Moldy Oldies Vol. 1 2025
1939 Bernie Thornton Toronto Argonauts 6.5x8.5
Played at Queens University 1936-37 & is a member of their Football Hall Of Fame.
Joined the Argos in 1938 & won his first Grey Cup that year.
3-time Canadian Press Big Four All-Star with Toronto, 1938-1940.
Jumped to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1941 where he played in every game & won his second Grey Cup.
1936-37 Johnny Ferraro Montreal Indians 5x6.5 CFHOF 1966
1934-1935 Hamilton Tigers
1936-1937 Montreal Indians
1938 Montreal Nationals
1939 Montreal Westmounts
1940 Montreal Bulldogs
“Ferraro won the Imperial Oil Trophy in 1938 as MVP in the ORFU. He donated the trophy to the widow of Ormond Beach, a previous MVP who lost his life in an accident. The donors of the award sent a new trophy to Ferraro.”
1935 Canadian Rugby Football By Frank Shaughnessy, Canada Starch Co
34 pages. Rare.
1934 Wrigley’s Aromints, Maple Leaf Stadium, Toronto Program
Canadian professional football
“Conacher had not played competitive football since turning professional. At one point he was offered a position as coach of the Montreal AAA Winged Wheelers, but disappointed the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union club when he turned down the job due to his other commitments. He was not absent from the game long, however, as Conacher returned to football in 1933. He was part of an effort to launch a new professional league that would feature both Canadian and American teams. The league never came to fruition, but Conacher organized what became the first professional football team in Canada. He captained the team, based out of Toronto, which was known as the Crosse and Blackwell Chefs following a sponsorship with a local food products company. Conacher recruited former amateur players who had likewise left the sport in favour of paying jobs in other pro sports, including his brother Charlie.
The first game was held Thanksgiving Day in 1933, an exhibition contest against the Rochester Arpeakos. A crowd of 10,000 attended the game to watch Conacher play his first competitive football game in Canada in ten years. He did not disappoint, scoring two touchdowns and setting up a third for the Chefs, and was hailed as the game’s star despite an 18–15 loss. Toronto lost a return match in Rochester, but in the third and final game of their season, the Chefs defeated a team from Buffalo at Toronto by a score of 18–0. Conacher was again the star, rushing for two touchdowns and scoring 13 of his team’s points. He organized the team for a second year in 1934, known as the Wrigley Aromints due to new sponsorship, and again played an exhibition schedule as the team remained unaffiliated with any league. The team again played three games, winning all three. However, at the age of 34 years, Conacher found that the game was too hard on his body physically, and neither he nor his team returned for a third season.”
1931-12-12 La Presse Montreal, Gordon Perry 11.25x17.625 CFHOF 1970
Gordon Perry, the 1931 Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy (IRFU MVP) winner & Captain of the undefeated Montreal Winged Wheelers.
This artistic rendition was published a week after Montreal had defeated the Regina Roughriders, 22-0 in the 1931 Grey Cup.
1922-11-25 CRFU Eastern Final, Varsity Stadium, Toronto Program
CIRFU Champion Queen’s University (3-1, 1-0) Vs. IRFU & Defending Grey Cup Champion Toronto Argonauts (5-0-1, 1-0).
This was the last game that Lionel Conacher played for the Argonauts.
It went down as their only loss in the two seasons he spent with the team.
Going into this game, the Argos had been a combined 15-0-1 in 1921-1922 & were the defending Grey Cup Champions.
In 1922, Conacher’s rushing total in the 6 regular season games was an approximate, make that “approximately devastating”, 950 yards (158/g).
He led in scoring for the second straight season as well with 56 points, including 33 singles (down from 85 points in 1921, when he recorded a long-standing Argo record of 14TDs…in 6 games).
Author Ron McAllister devoted nearly two pages to this game in the Harry Batstone chapter of his 1950 book “Football Stars…Today & Yesterday”:
So it was Leadley 12, Conacher 11?
Frank “Pep” Leadley (CFHOF 1963) : I can find nothing suggesting that any Queen’s player other than Pep scored a single point in this game (1TD-5 points, 2FGs-6 points, 1 single).
Harry Batstone (CFHOF 1963).
Lionel Conacher (CFHOF 1963) : 35 carries for 232 yards & all 11 of the Argos points (1TD, 1FG, 3 singles). Again, no mention of any other Argo scoring a point.
The 1981 article “Lionel Conacher : Canada’s Answer to Jim Thorpe” by Bob Braunwart and Bob Carroll (The Coffin Corner, Vol. 3, No. 11) summarizes :
“The defeat was at least partially attributable to Lionel’s uncharacteristically poor showing – he fumbled seven times.”
1901-02? Fred Ritter Cabinet Card, Lawrenceville School, NJ
Fred Ritter was a player-coach during the first four seasons of the Regina Rugby Club (1910-1913).
During those years, Regina were Provincial Champions in 1911 & Western Canadian Champions in 1912-1913.
Later, Fred became the head coach of the University Of Manitoba team in 1921-1922 & again in 1925-1928.
Then it was on to the Winnipeg Victorias in 1923-1924.
The 1924 Victorias won the Western Canadian Championship but did not participate in the 1924 Grey Cup.
1933-1934 found Fred coaching the Winnipeg Deer Lodge team which included future Blue Bombers greats’ Jeff Nicklin & Ches McCance.
In 1935, he closed out his Canadian coaching journey, returning to the Winnipeg Victorias (who lost 3 games to the eventual Grey Cup Champion Blue Bombers by a combined score of 97-4).
