Gordon Sturtridge (Canadian football)
| No. 73 | |
|---|---|
| Position | Defensive end |
| Personal information | |
| Born | 1929 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Died | December 9, 1956 (aged 27) Mount Slesse, British Columbia, Canada |
| Career information | |
| High school | St. Paul's, Winnipeg, Manitoba |
| CJFL | Winnipeg Rods |
| Career history | |
| 1949 | Winnipeg Blue Bombers |
| 1953–1956 | Saskatchewan Roughriders |
| Awards and highlights | |
| |
Gordon Henry Sturtridge (1929 – December 9, 1956) was a professional Canadian football player, and was one of 62 people who died on Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810, on December 9, 1956.[1]
Sturtridge played his entire five-year professional football career as a defensive end for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Western Interprovincial Football Union, and his #73 jersey is one of eight that has been retired by the club.
Amateur football career
[edit]Sturtridge played amateur Canadian football in the Canadian Junior Football League, and was a member of the Winnipeg Rods.[2]
Professional career
[edit]Sturtridge signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders where he starred for four years.[1] In 1953 he won the Dr. Beattie Martin Trophy as best Canadian rookie in the Western Conference (this despite having played with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1949).[3] He was a three-time Western All-Star (in 1954, 1955, and 1956), and was on his way back to Regina, Saskatchewan, on Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810 after playing in the Shrine Game in Vancouver, British Columbia, on December 8, 1956.[1]
Death
[edit]Sturtridge, his wife, Mildred (née Allford), Roughriders teammates, Mario DeMarco, Mel Becket, and Ray Syrnyk, were passengers on Flight 810 with another WIFU player, Calvin Jones, of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.[1] All five players were present at the 1956 All-Star game in Vancouver, British Columbia, and were headed back to their respective teams' home cities. The five players and Mildred were accompanied by 53 other passengers, and 3 crew members who all lost their lives in Western Canada's worst aviation disaster on December 9, 1956, on Slesse Mountain (Mount Slesse) near Chilliwack, British Columbia.[1] The crash is the subject of the 2012 documentary The Crash of Flight 810, part of TSN's Engraved on a Nation series of eight documentaries celebrating the 100th Grey Cup.[4][5][6]
Gordon and Mildred were survived by their three young children who were home in Regina at the time of the crash.[1]
Legacy
[edit]In 1957, a youth football league in North Vancouver, British Columbia was named in memory of Sturtridge.[1] The Gordon Sturtridge Football League is for players aged 6 to 15.[1]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 O'Keefe, Betty (2006). Disaster on Mount Slesse. Caitlin Press. ISBN 1-894759-21-4.
- ↑ "CJFL Alumni in the CFL" (PDF). footballcanada.com. 2008. Retrieved 2009-11-14. [dead link]
- ↑ Winnipeg Blue Bombers Alumni Archived 2011-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ↑ McNeil, Shane (November 2, 2012). "Engraved On a Nation: A Family United Through Tragedy". The Sports Network. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
- ↑ Beamish, Mike (November 1, 2012). "Fatal 1956 CFL air crash-Engraved On a Nation: Recalling a flight taken, and not taken". The Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on May 8, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2012.
- ↑ ""62 Aboard TCA Plane Missing in Mountains Vanishes in B.C. Storm. Pilot Turned Back After Motor Failed.", Winnipeg Free Press (Canadian Press item), December 10, 1956, 3 pp, Official passenger list on p.2". Archived from the original on January 6, 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
External links
[edit]- 1929 births
- 1956 deaths
- Accidental deaths in British Columbia
- Canadian football defensive linemen
- Players of Canadian football from Manitoba
- Saskatchewan Roughriders players
- Winnipeg Blue Bombers players
- Canadian football people from Winnipeg
- Canadian Football League Rookie of the Year Award winners
- 20th-century Canadian sportsmen
- Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810-9 victims
