Football & Rugby Bibliography Abstracts

AB: Reprinted from the September 1980 issue of Maclean's magazine is an article that highlights the conquests of the Edmonton Eskimos football team and their consistent success in the sport. Between 1950 and 1960, the team was never out of the Western Conference playoffs and appeared in five national championships, winning the Grey Cup 3 times (1954-1956) and after a lag in the 1960s while the Saskatchewan Roughriders dominated the West, Edmonton went on to re-establish a football dynasty early in the 1970s.

AB: Provides a brief history of Johnny Bright's football career starting with the overt racism incidents while playing for Drake University where the opposing players from Oklahoma A & M badly injured Bright. The rest of the article describes his success with the Edmonton Eskimos and the Grey Cup victories of 1954, 1955 and 1956. After his football career he became a highly respected teacher, a principal and a basketball coach.

AB: The Edmonton Eskimo's dominated Canadian football for an impressive five straight seasons under legendary quarterback Warren Moon. The team was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 1997.

AB: A brief summary of the first Chinese Canadian ever to play in the Canadian Football League, the first Chinese Canadian ever to become lieutenant-governor of Alberta, and the only person ever to wear both a Grey Cup and Stanley Cup ring- the man being Normie Kwong. Lim Kwong Yew was born in Calgary in 1929 during a period when Chinese immigrants were subject to racist head taxes and, only in 1947, the same year Normie Kwong landed a position as fullback with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League, did Chinese Canadians finally get the right to vote. The following year the Stampeders won the Grey Cup and Kwong became the youngest player in CFL history to share in winning the Cup. Three years later, Kwong was traded to the Edmonton Eskimos where he went on to win three more consecutive Grey Cup championships in 1954, 1955 and 1956 as well as earning himself the nickname, "the China Clipper."  After retiring from the CFL in 1960, he held over 30 CFL records and was twice voted the CFL's most outstanding Canadian player as well as Canada's Athlete of the Year in 1955. In 1968, Kwong was inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame and received honours in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame (1975) and the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame (1980). In 1988, he was also inducted into the Order of Canada. Kwong took over as general manager of the Calgary Stampeders for three years in 1988 and was also a co-owner of the NHL's Calgary Flames from 1980 to 1994, and after the Flames won the Stanley Cup in 1988, Kwong became the first person to have won both a Grey Cup and a Stanley Cup. In the spring of 2005, he would be appointed lieutenant-governor of Alberta.

AB: In this book on Canadian football history is a chapter which chronicles the Calgary Stampeders and the beginnings of football in Calgary as a hybrid form of rugby-football since 1891. The Calgary Tigers were formed in 1908 but disbanded in 1914 at the onset of the war. The Calgary Bronks came into being in 1935 but would later be known as the Calgary Stampeders in 1945. This chapter details the 1948 Grey Cup game celebration that brought two trains full of western dressed Calgarian fans to Toronto to cheer on their team to victory. This chapter provides extensive detail on Calgary's football scene including the construction of McMahon Stadium in the 1960s as well as key moments and star athletes and coaches over the career of the Stampeders.

AB: As a chapter in the book on Canada's football history, it focuses on the Edmonton Eskimos and the evolution of football in the capital city. The chapter focuses on the efforts of Annis Stukus, who was hired as coach and general manager, whose goal was to revive the sport in Edmonton. Also included are highlights of important players on the team and key moments in the season.

AB: An account of the Calgary Stampeders' famous 1948 Grey Cup victory over the Ottawa Rough Riders and the equally legendary tale of the team's accompanying band of fans. The author postulates this event marked the start of the CFL as symbolic battleground between the East and West.

AB: The autobiography of former Toronto Argonauts head coach Leo Cahill written just after his first five years with the team and subsequent dismissal after failing to win the Grey Cup. Of note is the 1971 faceoff between Cahill's Argos and the Calgary Stampeders

Ab: This story is part of a series originally compiled for a 1951 radio program on CJCA entitled, "Edmonton Stories." It recounts an iconic football game in which longtime rivals, the Edmonton Eskimos and the Calgary Tigers, battle out for the provincial championship title on neutral grounds- Red Deer. The story commences with a poem or fight song and goes on to explain how the rivalry came to be and the origin of the name Eskimo, which happened to be based on an insult given from Calgary to Edmonton.

AB: During a football game between the Calgary Stampeders and the Saskatchewan Rough Riders, the Stampeders pass catcher, Terry Evanshen's left ankle was broken. Harsh weather conditions saw the players trying many different kinds of footwear that would give them traction on the slippery field. Not satisfied with his choice of footwear Regina's Ron Atchison tossed out his shoes with steel cleats and donned his "hush puppy" shoes. Describing the rest of the game, Coleman marveled at the play under these adverse conditions.

AB: Columnist Coleman begins his account of football's 1948 Grey Cup with this sentence, "Those unsophisticated hillbillies known as the Calgary Stampeders met the city slicker Ottawa Roughians on Saturday afternoon and fleeced them as mercilessly as a confidence man rolls a stiff." He goes on to say that the Stampeders were a "smarter" team, who capitalized on the mistakes of their opponents. He gives Stampeder quarterback Kieth Spaith kudos for his superb play along with teammates Woody Strode, Chuck Anderson and Johnny Aguirre.

AB: The author advises the Edmonton Eskimos administration to hire Angus MacStudkus (Big Stuke) as their new coach. He then provides a brief biography, qualifications and reasons why MacStudkus should be chosen.

AB: The author recalls the football talents of Max Bell when he played for McGill University. In this tribute to Bell who just passed away at a Montreal hospital outlines how Bell became a legend in his lifetime, as a football and hockey player, a race horse owner and enthusiast, a Calgary petroleum industry entrepreneur and philanthropist.

AB: Sports columnist Jim Coleman reminisces about the 1948 Grey Cup and Stampeder Coach Les Lear's reaction to and behavior after the Grey Cup game. Unlike the Ottawa coach Lear was fully prepared for this game having come east to scout Ottawa's football plays. Lear was able to map weaknesses and strengths of the Ottawa football team and developed strategies that allowed the Calgary Stampeders to beat the Ottawa team.

AB: A detailed history of football in Canada by leading expert and former CFL quarterback Frank Cosentino, this text traces the origin of the game from rugby, to its evolution of a sport of its own compete with the legendary Grey Cup. Alberta receives numerous mentions throughout including: the early organization of football in Alberta (p. 47-53), a photo of the 1948 Grey Cup winning Calgary Stampeders (p.78) and an account of the dramatic 1954 final between Edmonton and Montreal. This book includes a selection of black and white photos, copies of the primary source used in the research and insightful commentary throughout.

AB: The article discusses the history of the Edmonton and Calgary rugby teams in Alberta and also provides a look at their early games against one another. The author begins by talking about the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway in Calgary in 1883. The first train to reach Edmonton was in 1891 which led to the Edmonton Football Club challenging Calgary. Their first match was on October 17, 1891. Subjects of the article also include their second game on October 27, 1891, the uniforms of the teams, and the sportsmanship between the two teams.

AB: Decries the problem of unfair play-off rules which handicap western football teams in junior and senior football championships. Western teams have a shorter season because of inclement weather and then must wait a month while eastern teams finish the play-offs.

AB: Chronicles the 1948 Grey Cup game with a brief historical background and a recount of the events following the game. Eastern football clubs had been competing since 1907 but the western teams did not join the competition till 1921 and with little success. It was not until 1935 when Winnipeg won the cup that interest in football began to generate in the West. In 1948, the Calgary Stampeders won the Western finals and they went on to compete for the championship title against the Ottawa Roughriders. The "Stampeder Special" was the thirteen car train that rolled into Toronto for the game, consisting of a cowboy band, chuckwagons, Indians, horses and fans adorned with traditional white cowboy hats. The spectacle marked the beginning of celebrations of this nature and brought national attention to the sport as well as to Calgary and its western spirit and passion for the game.

AB: In this book which offers an in depth look at the Canadian Football League is a chapter which discusses two American imports who impacted the Alberta football scene: Jack Gotta and Earl Lundsford. With a brief introduction of the CFL, the chapter starts out with information on Jack Gotta, who came to Canada to play football then progressed to coach and finally, general manager of the Calgary Stampeders. The second half of the chapter dedicates itself to the Oklahoman Earl Lunsford, who was best known for his skills as fullback with the Calgary Stampeders. "Earl the Earthquake" would also eventually become a CFL general manager, but for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

AB: This book offers an extensive, detailed look at the history and development of football in Calgary from 1908 until the year it was written in 1978. Included in this book is information on the Tigers, the 1948-49 Calgary Stampeders' Grey Cup victory, general manager Jack Gotta and his contributions to reviving the Stampeders, the many Calgarians in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the various Calgary football coaches, Calgary award recipients, and the Calgary players on Western Conference All-Star teams between 1937 and 1978 as well as on Canadian Football League All-Star teams between 1962 and 1978. Organized chronologically, the book commences with a brief chapter introducing the sport of football and includes 14 appendices at the conclusion which contribute statistical and additional information on the evolving Stampeder Board of Directors between 1948-1978, the various Presidents and Managers of Calgary Football Clubs between 1928-1979 as well as Calgary Football coaches, and Calgary's record in football championships, just to name a few.