I was looking at some material related to former Texas Longhorn coach Darrell Royal and noticed he was a pro coach too - left Mississippi State after the 1952 season to be the head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos at the age of 29, then returned to Starkville after the season. Does anyone know offhand why he pursued the Eskimo job? Was it just an opportunity to be the head man?
Thank you.
CFL question Edmonton 1953
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BD Sullivan
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Re: CFL question Edmonton 1953
Royal signed a three-year deal when he took the Edmonton job, partly because he likely figured that Murray Warmath was locked in at MSU. However, Warmath left for Minnesota after the '53 season and Royal still had cache at MSU for helping develop Jackie Parker at QB. Ironically, Parker signed with Edmonton because of Royal's presence there--before Royal then left. After the season, Parker was offered twice as much to play for the Giants, but his wife wanted to remain in Edmonton. It turned out great for Parker, who became a CFL legend.Halas Hall wrote:I was looking at some material related to former Texas Longhorn coach Darrell Royal and noticed he was a pro coach too - left Mississippi State after the 1952 season to be the head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos at the age of 29, then returned to Starkville after the season. Does anyone know offhand why he pursued the Eskimo job? Was it just an opportunity to be the head man?
Thank you.
Re: CFL question Edmonton 1953
Here's an interesting National Film Board of Canada program featuring Coach Royal and his Edmonton team:
https://www.nfb.ca/film/football_story/
https://www.nfb.ca/film/football_story/
Re: CFL question Edmonton 1953
Excellent. Thanks for sharing, John.JohnH19 wrote:Here's an interesting National Film Board of Canada program featuring Coach Royal and his Edmonton team:
https://www.nfb.ca/film/football_story/