Chris Walby

Last updated
Chris Walby
No. 63     Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Born: (1956-10-23) October 23, 1956 (age 67)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Career information
CFL status National
Position(s) OT
Height6 ft 7 in (201 cm)
Weight325 lb (147 kg)
College Dickinson State
CFL Draft 1981 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4
Drafted by Montreal Alouettes
Career history
As player
1981 Montreal Alouettes
1981–1996 Winnipeg Blue Bombers
Career highlights and awards
CFL All-Star 1984–1987, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994
CFL East All-Star 1987, 1989–1994
CFL West All-Star 1984, 1985, 1986, 1996
Awards 1987 Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman
1993 Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman
Career stats

Chris Walby (born October 23, 1956) is a retired Canadian Football League player who played the offensive tackle position almost exclusively with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He won three Grey Cups with the Bombers in 1984, 1988, and 1990. Walby was also a sportscaster with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's CFL on CBC telecasts following his retirement.

Contents

Early life and college career

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Walby grew up in the city's North End on Polson Avenue. [1] He attended school at St. John's High School where he started playing junior football for the first time in grade 12. [1] Growing up in Winnipeg, the primary sport was hockey and Walby played for the West Kildonan/Kildonan North Stars.

He played in the 1975–76 and 76-77 seasons, scoring four goals and nine assists but racking up 275 penalty minutes. [1] Playing hockey in an era of fighting, he got into a pre-game altercation with teammate Kenny Sutherland. They were both arrested. Walby was charged with assault causing bodily harm and given a two-year conditional sentence. [1] After his junior hockey career, he started playing football with the Winnipeg Rods, and earned an athletic scholarship to play college football at Dickinson State University in North Dakota. [1]

Professional football career

Following his collegiate career, Walby was drafted in the first round of the 1981 CFL Draft by the Montreal Alouettes. Walby played five games on the offensive line for them during the 1981 CFL season. Wrangling by management over his salary left Walby without a contract and short pay after he was waived by Montreal general manager Bob Geary; this left him with a bad taste in his mouth, but also with a contract offer from his hometown Winnipeg Blue Bombers. [2] Bombers' assistant general manager Paul Robson greeted Walby at the airport, and within 30 minutes of his arrival had signed him to the Blue and Gold. [2]

Assistant coach Ellis Rainsberger moved Walby from defensive end to right guard in 1982 and 1983. The following season he moved to right tackle, where his success took him to a Hall of Fame career on the offensive line. Robson would say of his playing style that "He was an offensive lineman with a defensive lineman's personality, and that was the best of both worlds." [2]

For the remaining 16 years of his professional football career (1981–1996), Walby was a fixture on the Bombers' offensive line and a favourite of the fans. He was named a CFL All-Star nine times, received the CFL's Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award twice, and won the Grey Cup on three occasions. He is often referred to as one of the greatest offensive linemen in the history of the CFL. [3]

Post-football career

After his football career, Walby ran for a seat in the Manitoba Legislature for the Liberal Party of Manitoba but lost. He also was involved in various business ventures such as a restaurant called Hog City Bar and Grill.

Walby was a sportscaster on the CBC's CFL on CBC television broadcasts.

Awards and honours

In 2003, Walby was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and in 2005, was chosen as one of the Blue Bombers All-Time 20 Greatest players. In November 2006, Walby was chosen 22nd amongst the CFL's 50 Greatest Players in a TSN poll. [4] Inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 2006.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winnipeg Blue Bombers</span> Canadian football team

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at Princess Auto Stadium.

Leo Everett Lewis Jr. was an American gridiron football player and coach. He played college football as a running back for Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri, from 1951 to 1954 and professionally with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL) from 1955 to 1966. He served as the head football coach at his alma mater, Lincoln, from 1973 to 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike O'Shea (Canadian football)</span> Canadian Football League head coach

Michael O'Shea is the head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a former Canadian football linebacker and former special teams coordinator of the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL from 2010 to 2013, winning the Grey Cup in 2012. O'Shea played 16 seasons in the CFL for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts from 1993 to 2008. He retired second all-time in career tackles with 1,154 and is one of only three players to record over 1,000 tackles. He won the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian Award in 1999 after recording 84 tackles, 13 special teams tackles and three interceptions that year. O'Shea is a three-time Grey Cup champion as a player, having won all three with the Argonauts in 1996, 1997, and 2004. He is also a two-time Grey Cup winning head coach, having won with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2019 and 2021; O'Shea also won the Grey Cup previously as a special teams coach with the Toronto Argonauts in the 100th Grey Cup.

Josh Ranek is a former Canadian football player.

The 1993 CFL season is considered to be the 40th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 36th Canadian Football League season.

The 1987 CFL season is considered to be the 34th season in modern-day Canadian football, although it is officially the 30th Canadian Football League season.

The 2007 CFL season was the 54th season of modern-day Canadian football, the 50th season of the Canadian Football League, and many special events were held to commemorate the event. Regular-season play began on June 28, 2007 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario and concluded on Saturday, November 3, 2007. The playoffs began on Sunday, November 11, 2007, and ended with the championship game, the 95th Grey Cup, at the Rogers Centre in Toronto, on November 25, 2007, with the Saskatchewan Roughriders as champions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milt Stegall</span> American gridiron football player (born 1970)

Milton Eugene Stegall is a former professional gridiron football player who played 17 years of professional football, three years in the National Football League with the Cincinnati Bengals and 14 years in the Canadian Football League with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He is currently an analyst on the CFL on TSN studio panel.

Matt Sheridan is a retired professional Canadian football offensive lineman who played eight seasons with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League and was twice named Winnipeg's Most Outstanding offensive lineman.

Herbert "Herb" William Gray was an All-American from the University of Texas who played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League (CFL) from 1956 to 1965.

Willard Sheldon Reaves is an American-Canadian former professional gridiron football running back and politician. Reaves played for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Canadian Football League (CFL), and for the Miami Dolphins and the Washington Redskins in the National Football League (NFL). Reaves currently serves as the deputy leader of the Manitoba Liberal Party. He was twice a Manitoba Liberal Party candidate for the division of Fort Whyte in 2022 and 2023.

John Hampson Wells, also known as Cactus Jack, was a Winnipeg-based radio and television broadcaster specializing in sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddy Tinsley</span> Canadian Football Hall of Fame offensive lineman

Robert Porter "Buddy" Tinsley was a Canadian Football League (CFL) offensive lineman for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1982, and was a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Hall of Fame, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and the Baylor University Hall of Fame.

John Wells is a Canadian sportscaster. His most recent show, which ended in April 2008, was Wells And Company on CJOB radio in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He broadcast Canadian Football League games for over 30 years. He is the son of "Cactus" Jack Wells. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Cuthbert</span> Canadian play-by-play sportscaster

Chris Cuthbert is a Canadian sportscaster. He currently serves as the lead play-by-play commentator with CBC Sports/Sportsnet for Hockey Night in Canada, and calls most national and regional games for the Toronto Maple Leafs on the network. Formerly, he worked for TSN, NBC, and CBC Sports in a multitude of roles. He and Glen Suitor were the lead broadcast team for the CFL on TSN from 2008 to 2019 before Cuthbert gave that lead play-by-play role to Rod Smith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nic Demski</span> Canadian football slotback

Nic Demski is a Canadian football slotback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Demski won the 107th and 108th Grey Cups with his hometown Blue Bombers, both times defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The 2017 CFL season was the 64th season of modern-day Canadian football. Officially, it was the 60th season of the Canadian Football League. The regular season began on June 22 and concluded on November 4. The playoffs commenced on November 12 and concluded on November 26 with the Toronto Argonauts defeating the Calgary Stampeders to win the 105th Grey Cup.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jermarcus Hardrick</span> American gridiron football player (born 1990)

Jermarcus "Yoshi" Hardrick is a professional gridiron football offensive lineman for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He is a Grey Cup champion as a member of the 107th Grey Cup champions and is a two-time West Division All-Star receiving the honour in 2017 and 2021. He played college football for the Fort Scott Greyhounds before joining the Nebraska Cornhuskers for two years to finish his college playing eligibility.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Streveler</span> American gridiron football player (born 1995)

Christopher L. Streveler is an American professional football quarterback for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Minnesota and South Dakota. After going undrafted in 2018, Streveler played two seasons as a backup quarterback for the Blue Bombers, where they won the 107th Grey Cup championship in 2019. He has also been a member of the Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins, and New York Jets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vince Leah</span> Canadian journalist, writer and sports administrator

Vincent Leah was a Canadian journalist, writer and sports administrator. He wrote for The Winnipeg Tribune from 1930 to 1980, and was credited with giving the Winnipeg Blue Bombers their team's name. He established youth sports programs in Winnipeg for baseball, basketball, football, lacrosse, ice hockey, and soccer; and brought Little League Baseball to Canada. The Excelsior Hockey Club he founded in 1934, won thirteen provincial championships and produced forty professional hockey players. He was widely known as "Uncle Vince", authored eight books on history and sports, and was a freelancer for the Winnipeg Free Press from 1980 to 1993.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "What you didn't know about Chris Walby". Winnipeg Blue Bombers . Retrieved 2017-08-21.
  2. 1 2 3 "The Chris Walby Story". Winnipeg Blue Bombers . June 21, 2016. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  3. ↑ "CFL Great Chris Walby's Off-Field Battle". CFL . November 2, 2010. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  4. ↑ "TSN Top 50 CFL Players". TSN.ca. 2006-11-28. Retrieved 2007-07-18.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.