Nobby Wirkowski Passes Away at 88

[ArgoGabe22]

Former Argos QB and coach as well as the founder and coach of the football team at York.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/football/cfl...irkowski-dies/

[jerrym]

Nobby Wirkowski's Argo career, like I suspect all ArgoFans, occurred before I paid attention to the game but I do remember seeing him interviewed several times. He always struck me as a kind, sincere man without any pretensions. Here are his career stats.

http://www.cflapedia.com/Players/w/wirkowski_nobby.htm

[AngeloV]

I had dinner with Nobby in 1988. He was a very nice man.

RIP Nobby.

[doubleblue]

I liked Nobby. Still can remember listening as a kid to the Argo games on CFRB and then getting to see Nobby live as HC back in the 60's. He was an all time Argo in my books even if he wasn't quite the calibre of Tom Dublinski, Tobin Rote, Joe Thiesman or Doug Flutie. He did a great job getting football started at York U as well. RIP

[argos1873]

Final pro game was as an Argonaut against the St. Louis Cardinals. Just an interesting footnote in an outstanding football career. RIP.

[doubleblue]

Final pro game was as an Argonaut against the St. Louis Cardinals. Just an interesting footnote in an outstanding football career. RIP.

I didn't see the game in person, but listened to it on radio. NFL star QB Tobin Rote had been newly acquired as a FA from the Detroit Lions but sat out the game with a minor injury. If I remember correctly the Argos had signed a rookie back up named John Henry Jackson. But as he wasn't doing very well against the NFLers (he didn't do well against CFLers either) HC Lou Agase called on Assistant Coach Nobby to go in in the second half. Unfortunately Cardinal DE Ed Henke (who had been Nobby's teammate in Calgary) sacked him and wreaked his knee in the process.
Agase had a half hour weekly show on CFTO at the time, so I did get to see some of the game replays. If Rote had played I believe the Argos could have scored a lot more points. Most of their imports at the time would have been considered NFL calibre. WR Dave Mann, HB/SB Dick Shatto and RB Cookie Gilchrest were in their prime then and with a QB like Rote they could have done some damage. Nobby was moving the team quite well until his injury. Jackson as a rookie was in over his head and never panned out then or later in the CFL.

[ArgoGabe22]

His son coached a local rival school so when we played you would see him make scouting notes. Must of been some pretty good notes as we got smoked every time we played them.

[argos1873]

I didn't see the game in person, but listened to it on radio. NFL star QB Tobin Rote had been newly acquired as a FA from the Detroit Lions but sat out the game with a minor injury. If I remember correctly the Argos had signed a rookie back up named John Henry Jackson. But as he wasn't doing very well against the NFLers (he didn't do well against CFLers either) HC Lou Agase called on Assistant Coach Nobby to go in in the second half. Unfortunately Cardinal DE Ed Henke (who had been Nobby's teammate in Calgary) sacked him and wreaked his knee in the process.
Agase had a half hour weekly show on CFTO at the time, so I did get to see some of the game replays. If Rote had played I believe the Argos could have scored a lot more points. Most of their imports at the time would have been considered NFL calibre. WR Dave Mann, HB/SB Dick Shatto and RB Cookie Gilchrest were in their prime then and with a QB like Rote they could have done some damage. Nobby was moving the team quite well until his injury. Jackson as a rookie was in over his head and never panned out then or later in the CFL.

Very interesting. As someone who was around at the time of these CFL vs NFL games, what was the feeling in the city leading up to them? Was it considered a spectacle, or just another football game with a bit of interest to it? I've always been curious.

[doubleblue]

Things were different in 1960. The NFL was not the juggernaut they are today. CFL teams could pay on par for top talent coming out of the US Colleges or NFL FA's. The games were still at Varsity Stadium where today's crowds would be the norm. The over all Canadian talent was not close to what it is today and teams had to start ten Canadians. I don't think it was mandatory but more from necessary as teams were only allowed 14 imports, so some imports would play both ways part of the time. Back up QB's would be someone who could play DB or find a good Canadian QB as some teams did back then. That would be one way of getting some Canadian QB's back in the League, just drop the present QB rules and let the Coaches decide how they wanted to address the back up QB position. I think we would see a return some Canadian QB's and imports who were QB's in College (like John Childs) as short term fill ins. The current back up with the clip board could still do that job in civies.

[D-Gap-Willie]

Nobby (Norbert) was the resident QB for the Argos when I first started following the Argos. He was a very good passing QB, but not a great one. He was very much a thinking football player and coach, with a tremendous understanding and feel for the game. His two years with the TigerCats and three years (1956 -1959) with the Stampeders, who were primarily a running team, kept him from being a more prominent name than he was in the CFL. A quiet yet very intense competitor - he will be sorely missed

[D-Gap-Willie]

Very interesting. As someone who was around at the time of these CFL vs NFL games, what was the feeling in the city leading up to them? Was it considered a spectacle, or just another football game with a bit of interest to it? I've always been curious.

The 1961 game in which Nobby wrecked his knee was the third annual pre-season Argo game against an NFL team. The first, in 1959, which was the only one I attended, was against the Chicago Cardinals (they moved to St. Louis in 1960). They were all great money makers for the Argos.There was a lot of hype and anticipation leading up the game, much of it about the "new" CNE stadium which was first used for that game. Argos were introducing Ronnie Knox at QB, and had former Cardinal Dave Mann as a receiving star. IIRC the Argos got off to a fast start and led almost until half time, but eventually the Cards wore the Argos down and it became a debacle. The Big Four only allowed, I believe, 10 imports then, most of whom played both ways - the import players were very much on par with NFL players. The Canadian players were less experienced and much smaller, each by 30 to 50 pounds. With "Pop" Ivy ( who had won 3 Grey Cups coaching the Eskimos) coaching Chicago ( with about 45 players), it was only a matter of time before the Argos were exhausted and humiliated. Several Argo starters were injured in the game, causing season-long problems. Attendance at the game IIRC was about 28,000, the largest crowd to ever watch a football game in Canada.

Much of the talk after the game was about the colossal traffic jam and parking mess. I believe the Toronto Star headline was something like "Still Minor League".

The 1960 game against the Steelers was not hyped as much, and the Argos were criticized for only thinking about the money they could earn. The outcome was very much the same - Argos humiliated, players injured, money in the bank.

Despite all the criticism, the Argos again decided to do an NFL exhibition game in 1961, this time with more hype - Tobin Rote as the Argo QB who had led the Detroit Lions to the NFL championship. Sam Etcheverry as the Cardinal QB in his first year in the NFL. Rote didn't play due to injury and Slingin Sam came in and ran only a few running plays.The game was again a lopsided dud, and thankfully it was the last such game for the Argos. It was the final game of Nobby Wirkowski's career as Double Blue posted - he came out of the press box at half-time, completed a long string of passes (10?) and then had his knee torn apart.

The first (1959) game was certainly a spectacle with great interest, but after that it was merely an embarrassing and irritating money grab, since the games were part of the season ticket package.

[doubleblue]

Maybe I had my years mixed up. I thought it was 1960 where Nobby was injured as that was Tobin Rote's first year with the Argos. I googled the 1960 Argo roster and Rote was there that year, but John Henry Jackson was only listed on the 1961 roster. Speaking of injuries, I do remember starting C Norm Stoneburg had his leg broken in one of those games ending his season.

[argos1873]

Thanks for your recaps. BTW, this site has descriptions and newspaper articles, with at least one by Jim Hunt about all the Canadian vs American games of yesteryear:
http://www.mmbolding.com/BSR/Candian...all_League.htm