The Ghost That Sacked the Quarterback

The Ghost that Sacked The Quarterback is the fourteenth episode of the first season of The Scooby-Doo Show.

Premise
The gang is attending a Hawk's football game when the star player vanishes -- and the ghost of a long dead 1930s football player known as the Rambling Ghost shows up, propelling them into yet another mystery.

Synopsis
Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne are attending a Hawks vs. Cougars football game, rooting for the Hawks. But all of a sudden, fireworks occur, and in the midst of all the smoke and the excitement, the team's star player, Flash Rangers disappears! And then, the ghost of a long-dead football player appears on top of the scoreboard! The gang heads to Mr. Prentice's house, the owner of the stadium, determined to solve this caper. Mr. Prentice explains that in the 30's, a player nicknamed the Rambling Ghost, was booed out of the stadium and was never seen again. And tonight at the game, he came back. The gang gets to work on the mystery.

They go to the team's practice session and are warned away by another player, Crunch Connors. Then they search the area where Flash disappeared. Crunch Connors begins jumping tires and then-he disappears too! Suddenly the ghost appears and chases them all. Scooby and Shaggy get away from the Rambler and meet up with the gang. They split up to look for clues. Scooby and Shaggy go into the locker room and find a newspaper clipping, a valuable clue. But the Rambler appears and snatches the newspaper and chases Scooby and Shaggy into the steam room and then into the showers. They finally escape and meet up with Fred and the girls. Velma, Daphne and Fred claim they just saw the ghost go into the scoreboard, so they follow him. Inside, they find the room destroyed and the scoreboard operator, Mr. Ellsworth, who says that the Rambler attacked him.

A player named Bulldog appears and tells the gang he also saw the ghost go into the scoreboard. Back on the field, the gang finds a trapdoor in the ground leading into the old stadium-the new stadium was built over the old one. That's how Crunch Connors disappeared. Inside the tunnel, they split up and Velma, Scooby and Shaggy find an old trophy hall-of-fame room. They also see the Rambling Ghost with the newspaper! They manage to get the newspaper and flee from the ghost, but fall through a trapdoor into a room-where Flash Rangers and Crunch Connors are being held hostage. But with the help of Scooby they escape with Flash and Crunch.

With a far-fetched trap, they manage to trap the ghost. He is unmasked as Mr. Ellsworth, the scoreboard operator. But then they pull off a rubber mask, and it's not "Mr. Ellsworth: it's Buck Bender, an old coach that mr. Prentice fired years ago. That newspaper clipping had incrimination evidence against Buck Bender. He was taking revenge on the stadium for firing him.

Cast and characters

 * Don Messick as Scooby-Doo
 * Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers
 * Frank Welker as Fred Jones
 * Heather North as Daphne Blake
 * Patricia Stevens as Velma Dinkley
 * John Stephenson as Buck Bender, Announcer, and Rambling Ghost

Villains

 * Buck Bender/Rambling Ghost

Suspects

 * Mr. Prentice, the stadium owner
 * Flash Rangers
 * Crunch Connors
 * Mr. Ellsworth-scoreboard operator

Culprits

 * Buck Bender/Mr. Ellsworth as the Rambling Ghost (to get even with the stadium owner for firing him)

Notes/Trivia
Player numbers 14 and 92 are referred by the quarterback to the year 1492, while player numbers 17 and 76 are referred to 1776.

Home Media

 * The Scooby-Doo Dynomutt Hour - The Complete Series