Epic_Legacies_Book

“he Eskimos have been the cornerstone of the CFL,”
commented Bill Baker, another former CFL commissioner.
“Edmonton has been the leader in times of crisis. Anytime the
league is in trouble, Edmonton steps in. And they’ve supplied
about half the league’s great quarterbacks over the years.”
Norm Kimball, once a salesman for the National Cash
Register Company, may deserve as much credit for the team’s
status as any one individual. “I would like to build this into the
best professional football franchise in North America,” Kimball
said in the early 1970s. Later, Kimball deined his goal to lead
the league in class and in every category. He said he wanted the
Eskimos to be viewed as an NFL operation in the CFL.
With capacity crowds in Commonwealth Stadium and nine
trips to the Grey Cup game in 10 seasons, Kimball could claim
“mission accomplished” from 1973 to 1982.
Hugh Campbell recalled a noteworthy conversation with
Norm Kimball. “I remember once suggesting, ‘Maybe we can’t
be the Montreal Canadiens, but ...’ and Norm interrupted me
and said, ‘Why not? Why couldn’t we?’”
Signiicantly, Jim Coleman, the dean of Canadian sportswriters
at the time, would go on to write, “he Edmonton
Eskimos are the Montreal Canadiens of the CFL.”
As for the 34-year record for consecutive seasons in the
playofs, Norm Kimball saw this coming years in advance. “here
is no reason the Edmonton Eskimos should miss the playofs
again this century,” he said to me in the early ’80s.
he Eskimos have drawn more fans, led the league in attendance
more years and had the largest single-game crowd of the season in
almost every season. Since the team moved into Commonwealth
Stadium in 1978, the Eskimos have led the league in attendance 27
times—including 22 times from 1993 to 2015, failing only once,
during the 4–14 season in 2013.
In the team’s 67-year history to this point, the Eskimos
have drawn 16,085,771 fans to regular season home games.
he all-time regular season attendance for Eskimos games in
Commonwealth Stadium is 12,098,364, a total no other CFL
franchise comes even close to matching over the same time span.
You can’t talk numbers without bringing up the 50–50 pool,
which is administered by Cathy Presniak, VP inance and human
resources. he Eskimos set world records for 50–50 payouts and
fund a signiicant percentage of minor football operations in
Northern Alberta with the proceeds. he world record for a 50–
50 payout came in the 2014 Eskimos season, when 20-year-old
Connor Croken had his 15 minutes of fame ater winning the
carry-over draw for $348,534.
In the irst four years with the new automated 50–50 system,
winners have let with sums such as $160,507, $145,335,
$127,875, $126,250, $113,165, $113,155, $108,567 and $102,752.
Super fan, Chantelle EE Miller Jim Hole and Norm Kimball draw the 50-50
winning ticket.
This photo of a streaker won Perry Mah the 2000
Canadian Press Enterprise Photo of the Year.
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