Lionel Conacher

Lionel "Big Train" Conacher is considered one of the greatest athletes in Canadian history.  In fact, he was named the greatest athlete of the first half of the twentieth century (1900-1950).  Conacher played just about every sport there was.  Besides football, he played hockey (probably his best known sport), baseball, boxing, lacrosse and wrestling.  Conacher's football career started with the Toronto Capitals Junior team from 1912 to 1915 where he played Middle Wing.  At that time, Canadian Football was a lot more rugby like and had 14 players per team instead of the modern 12.  Middle Wing would roughly translate into offensive tackle.  Conacher moved up to the ORFU Toronto Captitals in 1919 and the Toronto Rugby Club (Toronto R.A.A) in 1920. Conacher played HB for the Toronto Argonauts in 1921 and 1922, includiding the first East-West Grey Cup in 1921. From 1923 to 1927, Conacher attended Bellefonte Academy near Pittsburgh to upgrade his academic standing to get into university.  Returning to Canada, Conacher was consiered a professional and could not play football which was considered an amateur sport still.  Conacher founded a professional league and played in 1933 fo the Toronto Crosse & Blackwell Chiefs, named after the food products company that sponsored the team.  In 1934, the team was called he Toronto Wrigley Aromints.  Conacher was a founding member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1963. Lionel Conacher passed away on May 26, 1954.

Wikipedia Article on Lionel Conacher

Lionel Conacher In The Canadian Football Hall of Fame

Games Played and Points
Year Team GP PTS
1920 TRAA 4  
1921 TOR 6 65
1922 TOR 6 56

Rushing
Year Team TC Yds Avg TD Long
1920 TRAA




1921 TOR


14
1922 TOR
950
3
Lionel Conacher