“I didn’t know too much about Spokane when I got there in 2010, but I saw the atmosphere in the arena and how much the fans loved the indoor game,” he said. “It propelled me to want to make a career in the AFL. It was so enjoyable playing in front of those fans in Spokane – they made it fun for me.”
Meyer had opportunities with three National Football League teams – Cincinnati, Seattle and Oakland – plus one in the Canadian Football League with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Those didn’t pan out – thanks partly to a broken leg – but he did have one eventful and productive season in the spring/summer of 2007 with the Cologne Centurions in NFL Europa.
He ranked second among NFLE quarterbacks with a passer rating of 101.1 after snagging the starting quarterback position at midseason. He won a league Player of the Week honor and finished the season completing 68.8% of his passes to set a NFL Europa record that will never be broken. That’s because the NFL decided to cease existence of the league shortly after that season.
“It was one of the best experiences of my life living in Germany for three months and playing football with the chance to get back to the NFL,” says Meyer, now the quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator at Cal Poly. “When I got there I didn’t know what to expect, but their fans are a bunch of people who love American football. Those fans provided a soccer environment with a lot of craziness going on. It all provided a phenomenal experience for me.”
Having a taste of long-awaited professional success in Germany, Meyer eventually did find a home in the Arena Football League. Two of his five seasons in Spokane were marred by injuries, and his professional career came to a halt on Nov. 12, 2015, when the San Jose SaberCats announced they were ceasing operations.
“Unfortunately I wasn’t able to stick in the NFL, but I was grateful to be able to play in NFL Europe the last year they had it and then obviously the majority of my career was in the AFL,” he said of his pro career. “What made Spokane so special was the support from the fans and how fun those games were.”
His family will be at the BSC Hall of Fame ceremonies in force, including his parents, Ken and Nancy. His younger sister, Erika, also graduated from EWU before settling back in California, and she will also make the trip back to her college home. Erik’s younger brother, Tristan, who played sparingly as a quarterback at Sacramento State, will be on hand, as well as about 15 other family and close friends.
“I was truly lucky and blessed to have parents who supported me so well – they literally went to every single football game when I was at Eastern Washington, home and away,” said Meyer, “To have that support and love made it fun and always gave me something to play for. I’m truly appreciative that my parents were able to do that.”
A year ago, offensive tackle Michael Roos was the first Eastern football player to be selected to the Big Sky Hall of Fame for an All-America career for the Eagles and an All-Pro career while playing for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans.
Roos played at EWU from 2001-04 – the latter three alongside Meyer – and EWU’s 2004 squad went on to upset No. 1 ranked and top-seeded Southern Illinois 35-31 on the road in the first round of the playoffs.
“Michael was very deserving and had a heckuva career at Eastern, and then a great career in the NFL,” praised Meyer. “I was very fortunate to have a guy like that protecting my blind side.”
Meyer also had a talented group of receivers to throw to at Eastern, and the offensive results were staggering. Meyer was a two-time All-American at EWU and was named the Big Sky Conference Offensive Player of the Year as a junior and senior.
With a completion percentage of .657, 10,261 yards, 84 touchdowns and just 17 interceptions in 42 career games, Meyer broke the FCS record for efficiency rating by quarterbacks with at least 400 completions with a rating of 166.47. He narrowly surpassed the previous record of 166.27 set from 1992-95 by Montana’s Dave Dickenson, another Big Sky Hall of Fame member.
Meyer became just the 17th player in FCS history to pass for more than 10,000 yards in his career, thanks in part to Eric Kimble, who started his career as a running back and was turned into an All-America wide receiver. Kimble finished his career with 253 catches for 4,140 yards, and his 46 touchdown receptions ranked second in FCS history at the time behind the 50 the legendary Jerry Rice had at Mississippi Valley from 1981-84.
“He obviously made my job a lot easier,” Meyer said of Kimble. “But we had a lot of other great receivers out there. All five of us had a really good feel of where they should be and where I was supposed to go with the ball. We fed off of each other, and that was pretty unique about that receiving group we had there.”
Posted Kimble on Facebook when he heard the news of the induction of Meyer: “YEAAAAHH BUDDY!! Super excited to see this. LegendI! Erik Meyer.”
Craig McIntyre, Raul Vijil and Richmond Sanders were his other main targets. Those three, along with Meyer and Kimble, entered EWU in the fall of 2001 together, and ended their careers together in 2005 with a narrow 41-38 loss at Northern Iowa in the playoffs.
“It was unique that we all came in the same year and finished our careers together,” he added. “To have us be around each other and be in that system five straight years, it made our connection a lot easier.”
Kimble and McIntyre will be among a group of more than 15 former Eastern players who will be in Spokane to honor Meyer. The last time Meyer has seen most of them was in Frisco, Texas, when Eastern played for the NCAA Division I title following the 2018 season.
Vijil eventually played with Meyer for the Spokane Shock, and his own career will be hall of fame worthy some day. A second team All-Big Sky receiver when he was at EWU, Vijil helped the Shock win indoor football league titles in three of his six seasons with the club from 2006-11.
Although injuries never allowed their college chemistry to fully materialize as professionals, Meyer and Vijil played together in 2010 in the Shock’s first year as a member of the AFL after previously playing in AF2. The Shock was 13-3 and won ArenaBowl XXIII before falling to 9-9 in the 2011 regular season in Vijil’s final season.
Vijil had 489 catches for 5,701 and 151 touchdowns receiving in 74 regular -season games in his six seasons. Perhaps the all-time face of the franchise, he was known by his nickname “Raul The Thrill Vijil,” the signature back flips he performed after touchdowns, plus a well-deserved jersey retirement following the last of his seasons with the franchise.
Vijil has a family obligation in Texas and can’t be at the ceremony this week, but minces no words on the relationship he forged with Meyer through the years.
“Looking back at our time at EWU, it’s a lot easier now to appreciate what we were able to accomplish and to see that what we did together was special,” he said. “It was a good thing he had such an amazing receiving core to make him look good – just kidding, kind of.”
“When our careers crossed paths again in the Arena game it was exciting,” he continued, “because I knew the type of fun, competitive, winning mentality he was bringing. I’ve always been proud to call him my quarterback.”
Meyer will proudly represent the Eagles and Shock this week in Spokane, even though it came as a complete surprise while he continues his collegiate coaching career at another Big Sky school, Cal Poly. In fact, his boss there is Paul Wulff, who will also be on hand Saturday for the festivities as head coach at Cal Poly after serving in that role at EWU from 2000-07.
“I was caught completely off guard – I had no idea what it was about,” Meyer said of being notified of the honor by assistant league commissioner Jon Kasper. “When he told me, it shocked me. Obviously it was very exciting news.”
“I didn’t even know I was nominated for it, so it’s really cool to have it back in Spokane, my second home,” he added. “That is awesome.”