The 40th Grey Cup game was the

Canadian Football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

Championship held on 29 November 1952. The

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 21–11 at Toronto's

Varsity Stadium Varsity Stadium is an outdoor collegiate football stadium located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Toronto Varsity Blues, the athletic teams of the University of Toronto. Athletic events have been hosted on the site since 1898; the ...

Game highlights

An audience of 27 391 watched as acting Canadian Prime Minister

C. D. Howe Clarence Decatur Howe, (15 January 1886 – 31 December 1960) was an American-born Canadian engineer, businessman and Liberal Party politician. Howe served as a cabinet minister in the governments of prime ministers William Lyon Mackenzie ...

opened the game with a ceremonial football kickoff, where Edmonton Mayor

William Hawrelak William Hawrelak (October 4, 1915 – November 7, 1975) was a politician in Alberta, Canada, the longest-serving mayor in Edmonton's history, and a candidate for election to the House of Commons of Canada. Early life Hawrelak was born in Wasel, ...

held the ball, and Toronto Mayor

Allan Lamport Allan Austin Lamport, (April 4, 1903 – November 18, 1999) was mayor of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, from 1951 to 1954. Known as "Lampy", his most notable achievement was his opposition to Toronto's Blue laws which banned virtually any activ ...

was watching nearby. Hometown coach

Frank Clair Frank James Clair (May 12, 1917 – April 3, 2005) was an American gridiron football player, coach, and executive. Nicknamed "the Professor" for his ability to recognize and develop talent, he served as a head coach in the Canadian Football L ...

and his team enjoyed a decisive victory despite trailing in the first quarter. Edmonton coach

Frank Filchock Frank Joseph Filchock (October 8, 1916 – June 20, 1994) was an American gridiron football player and coach. As a consequence of a famous scandal regarding the 1946 NFL Championship Game, he was suspended by the National Football League (NFL) ...

was dismissed soon after his team's defeat. First quarter:

Normie Kwong Norman Lim Kwong (born Kwong Lim Yew; ; October 24, 1929 – September 3, 2016) was a Canadian football player who played for the Calgary Stampeders and Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was also an active businessman ...

earned a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

for Edmonton at the 13:05 mark, the only score of the first quarter. Second quarter: Toronto took the lead when it earned six points from a touchdown by Nobby Wirkowski at 3:06, and a conversion by Red Ettinger, who would score again that quarter with a 3-point field goal at 11:35. Billy Bass earned Toronto's second touchdown of the quarter at 13:28, converted again by Ettinger. Edmonton was left scoreless in this quarter which ended with a 15-5 Toronto lead. Third quarter: Kwong's second touchdown of the game occurred at 10:24 and converted by

Bill Snyder William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the p ...

, the only points recorded in this quarter. Toronto continued to lead 15-11. Fourth quarter: Edmonton was shut out in the final quarter as Toronto's

Zeke O'Connor Zeke is a masculine given name and nickname, sometimes a shortened form (hypocorism) of Ezekiel, which may refer to: People * Caleb Bailey (nickname "Zeke", 1898-1957), US Marine Corps brigadier general and athlete *Zeke Bella (1930–2013), Amer ...

touched down at 9:40, followed by a conversion from Ettinger.

Grey Cup's first telecast

This was the first Grey Cup match to be televised as CBC Television's Toronto flagship station,

CBLT CBLT-DT (channel 5) is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the English-language service of CBC Television. It is part of a twinstick with Ici Radio-Canada Télé outlet CBLFT-DT (channel 25). Bo ...

, paid

CAD Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or ) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design. This software is used to increase the productivity of the designer, improve the quality of design, improve co ...

$7,500 to the Canadian Rugby Union for the rights to broadcast the game. The broadcast was only available locally on CBLT which had only begun broadcasts less than three months earlier. Live network television connections with other CBC stations were not available until 1953, although

kinescope Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program on motion picture film, directly through a lens focused on the screen of a video monitor. The process was pioneered during the 194 ...

films of the game were produced for movie theatres and other television stations. A technical failure prevented viewers from seeing 29 minutes of the game video. This interrupted the telecast during much of the third quarter, although commentator audio was still transmitted. Images were restored into the final quarter when CBC technicians repaired the link at the CBC's tower which received the feed from Varsity Stadium. The reported cause of the transmission relay failure was a

vacuum tube A vacuum tube, electron tube, valve (British usage), or tube (North America), is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric potential difference has been applied. The type known as ...

worth $1.85. Despite this setback, this inaugural Grey Cup broadcast was reported to have had the most viewers of any Canadian television production to that date.

References

External links

1952 Grey Cup at CFL.ca
{{1952 Canadian football season by team Grey Cup Grey Cup Grey Cup Toronto Argonauts Edmonton Elks Grey Cups hosted in Toronto 1952 in Ontario 1950s in Toronto November 1952 sports events in Canada