American gridiron football player (born 1943)
Tom Wilkinson
(born January 4, 1943) is an American former professional
football
quarterback
best known for his time with the
Edmonton Eskimos
of the
Canadian Football League
, where he played on six
Grey Cup
-winning teams. He was a Western Conference and CFL all-star quarterback in 1974, 1978 and 1979 and won the
CFL's Most Outstanding Player Award
in 1974. Wilkinson has been inducted into the
Canadian Football Hall of Fame
.
Early life
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]
Wilkinson was born in
Iowa
and moved to
Wyoming
with his parents in 1945. Wilkinson played high school football in the small town of
Greybull, Wyoming
. He was scouted as both a football and baseball player out of high school.
Wilkinson attended the
University of Wyoming
on a football scholarship and played baseball for Wyoming. After graduation, he was signed as a
quarterback
by the
Toronto Rifles
of the
Continental Football League
. He played 16 games for the Rifles in 1966 and 1967, throwing the ball 287 times for 141 completions with 1,952 yards, 11 interceptions and 18 touchdowns. It was during 1967 he moved to the
Toronto Argonauts
of the
Canadian Football League
as a backup quarterback. He was the team's leading quarterback in 1969 throwing for 2,041 yards. In 1970, Wilkinson made way for
Don Jonas
to lead the Argos, but still got enough playing time to throw for 1,272 yards. Traded to the
BC Lions
in 1971, he played there for a year before being released prior to the 1972 CFL season. He was picked up by the
Edmonton Eskimos
and played well enough in the remaining pre-season games to make the team as a backup, but by season's end he was their top passer with 2,475 yards in which he completed 177 out of 268. Wilkinson, known affectionately as "Wilkie" by Eskimo fans had amongst his talents an uncanny knack for drawing members of the opposing line "offside" pretty much at will. It was 5 yards you could all but rely on. A small man in a big man's game he used guile as much as athleticism to make the big plays and win championships. He played the balance of his career in Eskimo Green and Gold in a two-quarterback system, first with
Bruce Lemmerman
and then with
Warren Moon
. After his first professional seasons, when he had been considered especially injury-prone, Wilkinson did not miss a single game during his 10 years with the Eskimos.
He first led the Eskimos to a Grey Cup victory in 1975, after losses in the championship game in 1973 and 1974. After quarterbacking the Eskimos during one more Grey Cup loss in 1977, Wilkinson became part of the 5-time Grey Cup champion Eskimo dynasty from 1978 through 1981, the last two years acting as a backup to Moon.
Including his time with the Rifles, Wilkinson threw for 24,531 passing yards on 1754 completions from 2,949 attempts and with 137 interceptions to 172 touchdowns. Although not known for his running abilities he also added 1,250 rushing yards on 352 runs with 13 touchdowns.
He retired after the Eskimos' 1981 Grey Cup Championship year. Wilkinson was the first player honoured on the Edmonton Eskimo's "Wall of Fame" at Commonwealth Stadium in 1982.
After retirement
[
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]
He was elected to the
Canadian Football Hall of Fame
as a Player on May 2, 1987. He was the head coach of the
University of Alberta
Golden Bears until 2001. In 2004, he was announced as the first president of the
North American Indoor Football League
,
[1]
a Canadian
indoor football
league that failed to launch and never played a single game.
In 2012 in honour of the
100th Grey Cup
,
Canada Post
used his image on a series of commemorative postage stamps. The image was also used on presentation posters and other materials to promote the Grey Cup game and other celebrations associated with the centennial.
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- Official CFL Stats 1967 to 1981
- Ronald A. Ferroni, the 2001 Unofficial Football Encyclopedia, Hamilton 2001.
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- Harry Geldien (1951)
- Chuck Spaulding (1952)
- Joe Mastrogiavanni (1953?1955)
- Larry Zowada (1956?1957)
- Jim Walden
(1958?1959)
- Chuck Lamson (1960)
- Andy Melosky (1961)
- Jeff Hartman (1962)
- Tom Wilkinson
(1963?1965)
- Rick Egloff
(1966)
- Paul Toscano (1967)
- Skip Jacobson (1968)
- Ed Synakowski (1969)
- Scott Freeman (1970)
- Gary Fox (1971)
- Steve Cockreham (1972?1973)
- Rick Costello (1974)
- Steve Trusso (1975)
- Don Clayton (1976?1977)
- Marc Cousins (1978)
- Phil Davis (1979?1981)
- Craig Johnson
(1982)
- Brad Baumberger (1983)
- Scott Runyan (1984?1986)
- Craig Burnett (1987)
- Randy Welniak (1988)
- Tom Corontzos (1989?1991)
- Joe Hughes (1992?1993)
- John Gustin (1994)
- Josh Wallwork
(1995?1996)
- Jay Stoner (1997?2000)
- Casey Bramlet
(2000?2003)
- Corey Bramlet
(2002?2005)
- J. J. Raterink
(2004)
- Karsten Sween (2006?2007)
- Chris Stutzriem (2008)
- Austyn Carta-Samuels (2009?2010)
- Brett Smith
(2011?2013)
- Colby Kirkegaard (2014)
- Cameron Coffman (2015)
- Josh Allen
(2015?2017)
- Nick Smith (2015, 2017)
- Tyler Vander Waal (2018?2019)
- Sean Chambers (2018?2021)
- Levi Williams
(2019?2021)
- Andrew Peasley
(2022?2023)
- Jayden Clemons (2022)
- Evan Svoboda (2023)
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Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy winners (1946?1972)
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Prior to 1973, the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy was awarded in the WIFU/WFC to the player considered to be the most valuable to his team.
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Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy winners (1973?present)
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From 1973, the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy is awarded to the
West Division
's Most Outstanding Player.
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Prior to 1973, the WIFU/WFC's Most Outstanding Player was separate from the Jeff Nicklin Memorial Trophy.
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