TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 23, 1954 ~ Faced with missing the playoffs with a loss, the Argos beat Montreal 30-24 with a last-minute TD scored by Al Pfeifer via Frank Clair's "Sarnia Special" play (a double reverse flea-flicker) copied from the Sarnia Imperials. 📸 Gerry Richardson (1955)

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 23, 1937 ~ Rookie Argonaut linebacker Harry Sonshine suffered a double jaw fracture that sidelined him for 24 months from a hit by Bunny Wadsworth of the Ottawa Rough Riders, a notoriously rough player. The incident sparked a league enquiry and a bitter 5-year rivalry.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 23, 1913 ~ Robert McKay, president of the Argonaut Football Club from 1903-1911, died. Despite calls from senior Argonaut Rowing Club members in these years to ditch football, "Uncle Bob" used his stature at the ARC (and cash from his own pocket) to keep the Argos alive.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 21, 1951 ~ Ulysses "Crazy Legs" Curtis scored a 67-yard rushing TD and a 65-yard TD catch as the Argos downed the Alouettes 35–18 at Delorimier Stadium in the first game in Argonaut history played on a Sunday (after refusing fiercely for 6 years to play Sunday games).

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 21, 1939 ~ An 18-7 win for the Ottawa Rough Riders at Varsity Stadium was marred by an ugly on-field brawl between players and fans of both clubs. A "near-riot" was averted when the De la Salle College band marched playing into the melee and separated the brawlers.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 21, 1933 ~ In the 2nd quarter of a 21-2 win in Hamilton, speedy halfback Jack Taylor took a forward pass from American quarterback Andy Mullan into the Tigers' endzone from 25 yards to score the first TD pass/catch in Argonaut history - 2 years after passing was legalized!

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 20, 1945 ~ With newly signed Joe Krol watching from the press box, halfback Royal Copeland, sacked on first down with 3 minutes to play, took the second-down snap 70 yards down the middle of the field for the winning TD in a 13-10 victory over the Hamilton Tigers.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 20, 1928 ~ Frank Turville, a rookie halfback out of Western, scored 2 TDs and 8 punt singles for 18 points in a 20-3 win over Ottawa at Varsity Stadium. "Lanky Frank" left the game to a standing ovation in the 4th quarter and was the game's top player for the next 2 years.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 19, 1975 ~ QB Chuck Ealey, making his Argos debut days after arriving in a trade from Winnipeg, threw a TD pass to Dave Hadden and led the Boatmen to an 18-11 win in Montreal, ending a 9-game losing streak versus Marv Levy's defending Grey Cup champions.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 19, 1953 ~ Having picked up a season-ending knee injury in Montreal, punter and ex-superstar halfback Joe Krol announced his retirement from football after 11 seasons. The news sparked an outpouring of press reactions and the first jersey retirement in Double Blue history.

And the rest, as they say, is history. You just never know which down-on-his-luck player, given a fresh opportunity, is going to become your next All-Time Argonaut.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 16, 1965 = In the last home game of his hall-of-fame career, Dick Shatto rushed for 110 yards and the Argos beat Montreal 24-21 on "Dick Shatto Day" at Exhibition Stadium. At Shatto's insistence, all team revenue from the game was donated to the Hospital for Sick Children.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 16, 1960 = Tobin Rote threw 3 TD passes and Dave Mann and Dick Shatto scored 2 TDs each as the Argos beat Ottawa 37–13 in front of 32,624 spectators at Exhibition Stadium, the fourth time that season the Double Blue had set a new club and league attendance record.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 16, 1954 = On the day after Hurricane Hazel's overnight devastation of Toronto, the Argos beat Ottawa 27–11 at Lansdowne Park, where the storm blew down the scoreboard. A decision to call off the game was reversed when the overdue Argo equipment truck arrived just in time.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 16, 1948 = In a post-game interview following a 41-6 loss at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa, Argonaut head coach Ted Morris gave a blistering assessment of his team, calling them "20 prima donnas who aren't trying", a moment marking the unofficial end of 1945-47 dynasty.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 13, 1974 = Fans in Montreal watched in disbelief as Argonaut coach Joe Moss, with the ball on the Alouette 16-yard line and the score tied 13-13, sent his punting unit out to attempt a last-play rouge rather than a field goal. The punt was 3 yards short and a tie resulted.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 13, 1958 = Halfback Dick Shatto scored 4 TDs, the Argos' defence intercepted Hamilton QB Bernie Faloney 7 times, and the 1-8 Double Blue beat the 8-0-1 Tiger-Cats by a score of 37-0 on Thanksgiving Day at Varsity Stadium.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 13, 1947 = Bashin' Byron Karrys scored the Argos' only touchdown in a 6-6 tie between Hamilton and Toronto at Varsity Stadium. Unbeknownst to all, this was the very last game between the Argonauts and the Hamilton Tigers, almost 75 years after their first contest in 1873.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 13, 1923 = Halfback Dunc Munro scored 2 TDs, the defence added 2 safeties, and 8,000 people watched the Argos beat the Montreal Winged Wheelers 17-0 at Varsity Stadium. The game gave Toronto fans their first look at the "huddle", the Wheelers' latest Yankee innovation.

Great read! @pxw13.bsky.social

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 10, 1931 – Halfback Bill Darling (L) caught a pass from halfback Teddy Morris to complete the team's first-ever legal forward pass in a league game, a 12-7 road loss to the Hamilton Tigers at the HAAA grounds on Charlton Street.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY 100TH ANNIVERSARY ALERT OCT 10, 1925 – Coach Mike Rodden's Argonauts, scoring all their points in the third quarter, beat the Ottawa Senators 13–5 at Varsity Stadium in the first Argo game broadcast live, "play by play", on the radio – by none other than Foster Hewitt.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 10, 1922 – Argonaut captain Lionel "Big Train" Conacher, an accomplished amateur boxer, faced world heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey in a one-round exhibition bout at Christie Street Veterans Hospital for a crowd of local "war amps".

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 9, 1926 = The Argos played their first home game at the new Maple Leaf Stadium, losing the season home opener 13-8 to the Montreal Winged Wheelers. Fans' reluctance to follow the team from Varsity Stadium to the new facility sent the team back to the university in 1927.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 9, 1915 = Reigning league MVP Glad Murphy, who captained the Argos to their first Grey Cup win in 1914, sustained neck and spinal injuries making a tackle in the third quarter of the 1915 season opener against Hamilton. Murphy died in hospital in February 1916.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 7, 1899 = D'Arcy McGee (older brother of hockey's famous Frank) and Pud Kent (pictured) scored second-half touchdowns to pace the Argonauts to an W 11-7 win over the Hamilton Tigers at Toronto's Rosedale Field, the very first league win in the club's history.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 7, 1922 = Backup QB Allan Arless (L) of the Montreal Winged Wheelers suffered fatal neck injuries during a 16-7 loss to the Argos at the MAAA Grounds. Much to Lionel Conacher's dismay, the false story that Arless was injured tackling him became part of Conacher lore.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 7, 1933 = Star kicking halfback Ab Box suffered neck injuries and facial fractures in the Argos' home opener against Montreal. The damage was pronounced season-ending and career-threatening, but Box returned to action for the playoffs wearing custom-made head protection.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 6, 1907 – 2 days after a game in Montreal, all 14 Argos players in the game had their amateur status revoked by the Canadian Amateur Athletic Union. Why? Because Montreal's Ernie Russell (below) had been stripped of his status, and the Argos had not refused to face him.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 5, 1935 – Coming off the bench for an ineffectual Andy Mullan, rookie QB Annis Stukus (L) led the Double Blue to a 15–12 comeback win in Ottawa in his Argonaut debut, in large part thanks to a pair of field goals by tackle Tommy Burns (R).

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 5, 1907 – Captain Pete Flett (L) kicked a field goal (worth 4 pts that season) and 4 singles, but coach Billy Wood's (R) Argos fell 17-8 to the Montreal Winged Wheelers at the AAA Grounds in the very first game played by the Interprovincial RFU (or "Big Four").

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 3, 1929 – University of Toronto head football coach Jimmy Douglas died of appendicitis-related septicemia at age 30. Douglas played middle wing for the Argos from 1921–27 – a very long career in that era – and his passing stunned the whole Toronto football community.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY Les Ascott, who died in 2013, was born on October 2, 1921. A 2-way lineman, he played 11 seasons in Double Blue, retiring in 1953 as the all-time club leader in games played. Named an All-Time Argo in 2004, Ascott's 26 playoff games played is a club record that won't be broken

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 2, 1994 – Rookie QB Marvin Graves came off the bench at the end of the third quarter, with the Argonauts trailing Hamilton 36–11, and led a stunning, 4-touchdown comeback resulting in a 39–36 win. Here is video from Paul Woods' YT channel. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnya...

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 1, 1963 – With the Argos poised to finish in last place for the 8th time in the 11 seasons since winning the 1952 Grey Cup, season-ticket holder Lloyd Carstairs made national headlines with an offer to give away the tickets along with $1 "for taking them off my hands".

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 1, 1960 – First-year quarterback Tobin Rote, a veteran of 10 NFL seasons, threw 7 touchdown passes – still a club record – in a 50–15 Argonaut victory over the Montreal Alouettes at Exhibition Stadium.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 1, 1932 – Lineman Bas McNichol scored a first-quarter touchdown as the Argonauts beat the University of Toronto varsity team 9-7 at Varsity Stadium to claim the Reg DeGruchy Trophy as winners of the resurrected Toronto city championship series.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY OCT 1, 1921 – The Argonauts defeated the Hamilton Tigers 27-4 at Varsity Stadium on Lionel Conacher's debut in Double Blue. The "Big Train" scored 3 touchdowns, including a 60-yard TD run in the first quarter, and amassed a total of 18 points.

TODAY IN ARGOS HISTORY SEP 30, 1939 – The Argonauts defeated the University of Toronto 23–3 at Varsity Stadium to claim the DeGruchy Trophy as senior football champions of Toronto. This proved to be the last time this competition – dating from the 1880s – was ever held.

Few people ever did more to shape Canadian football than Jake Gaudaur, CFL commissioner (1968–84), who played centre for the Argonauts in 1941. Gaudaur was the son of rowing superstar Jake Gaudaur Sr., whose paternal grandmother Mary Shilling was the daughter of a Mnjikaning First Nation chief.

Some years, it's just not your year. This year is really starting to smell that way for Argos fans. Hopefully Hunter recovers fully and well; this will have been very traumatic for him.

Good luck Bryan. The earliest devastating preseason injury I can think of the Argos sustaining was running half Art West's season-ending knee injury in 1939. The Double Blue were coming off back-to-back Grey Cups, but head coach Lew Hayman's response to the news was "there goes a championship".

The Argos held training camp in the Dufferin Park infield from 1946 to 1948 or 1949. The Big Four schedule doubled from 6 games to 12 in 1946, requiring them to start camp far earlier than the university was prepared to make the Back Campus - their usual practice facility - available.

Now, you probably don't agree with the Big Train. Especially after last season. But still, you have to appreciate the sentiment.

How tough was the quarterback position – which was basically the scrum half position – in Canadian football in 1907? This hard – and Martin Kilt was considered to be a thug of a player by opposing teams.

This preseason photo from 1948 shows Argos head coach Ted Morris and halfback Ken Whitlock, the club's first Black US player. To avoid detection in the front office, Morris sent Whitlock travel money from his own pocket and got his mom to give the Whitlocks room and board. @torontoargos.bsky.social

If you're in Guelph ...

This is heartbreaking.

This sort of thing shouldn't matter. But it does matter. It makes a world of difference to a fan struggling to deal with free agency losses. And precious few players who left last year or this year bothered to reach out, much less showed the class and respect DeShaun shows here. Bravo.

Hats off to Blue Jays fans and media, for reminding us with their behaviour today that, actually, Argos fans have done a pretty admirable job of coping with losing half the team to free agency in each of the past two seasons.