The 1941 Winnipeg Blue Bombers won the Grey Cup for the third time in Manitoba’s history and now join its 1935 (inducted in 1983) and 1939 brethren in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. Coach Reg Threlfall again guided the Winnipeg squad to a hard-fought 18-16 victory over the Ottawa Rough Riders to capture the Dominion rugby football title.
Newspaper clippings recount Ches McCance accounting for 8 of Winnipeg’s 18 with two field goals and two converts. Touchdowns by Mel Wilson and Bud Marquardt sealed the victory for the Bombers on November 29th, 1941, at Varsity Stadium in Toronto before 20,000 fans. Wayne Sheley completed passes and was handling the punting until a serious back injury forced him from the game and pushed Jimmy Lander into the kicking duty. Fritz Hanson was described as “the blonde flash… (who) tore off most of the yardage gained by the Bombers” and thrilled the crowd with his “brilliant running.”
ROSTER: (NOTE: A traditional Roster Photo does not appear to exist. This celebratory post-game newspaper photo does not correspond to any order for the listed roster) Ches McCance, Fritz Hanson, Wayne Sheley, Jimmy Lander, Mel Wilson, Cliff Roseborough, Les Lear, Lou Mogul, Jack Manners, Bud Marquardt, Bernie Thornton, Nate Shore, Ben Hatskin, Ken Draper, Herb Peschel, Bill Boivin, Art Stevenson, Cec Ludwig, Wally Chikowski, Art Kolisnyk, Wilf Daniels, Cliff McFayden, Jim Lindsay, & Ken Preston.
