The Stamps are mourning two former team members
Hobbs threw first touchdown pass
The Calgary Stampeders are mourning the loss of two former players, Harry Hobbs and Bill Goods, who played three years with the team a generation apart and both died last Thursday.
Hobbs, a Calgary native and original member of the Stamps in 1945, died at 87 in Edmonton. He is credited with having thrown the first touchdown pass in team history.
His 60-yard pass-and-run play to George Alexander in the first quarter of the 1945 western final on Nov. 10 at Winnipeg gave the Stampeders a 5-0 lead that would hold up until the Blue Bombers scored with just a little more than five minutes to go to win 9-5.
Both Alexander and Hobbs, whose brother Jack also played with the Stampeders in 1945, would play another two years each but would miss out on the legendary undefeated 1948 team that made it to the Grey Cup for the first time and won.
Alexander, who died last year at 93, recalled the touchdown play vividly in a 2010 conversation.
“I was about 20 yards downfield and had two defenders on me when Harry threw the ball,” Alexander said. “The two defenders collided and fell. I twisted around and caught the ball and had nothing but open field for the final 40 yards.”
The team only played playoffs that year, because of the Second World War. Winnipeg was given a bye while Calgary defeated the Regina Roughriders 15-1 in a two-game total-point series.
Hobbs, a graduate of Central High where he was enshrined into the school’s Wall of Fame, had an underage stint in the war with the Canadian Navy. After playing with the Stampeders, he went to Edmonton and played football with both the University of Alberta and the Eskimos, where his teammates included future Premier Peter Lougheed.
Hobbs was among a close group of friends who helped Lougheed in the rise of the Alberta Progressive Conservative party as secretary of cabinet and deputy member of the Executive Council in Alberta.
He was also a longtime volunteer with the Stampede and a life member of the Calgary Booster Club. He is survived by his wife Dorothy, son Harry and daughter Barb.
Hobbs’s funeral is Saturday at the Royal Mayfair Golf and Country Club in Edmonton.
Meanwhile, Goods played with the Stampeders from 1965-67 as a fullback and place kicker.
The native of Drumheller, who was an educator, leader, athlete and businessman, died after a long battle with cancer. He was 70.
Goods starred on championship football teams at Queen Elizabeth High School, Mount Royal College and the University of Tulsa, where he was inducted into the Tulsa Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the 1964 Blue Bonnett Bowl winning team.
Goods was second on the Stampeders in rushing in 1966 and second in scoring behind league leader Terry Evanshen in 1967, when the Stamps lost a heartbreaking three-game series to Saskatchewan Roughriders in the west final. He went on to play with the Roughriders and Eskimos.
He became a teacher with the Calgary Board of Education and later worked his way up to senior management in the business world with Motorola Canada Ltd.
Goods continued after his retirement in 1993 to volunteer in the community. He was chairman of the Stampeder Alumni Golf Tournament.
He is survived by Dian, his wife of 48 years, son Bill Jr. and daughters Katheryn and Kim.
His funeral is scheduled for Wednesday at 3 p.m. Fosters Garden Chapel, 3220 4th St. N.W.