Gerry James obit

BLUE BOMBERS MOURN THE PASSING OF GERRY JAMES

 

He was not on the list.

The Winnipeg Football Club is once again saddened to learn of the passing of another Blue Bombers icon in Gerry James, who died Tuesday at the age of 89.

News of death came just hours after the club learned Ken Ploen had also died at the age of 88.

“It’s been a difficult couple of days for the Blue Bombers with the losses of Ken Ploen and Gerry James – two iconic figures in this franchise’s long and storied history,” said Winnipeg Football Club President & CEO Wade Miller. “Gerry James was a two-sport star during his playing days and his skill, his grit and his toughness were trademarks of those legendary Bud Grant-coached teams of the late 1950s and early 1960s.

“The WFC would like to extend our deepest condolences to his family and friends.”

Born in Regina, Saskatchewan, James was the son of another Winnipeg Football Club legend in Eddie ‘Dynamite’ James and earned the nickname ‘Kid Dynamite’ for his prowess on the football field. He was also an exceptional hockey player and made his National Hockey League debut with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1955. He played in 149 NHL games and is the only player to suit up for both the Grey Cup and the Stanley Cup in the same season.

A product of Kelvin High School, James joined the Blue Bombers in 1952 at just 17 years of age and played through the 1963 season. A running back and kicker, he played in six Grey Cup games beginning in 1953 and was part of the four championship teams in 1958, 1959, 1961 and 1962. James was the first winner of the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian Player award in 1954 and was again honoured in 1957.

He scored 19 touchdowns in 1957, a club record that stood until 2002 when Milt Stegall established a Canadian Football League record with 23 scores. His 18 rushing touchdowns in ’57 stood as a league record until Mike Pringle scored 19 times along the ground in 2000. His 63 career touchdowns ranks fourth in Blue Bombers history behind Stegall (147), Charles Roberts (79) and Leo Lewis (75).

After his playing days James turned to coaching hockey, working the bench in Switzerland before coaching Yorkton, Melville and Estevan in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League, and the Moose Jaw Warriors of the Western Hockey League.

James was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1981, the Blue Bomber Hall of Fame in 1984 and the club’s Ring of Honour in 2016.

At the age of sixteen, James played with the Winnipeg Monarchs junior hockey team in the 1951 Memorial Cup (a loss). The Toronto Maple Leafs, who owned James' professional hockey rights, decided to move him to Toronto to play for the Toronto Marlboros, their top junior team. James would win the 1955 Memorial Cup playing with the Marlboros – only a few months after winning the CFL's Most Outstanding Canadian award. A few days after the Memorial Cup win, James also played his first NHL game with the Maple Leafs – ending a tremendous series of multi-sport and multi-league achievements within a five-month period.

In the 1955–56 NHL season, immediately after rushing for a career-high season of 1,205 yards and being chosen a Western All-Star for the 1955 Canadian football season, James rejoined the NHL's Maple Leafs for their last 51 games, including a 5-game run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

James played a career-high 53 games in the 1956–57 NHL season, also marking his biggest season for NHL goals (4), assists (12), points (16) and penalty minutes (90).

The following 1957 football season saw James win his second Most Outstanding Canadian award on November 29, play in the CFL's 1957 Grey Cup Championship the afternoon of November 30 in Toronto, and that same night play his first game of the 1957–58 NHL season with the Maple Leafs.

James played only 15 games with the Maple Leafs in the 1957–58 NHL season, being sent to the team's Rochester Americans farm team for a further 15 games of ice hockey. He was only able to join the Maple Leafs in a management role for the 1958–59 NHL season, due to a leg injury suffered in the 1958 CFL season.

In the 1959–60 NHL season, immediately after winning the CFL's 1959 Grey Cup, James rejoined the NHL's Maple Leafs as a player for their last 44 games, including a 10-game run into the 1960 Stanley Cup Championship finals. With his on-field and on-ice play between November, 1959, and April, 1960, James became the only player in history to play in the Grey Cup and Stanley Cup finals in the same season.

The Maple Leafs did not use James in the 1960-61 season, lending him to the Winnipeg Warriors in the minor pro Western Hockey League for his last year of professional hockey.

James would play some senior ice hockey in Saskatchewan over the next few years, then became a Tier II/Junior A head coach in 1973 in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL). Over a twelve-year period, James would coach eight SJHL seasons with the Yorkton Terriers, the Melville Millionaires and the Estevan Bruins. He coached these teams to seven winning seasons and a lifetime record of: 249 wins, 191 losses, 14 ties for a 0.622 winning percentage. He just missed a perfect sweep of winning seasons when his 1979-80 Melville Millionaires finished a half-game below 0.500: 29–30–1. James later coached the 1988-89 season with the Moose Jaw Warriors of the major junior Western Hockey League.