Who was the Greatest All-Round Athlete to Ever Play for the Argos?

[jerrym]

The Argos have had a number of multi-sport athletes that played for the team. However, I don't think any ever matched Lionel Conacher,who is only one of two players to win both the Grey Cup and the Stanley Cup. He played football (his favourite sport) for the Argos, hockey for Pittsburg, New York Americans,Chicago Black Hawks and Montreal Maroons, baseball for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the Triple AAA International Baseball League, lacrosse in the International Professional Lacrosse League and was a professional wrestler. He helped the Argos win the first East-West Grey Cup 23-0 by rushing for 211 yards and scoring 15 points, leaving the game in the third quarter to help his senior hockey team win a trophy. He was considered one of the best defencemen in the NHL. He could also run 100 yards in less than 10 seconds. In addition, Conacher was boxing light heavyweight champion of Canada, going four rounds with World Heavyweight Champion Jack Dempsey in an exhibition. He was a good enough ballplayer that the Detroit Tigers offered him a contract but he couldn't fit it in with all his other sports. He was named Canada's athlete of the half-century in 1950. In 1937 he was runner-up for the NHL's Hart Trophy for the Most Valuable Player at age 36. In professional lacrosse he led the league in scoring, beating the second place finisher by more than twice his number of points.

After his sports career Conacher was elected to Parliament in 1945. In 1954, while playing in the annual Parliamentary softball game "in the sixth inning, in his last at-bat-ever, he hit a long drive into left field, stretching a single into a triple, when he sprinted to third base. He stood, breathing heavily and then collapsed face-first from having been hit in the head with a pitch in an earlier inning. One of the other MPs was a doctor who tried to assist him, but there was little that could be done for Conacher and within twenty minutes he was pronounced dead." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Conacher)

Below is a description of his career as an Argo;

The league played just six regular seasons games in 1921 and Conacher led the Argonauts to a perfect record of six wins, scoring 14 touchdowns and 85 points to lead the league in scoring. ....
The 1921 Grey Cup contest, the first east/west game in Canadian football history (the league was named the Dominion Rugby Football League at the time) saw the west represented by the Edmonton Eskimos with the Argonauts representing the east. Toronto defeated Edmonton 23-0, with Lionel scoring 15 of the points -- two touchdowns, a field goal drop-kick and two single points. Incredibly, he left the championship game after the third quarter in order to help his Aura Lee senior hockey team defeat the Toronto Granites for the Sportsman's Athletic Association Trophy that same night.
The Argonauts went undefeated again in 1922, winning five and tying one. Conacher, the newly-named captain and nicknamed 'The Big Train,' rushed for 950 yards in the six game season, including a game against Ottawa in which he carried the ball for 215 yards. Uncharacteristically, Lionel fumbled seven times in the Eastern Final against Queen's, and the Argos lost 12-11.During 1922, Lionel also starred for the Toronto Maitlands, a club that took the Ontario Amateur Lacrosse Championship that year. ...
Conacher was savvy enough to realize that sports offered a quick way out of poverty, and with his abilities proven, was ready to expand his horizons. In 1923, Conacher was lured to Pittsburgh, in essence to play football and hockey.

https://www.hhof.com/htmlSpotlight/s...ep199401.shtml

[jerrym]

Here is a description of Lionel Conacher's athletic career.

Conacher was a prolific athlete, excelling in numerous sports at the same time. He played with 14 different teams during his teenage years, winning 11 championships.^[7] He was 16 years old when he won the Ontario lightweight wrestling championship,^[11] and at 20 won the Canadian amateur light-heavyweight boxing championship.^[12] In 1921, he fought, and was knocked out by heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey in an exhibition match.^[13] One year he famously hit a triple to win the Toronto city baseball championship, then rushed to the other side of the city to find his lacrosse team trailing 3–0 in the Ontario provincial final. He scored four goals and an assist to lead them to a comeback victory.^[14]Rugby football was the first sport Conacher played, and it was his favourite.

Conacher moved to the senior level in 1920 with the Toronto Rugby Club where his team again won the ORFU championship, but lost the eastern semifinal to the Toronto Argonauts of the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union (IRFU). His play impressed the Argonauts, who signed him for the 1921 season.^[16] In his first game with the Argonauts, he scored 23 of the team's 27 points, and led the IRFU in scoring, accounting for 14 touchdowns and 90 of his team's 167 points as they went undefeated in six games.^[16] The Argonauts won the eastern championship, and faced the Edmonton Eskimos (renamed Edmonton 'Elks' in 1922) in the first east-west Grey Cup championship in Canadian history. Conacher rushed for 211 yards and scored 15 points in Toronto's 23–0 victory to claim the national title.^[19]

Named captain in 1922, Conacher led the Argonauts to another undefeated season in IRFU play, finishing with five wins and one tie, as he rushed for about 950 yards. The Argonauts reached the Eastern final, but lost to Queen's University, 12–11. In that game, Conacher was the entire Argonaut offense rushing 35 times for 227 yards but Pep Leadley's 21 yard field goal towards the end of the game gave Queens' its victory.^[16]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Conacher

[jerrym]

The description of his multi-faceted career continues below:

The expense of playing hockey initially kept Conacher off the ice.^[11] He did not learn to skate until he was 16. Consequently, hockey was among his weakest sports. ... His efforts paid off, and by 1918–19, was considered a star defenceman for Aura Lee. ...
National Hockey League (NHL) teams took notice of Conacher's ability. The Toronto St. Pats offered him $3,000 a season – three times the average salary – to play for them in 1920–21,^[23] while in 1921, the Montreal Canadiens offered $5,000 and support setting up a business. ....

He received an offer from Roy Schooley, the manager of the Duquesne Gardens and owner of the Pittsburgh Yellow Jackets of the United States Amateur Hockey Association (USAHA), to play for his team. While he would retain his amateur status, Schooley set Conacher up with a job in the insurance business and paid his university tuition so that he could improve his education. ...


He served as the Yellow Jackets' captain in the winter where he led the team to consecutive USAHA titles in 1924 and 1925.^[22] In the summers, Conacher returned to Toronto and played lacrosse and baseball.^[28] The Yellow Jackets turned professional in 1925 when they were renamed the Pittsburgh Pirates and joined the National Hockey League (NHL). ...

Conacher scored the first goal in Pirates history on American Thanksgiving Day Thursday November 26, 1925, against the Boston Bruins.^[22] He scored nine goals in 33 games in 1925–26, then returned to Toronto to play professional baseball with the Toronto Maple Leafs.^[29] An outfielder on the team, Conacher and the Maple Leafs won the International League championship then defeated the Louisville Colonels to win the Little World Series. ...

Conacher spent his last three NHL seasons with the Maroons and won his second Stanley Cup in 1935. He ended his hockey career after the team was eliminated from the playoffs by the New York Rangers on April 23, 1937. That final year he was runner-up to Babe Siebert in the 1937 Hart Trophy voting and was placed on the NHL Second All-Star Team. ...


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.^[37] The league never came to fruition, but Conacher organized what became the first professional football team in Canada.^[19] 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.^[16] Conacher recruited former amateur players who had likewise left the sport in favour of paying jobs in other pro sports, including his brother Charlie.^[38]
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.^[39] 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.^[40] Conacher was again the star, rushing for two touchdowns and scoring 13 of his team's points.^[41] 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.^[42] 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. ...

Led by the owners of the Montreal Canadiens, the arena operators of Canada's NHL teams invented the sport of box lacrosse in 1931 in a bid to fill arena dates in the summer. ... Several NHL players who had played the field game before abandoning it to turn professional in hockey signed with the teams, including Conacher, who joined the Maroons.^[45] The Maroons' inaugural game came against the Maple Leafs, and though Toronto won 9–7, Conacher stole the spotlight from the victors. He scored six of Montreal's goals, assisted on the seventh, and earned the praise of his fellow players.^[46] When the Maroons went to Toronto, the Maple Leafs hosted a "Lionel Conacher Night" to celebrate the city's native son.^[46] The Maroons did not figure into the playoff for the championship, but Conacher led the league in scoring with 107 points. His dominance in the league was such that his total nearly doubled his nearest rival, who finished with 56 points.^[47] In one game, against Toronto, he scored ten goals in a 17–12 victory.^[48] He chose not to return to lacrosse for the 1932 season, choosing instead to sign a contract to wrestle professionally during the hockey off-seasons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lionel_Conacher

[bannedforlife]

Before I could answer your question you just did.

[jerrym]

Before I could answer your question you just did.

There's always room for a different opinion.

[OV Argo]

Before I could answer your question you just did.

Yeah - no question if we're talking all around athlete who excelled at multiple sports.

[Tobin Rote]

Honestly... Michael Bishop would rate some consideration here. Get well soon Michael!

[gilthethrill]

Heard a story about some roundtable on Bob McCowns old show Prime Time Sports. One of the Rogers jmokes asked who was the best athlete amongst the Toronto teams. Someone answered Chad Owens. Crickets followed by the tumbleweed rolling down the dusty street. Owens maybe the best athlete to wear Double Blue IMO.

[ArgoGabe22]

Heard a story about some roundtable on Bob McCowns old show Prime Time Sports. One of the Rogers jmokes asked who was the best athlete amongst the Toronto teams. Someone answered Chad Owens. Crickets followed by the tumbleweed rolling down the dusty street. Owens maybe the best athlete to wear Double Blue IMO.

I have always felt, and argued, that Chad Owens at that time was the best athlete in the Toronto sports market. All the other teams kind of stunk, and Owens didn't get the attention a superstar deserves.

[doubleblue]

We're talking all round athlete here. I don't think there has been anybody close to Lionel Conacher who excelled at football, Hockey, Lacrosse and Baseball.
Maybe somebody like Gordie Howe could have been outstanding in all those sports if he had the opportunity. Gordie was a good ball player. But all round Athlete for the Argos? got to be Conacher.

[OV Argo]

Conacher, no contest.

IF we were talking all-around football athlete - might have to with Dave Mann - played both offence & defence for the Argos and was one of the best punters in CFL history. And Pinball excelled all-over the field - RB who could run between the tackles for a smaller back; evolved into and outstanding pass catcher as a slot type and of course one of the best dual returners in CFL history.

[ArgoGabe22]

Conacher is the best ever. Not just Argos history but Canadian sports history.

[mrfrugal]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Milt Campbell.
Usually an Olympic Decathalon Gold Medalist is considered a pretty good Athlete.

https://www.cflapedia.com/Players/c/campbell_milt.htm

[doubleblue]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Milt Campbell.
Usually an Olympic Decathalon Gold Medalist is considered a pretty good Athlete.

https://www.cflapedia.com/Players/c/campbell_milt.htm

I remember Milt mostly from when he came back to football with the Argos in 1964 after he had obtained his Canadian Citizenship. But then the League changed the rule to allow only three Americans per team so was probably why he was traded to Edmonton. Trying to remember who the Argos had at the time under that rule. Would have been RB Dick Shatto and WR/P Dave Mann and maybe OT Billy Shipp. All better players than Milt. At that stage of the game I don't think Milt was good enough to make a team as an Import but had a good chance as a Canadian, and then the League changed the rule. He was part of the law suit that ended up eliminating that rule. He was a pretty big guy at 6' 2 -6' 3, back in the era of pro football teams signing track stars. Bob Hayes with Dallas etc.
I wonder if the present Canadian 100 meter champ can catch a football.

[ArgoGabe22]

Also, John Carlos won an Olympic medal, but wasn't very liked during his short stint.

[jerrym]

Conacher, no contest.

IF we were talking all-around football athlete - might have to with Dave Mann - played both offence & defence for the Argos and was one of the best punters in CFL history. And Pinball excelled all-over the field - RB who could run between the tackles for a smaller back; evolved into and outstanding pass catcher as a slot type and of course one of the best dual returners in CFL history.

I agree totally. Dave Mann and Pinball were my favourite players but I honestly feel they were the best all-round football players. Conacher, I'm sure would have been one of my favourites, but I'm not quite old enough to have seen him play.