Jacob Gill Gaudaur, Jr., (October 5, 1920 – December 4, 2007) was a

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 ...

(CFL) player, executive, and commissioner. His 45-year career in

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 ( ...

, including 16 years as the league's fourth commissioner (and its longest-serving commissioner), oversaw the start of the modern era of professional Canadian football. As an amateur artist, Gauduar made two important contributions, designing both the Hamilton Tiger-Cats "Leaping Tiger" logo, as well as an early version of the CFL logo.

Early life

Jake Gaudaur, Jr. was born in Orillia, Ontario on October 5, 1920, and was an all-around athlete at Orillia Collegiate Institute. Like his father, Jake Gaudaur Snr., he was a national

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

champion as well as an excellent

lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensiv ...

player. Gaudaur was based at Uplands Air Force Base and served as a RCAF pilot during the Second World War spending the war training more pilots.

Football career

In 1940, aged 19, he began playing football and joined the

Hamilton Tigers The Hamilton Tigers were a professional ice hockey team based in Hamilton, Ontario. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1920 to 1925. The Tigers were formed by the sale of the Quebec Bulldogs NHL franchise to Hamilton intere ...

. The following year he played for 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 ...

. Gaudaur served as a pilot in the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

and won the

30th Grey Cup The 30th Grey Cup was played on December 5, 1942, before 12,455 fans at Varsity Stadium at Toronto. The Toronto RCAF Hurricanes defeated the Winnipeg RCAF Bombers The Winnipeg RCAF Bombers were a Canadian football team during World War II. They ...

with the Toronto RCAF Hurricanes in the 1942 season. Following the war, Gaudaur played for, and was part owner of, the

Toronto Indians The Toronto Indians were a football team from Toronto, Ontario and a member of the Ontario Rugby Football Union, a league that preceded the Canadian Football League. After the Toronto Balmy Beach Beachers moved to the Interprovincial Rugby Footbal ...

of the

Ontario Rugby Football Union The Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) was an early amateur Canadian football league comprising teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ORFU was founded on Saturday, January 6, 1883 and in 1903 became the first major competition to adopt th ...

(

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which Nuclear weapon, nuclear weapons Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have been used in combat. Events Below, ...

– 1946) and then played for the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the East Division of the Canad ...

during the 1947 season. Gaudaur returned to Hamilton to stay in 1948. When the Tigers merged with the Hamilton Flying Wildcats in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

, Gaudaur became

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

of the resulting Hamilton Tiger-Cats and played through the 1951 season. In 1952, he left the playing field to become director of the team but returned to play a final year in the 1953 season winning the Tiger-Cats first Grey Cup, playing

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

. From 1954, Gaudaur was President of the Tiger-Cats and was President &

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

from the 1956 season to

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

. The Ti-Cats appeared in 9 Grey Cups over his term as general manager and won in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

, 1965, and

CFL Commissioner

Jake was the 4th Commissioner of the CFL serving from 1968 through 1984. During Jake's first year as Commissioner, CFL adopted a new Constitution. In 1980, Jake negotiated and signed on behalf of CFL a record television contract with Carling-O'Keefe Breweries for $15.6 million which covered a 3-year period (1981–83). By 1983, CFL signed a record television agreement with Carling-O'Keefe Breweries for $33 million over a 3-year period (1984-1986). When met with a crisis when

Nelson Skalbania Nelson Mathew Skalbania (born February 12, 1938) is an engineer and businessman from Vancouver, British Columbia who is best known for signing a then 17-year-old Wayne Gretzky to the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association, and for his ...

briefly acquired the

, Gaudaur arranged for the league to seize the franchise, rebrand it as the Montreal Concordes, and sell the franchise to a new owner,

Charles Bronfman Charles Bronfman, (born June 27, 1931) is a Canadian-American businessman and philanthropist and is a member of the Canadian Jewish Bronfman family. With an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion (as of 2021), Bronfman was ranked by ''Forbes'' ...

. This, along with the continued television sponsorship, kept the Montreal franchise alive for another five seasons. "During his 16-year tenure as commissioner, Gaudaur did wonders for the league. By 1983, new television contracts had increased revenue six-fold, while game attendance had nearly doubled. Gaudaur was also instrumental in establishing a Player Pension Plan and aided greatly in the founding of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame and Museum. Above all, he kept the CFL strictly Canadian. Gaudaur was appointed Governor to Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 and took on the duties of chairman of the board in 1984. His fundraising efforts resulted in a $1.25 million renovation programme for the Hall to make it one of the most advanced institutions of its kind at the time." In his last season as CFL commissioner, in 1983, Jake took a personal interest developing a close bond between the CFL and The War Amps kicking off a special tradition – the annual CFL PLAYSAFE Award, saluting the League's support of the PLAYSAFE Program which continues today.

Honours

* He was inducted as a builder into the Toronto Argonauts Hall of Fame in 1984. * He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame as a Builder in 1984. * In 1985, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

. * He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (1990). * The Jake Gaudaur Veterans' Trophy, presented annually to the CFL player "who best demonstrates the attributes of Canada's veterans in times of war, peace and military conflict", was awarded for the first time in 2010.McCormick, Murray (2010-11-25
"McCullough wins inaugural award"
. ''Regina Leader Post.'' https://leaderpost.com/sports/McCullough+wins+inaugural+award/3880691/story.html . Retrieved 2010-12-07. * In 2012 represented by Jake's eldest daughter Jackie, Jake was inducted into the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Jake had three daughters. He died in Burlington, Ontario at the age of 87 in 2007 following a long battle with prostate cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaudaur, Jake 1920 births 2007 deaths Canadian Football Hall of Fame inductees Canadian Football League commissioners Deaths from cancer in Ontario Deaths from prostate cancer Hamilton Tiger-Cats general managers Hamilton Tiger-Cats players Hamilton Tiger-Cats team presidents Hamilton Tigers football players Montreal Alouettes players Officers of the Order of Canada Ontario Rugby Football Union players People from Orillia Players of Canadian football from Ontario Toronto Argonauts players Royal Canadian Air Force personnel of World War II Canadian World War II pilots