John Robert "Bob" McNamara (August 12, 1931 – July 20, 2014) was an American football all-star

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

and the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

. A star with the collegiate

Minnesota Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

, their team MVP in 1954, McNamara was drafted by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

. Instead, he turned directly north and signed with the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fiel ...

. However, the promise he showed was unfulfilled, as his career was beset with injury. In 1955, he rushed for only 51 yards. 1956 is when he showed his true form, rushing for 1101 yards, catching 36 passes for another 512 yards, scoring 17 touchdowns, and intercepting two passes. He was chosen as an all-star. Injuries returned and in 1957 he rushed for 90 yards with one touchdown on an interception return. In 1958, he did manage 236 rushing yards and 248 receiving yards, on 18 catches, but he had become a liability to the Bombers with his no cut contract, and he wasn't in the line up for the last half of the season and did not play in their

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

victory. The Bombers then waived him out of the league, but he still holds an amazing

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

record: he scored 6 touchdowns at the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

on October 13, 1956. McNamara next played with the inaugural

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

of the new

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

. In two seasons as a receiver and cornerback he caught 7 passes for 143 yards and intercepted 7 passes. He later tried out with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

.McNamara Joins Minnesota Club

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix ''The StarPhoenix'' is a daily newspaper that serves Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a part of Postmedia Network. The ''StarPhoenix'' puts out six editions each week and publishes one weekly, ''Bridges''. It is also part of the canada.com ...

, March 28, 1962 In his later years, Bob McNamara was a tireless booster for

sports and an instrumental supporter for the school's

TCF Bank Stadium Huntington Bank Stadium (formerly known as TCF Bank Stadium) is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The stadium opened in 2009, after three years of construction. It is ...

, which opened in 2009 and brought outdoor football back to campus. He died while undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer, on July 20, 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McNamara, Bob 1931 births 2014 deaths Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Canadian football running backs Denver Broncos (AFL) players Minnesota Golden Gophers football players People from Hastings, Minnesota Players of American football from Minnesota Sportspeople from the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area