By Daryl Slade
Calgary Herald
The Calgary Stampeders have lost one of the legendary heroes of their historic first Grey Cup victory in 1948.
Pete Thodos, who scored the winning touchdown in the Stamps’ 12-7 triumph over Ottawa Rough Riders at Toronto to complete an unbeaten season, died on Christmas Day in his native Vancouver, his wife Marjorie confirmed on Thursday.
He was 84.
The 5-foot-9, 180-pound halfback sealed the deal when he went around right end and bulled over from 10 yards out about three minutes into the fourth quarter to overcome a 7-6 deficit. Stamps’ stingy defence held on for the tense final 12 minutes.
Calgary had won all 12 games during the regular Western Interprovincial Football Union season, then beat the Saskatchewan Roughriders 21-10 in a two-game, total-point west final to earn their Grey Cup berth. The only blemish was a 4-4 tie at Regina in the opener of the series.
Calgary supporters, who flocked to Toronto for the game and were among the crowd of 20,000, turned the Grey Cup into the party it is today with pancake breakfasts, square dancing and horses on the streets.
“I didn’t see it, but he must have come out of the backfield,” retired Dr. Norm Hill, another Calgary star of the game who was on the field playing left end for the winning play, said from Winnipeg.
“We thought we were going to win when we got in there and we expected to win, but were fighting for our lives. We didn’t think that was necessarily going to be the winning touchdown. I’m sure glad we got it, it put our spirits up.”
Hill had scored the Stamps’ first major of the game on a 15-yard pass from Keith Spaith on a deceptive sleeper play late in the first half when he lay down on the side of the field, got up when the ball was snapped, then took the pass and crossed the line to put Calgary ahead 6-1.
He said when advised of Thodos’ passing that it was a sad day.
“He was happy-go-lucky, cheerful all the time,” said Hill. “There was always a lot of bantering going on when he was in there. He was a cheerful man, a great teammate who was much loved by all of us who played with him.”
Thodos was unofficially the Stamps’ leading rusher in that Grey Cup game, carrying five times for 54 yards, two more yards than star fullback Paul Rowe, and caught two passes for 25 yards.
His death leaves only about five members of the 1948 team: Rod Pantages in Vancouver, Norm Kwong in Calgary, Ced Gyles in Collingwood, Ont., Jim Mitchener in South Carolina and Hill.
Mimi Pantages, whose husband Rod was also a starter on the 1948 team, said the two former teammates “were just about inseparable” throughout their lives.
They both worked at a distillery in Vancouver for many years until they retired, they played handball, racquetball and golf, and the two couples regularly took holidays in Palm Springs, Calif.
Thodos also played with the Stampeders in 1949, when they repeated as western champions but lost 28-15 to the Montreal Alouettes in the national final.
He then went to play with the Alouettes for two years before returning to Calgary to play in 1952 and 1953, the latter when he was the Stamps’ leader with 10 touchdowns, 54 points, 58 receptions and 795 yards.
Thodos returned home to play with the B.C. Lions in their inaugural 1954 season, but also played that year with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He completed his nine-year career with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 1955-56.
Via: www.stampeders.com
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