Jack Wedley (September 15, 1917 – September 29, 2003) was an all-star and
Grey Cup champion Canadian football player, playing from 1937 to 1951.
Born in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, Wedley came to Canada in his youth and played playground football with the city champion Moss Park team. After high school, he graduated to the ORFU's
Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers
The Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers were a Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario and a member of the Ontario Rugby Football Union, a league that preceded the Canadian Football League. Spanning three decades, they appeared in four Grey Cup ...
.
Starting in 1936 he went on to a record setting career. His first stint with 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 ...
lasted 5 seasons and netted him a
Grey Cup championship. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
he played for several Navy teams; Toronto Navy Bulldogs and Halifax Navy, and in 1944 another Grey Cup with
St. Hyacinthe-Donnacona Navy. He returned to the Double Blue in 1945 for six more seasons and four more Cups, having played 90 games, 14 playoff games, and six Cup matches for the Boatmen. He finish his career in 1951 with the
Saskatchewan Roughriders
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division.
The Roughriders were founded in ...
where he just missed yet another championship with their close Cup defeat.
In all, Wedley collected seven Grey Cup championships, the most by any player until his record was later tied by
Bill Stevenson and
Hank Ilesic
Henry "Hank" Ilesic (born September 7, 1959, in Edmonton, Alberta) is a former all-star punter in the Canadian Football League. He also handled place kicking and kickoffs. He was twice an all-star punter and played in the CFL for 19 seasons. He pl ...
. He was also an all-star in 1941 and 1945 with the Argos.
Wedley would go on to coach junior football, starting with the ORFU Oshawa Raiders intermediate team in 1953.
[Wedley to Coach Oshawa Raiders, ]Ottawa Citizen
The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
History
Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...
, March 25, 1953
He died September 29, 2003.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wedley, Jack
1917 births
2003 deaths
English players of Canadian football
Ontario Rugby Football Union players
St. Hyacinthe-Donnacona Navy football players
Saskatchewan Roughriders players
Toronto Argonauts players
Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers players
Northern Secondary School alumni