Epic_Legacies_Book
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“Henry Singer outitted the whole team with coats and hats<br />
for our trip to the Grey Cup, and when we returned, after<br />
losing the game, all of us dressed in those coats and hats.”<br />
he Eskimos wouldn’t win it. Ater a 9–6 season, they lost the<br />
game 21–11.<br />
But they got a rousing return in Edmonton, regardless. “It<br />
was unbelievable,” remembers Arnold. “hey just went wild in<br />
Edmonton. I couldn’t believe it. here were fewer than 200,000<br />
people in Edmonton then. I couldn’t believe the diference 50<br />
years later. But to this day, I believe that’s when Edmonton became<br />
a football town. It was such a big deal to go to the Grey Cup.”<br />
Ted Tully, who would return to win three and play in the 1960<br />
game as well, agreed. “Henry Singer outitted the whole team<br />
with coats and hats for our trip to the Grey Cup, and when we<br />
returned, ater losing the game, all of us dressed in those coats<br />
and hats ... I’d never seen anything like it in my life. here were<br />
so many people. It was like we’d won. It was quite an experience<br />
for a 22-year-old.”<br />
Quarterback Claude Arnold was a major acquisition for<br />
the Eskimos that year. He was 27 when he came out of college,<br />
having missed three years of football while in military service<br />
during World War II.<br />
“I really wasn’t planning on playing pro, but Edmonton<br />
management brought me in and gave me the best contract in<br />
Pop Ivy coached at his alma mater for Oklahoma Sooners from 1948 to 1954,<br />
then he became head coach for the Esks.<br />
Regardless of where they played, the Esks always had a full house.<br />
the league, mostly because I wasn’t interested. I had a career<br />
planned in the oil business,” said the former University of<br />
Oklahoma Sooner.<br />
he Eskimos solved that by convincing Arnold we had just<br />
the right job for him here, in the Alberta oil business.<br />
“hat was quite the year in 1952,” said Arnold. “Frank<br />
Filchok was the coach, but he really wasn’t ready to quit playing<br />
when Edmonton management brought me in. So he put me<br />
into situations where I had everything to lose and nothing to<br />
gain, and he’d be in there when there was nothing to lose and<br />
everything to gain.<br />
“In 1952 Winnipeg had the best team in the league.<br />
hey walked away. We played Calgary in a two-point series.<br />
Calgary beat us 31–12 in the irst game. In the second game,<br />
Rollin Prather set a record for most catches … a record that<br />
lasted for years. I had just a tremendous game. We won it 30–7.<br />
hat put us against Winnipeg. hey beat us 28–12 in the irst<br />
game in Edmonton.<br />
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