| Career information | |
|---|---|
| Position(s) | Center, Guard, Tackle |
| US college | University of Montana |
| Career history | |
| As player | |
| 1938–40 | Calgary Bronks |
| 1941 | Toronto Argonauts |
| 1942 | Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers |
| 1943 | Toronto RCAF Hurricanes |
| 1945–46 | Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers |
| 1947 | Toronto Indians |
| 1948 | Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers |
| 1949 | Toronto Argonauts |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| CFL All-Star | 1941, 1942, 1943, 1945 |
| Awards | 1943 - Imperial Oil Trophy |
Bob Cosgrove was an offensive lineman in the Ontario Rugby Football Union. [1]
A graduate of the University of Montana Cosgrove began his football career in the WIFU with the Calgary Bronks. He turned professional in the east with Toronto Argonauts in 1941, [2] but moved to the ORFU the next season with the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers where he was an all-star.
Perhaps his best season was 1943 with the wartime Toronto RCAF Hurricanes, when he was again an all-star and winner of the Imperial Oil Trophy as the ORFU most valuable player. [3]
Cosgrove later played for several Toronto teams: the Beachers, the Toronto Indians, the Beachers again when they merged with the Indians, and finally another year with the Argos (he played 13 regular season and 2 playoff games with the Boatmen in his two years). [4]
The East Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League, its counterpart being the West Division. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the East Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues.
The Toronto Argonauts won the Grey Cup for the second time in five years.
For the second consecutive season the Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers met for the Grey Cup. The Argonauts won the game.
The only two-game total point series in Grey Cup history was played between the Ottawa Rough Riders and the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers. It was Ottawa's first Grey Cup championship since the Senators won back-to-back titles in 1925 and 1926. It was Balmy Beach's fourth and final appearance at a Grey Cup, winning two times in four opportunities.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers were once again permitted to challenge for the Grey Cup following a rule dispute a year earlier. In a meeting of the previous two Grey Cup champions, the Blue Bombers prevailed, sending the coveted mug west for the third time.
The Winnipeg RCAF Bombers faced the Hamilton Flying Wildcats in the Grey Cup. Hamilton proved to be the better team, returning the coveted trophy to Steeltown for the first time since 1932.
Football returned to relative normal in 1945 following the conclusion of World War II. Two rivals from the pre-war years met once again in the annual Grey Cup, but on this occasion, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were no match for the Toronto Argonauts. For Winnipeg, it was the worst loss by a western team in the Grey Cup since 1923 when Queen's University routed the Regina Roughriders 54–0.
For the first time in Grey Cup history, the same two teams challenged for the trophy for the third consecutive year. But unlike the previous two years, the Toronto Argonauts needed some late game heroics to win their third consecutive title.
The Toronto Argonauts faced the Edmonton Eskimos in the Grey Cup. Although the Argos would hold on to win the game and their tenth Grey Cup championship, an Argo would not sip from the silver mug again until 1983.
The Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) was an early amateur Canadian football league comprising teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ORFU was founded on Saturday, January 6, 1883 and in 1903 became the first major competition to adopt the Burnside rules, from which the modern Canadian football code would evolve.
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the annual Grey Cup in 1953.
The Edmonton Eskimos defeat the Montreal Alouettes in the first Grey Cup held in the west. This was also the first year that the Grey Cup was open to professional teams only, as the amateur Ontario Rugby Football Union was not invited to compete in an inter-union playdown, leaving only the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union and the Western Interprovincial Football Union to compete for the Canadian championship.
The Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers were a Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario and a member of the Ontario Rugby Football Union, a league that preceded the Canadian Football League. Spanning three decades, they appeared in four Grey Cup championships, winning twice in 1927 and 1930, and were the longest lasting member of the ORFU.
Toronto Parkdale was an amateur Canadian football and hockey club based in the Parkdale neighbourhood in the west end of Toronto. As a branch of the Parkdale Canoe Club established in August 1905, the club's hockey and football teams were nicknamed the Paddlers. They were also known colloquially as the West Enders, and as the Green and White, after the team colours.
The Toronto Indians were a football team from Toronto, Ontario and a member of the Ontario Rugby Football Union, a league that preceded the Canadian Football League. After the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers moved to the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union in 1941, the Indians began play in the ORFU to fill the void. Ironically, these two teams would merge in 1948 and would continue to be known as the Beachers after that season.
The Hamilton Tigers were a Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario that played in the Ontario Rugby Football Union from 1883 to 1906 and 1948 to 1949 and in the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union from 1907 to 1947. The club was a founding member of both the ORFU in 1883 and the IRFU in 1907. Throughout their history, the Tigers won five Grey Cup Championships and two Dominion Championships, including the 1908 title, the year before the Grey Cup was first awarded. After struggling to compete on a sound financial level with the Hamilton Wildcats, who had joined the ORFU in 1941 and later the IRFU, the two clubs merged in 1950 to form the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Frank Theodore Gnup was an American quarterback, halfback and coach who played Canadian football from 1946 to 1952.
Jack Wedley was an all-star and Grey Cup champion Canadian football player, playing from 1937 to 1951.