Fritz Hanson - the first superstar in Bomber history and one of the all-time greats from the early days of Canadian football - will be inducted to the Ring of Honour.
They called him ‘Twinkletoes’, the ‘Perham Flash’ and the ‘Galloping Ghost’, and every nickname just seemed to perfectly describe his enthralling skillset.
Melvin ‘Fritz’ Hanson was the first superstar in the history of the Winnipeg Football Club, pre-dating all the legends in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ long and storied history, arriving decades before Stegall and Roberts, Ploen, Lewis, Gray, Tinsley, Brown, Brock, James and Walby. Hanson – the 2018 inductee into the club’s Ring of Honour – first appeared on the local football scene in 1935 during the Great Depression – spurring a $1,000 offer from the New York Giants to sign in Winnipeg instead for $800 along with a new overcoat and the chance to be close to his hometown in Perham, Minnesota.
And he instantly put the franchise on Canada’s sporting map.
The ‘Winnipegs’ – as they were known then, before the nickname ‘Blue Bombers’ was hung on them by Free Press sportswriter Vince Leah – had fallen in the Grey Cup semi-final in 1933 and were just 3-4 a year later when the Bombers added Hanson.
The game was changing then, with more American college players migrating north to Canada and passing coming into vogue.
How about a positive thread for a change...
Fritz Hanson - the first superstar in Bomber history and one of the all-time greats from the early days of Canadian football - will be inducted to the Ring of Honour.
https://www.bluebombers.com/2018/09/18/ring-honour-inductee-fritz-hanson/
They called him ‘Twinkletoes’, the ‘Perham Flash’ and the ‘Galloping Ghost’, and every nickname just seemed to perfectly describe his enthralling skillset.
Melvin ‘Fritz’ Hanson was the first superstar in the history of the Winnipeg Football Club, pre-dating all the legends in the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ long and storied history, arriving decades before Stegall and Roberts, Ploen, Lewis, Gray, Tinsley, Brown, Brock, James and Walby. Hanson – the 2018 inductee into the club’s Ring of Honour – first appeared on the local football scene in 1935 during the Great Depression – spurring a $1,000 offer from the New York Giants to sign in Winnipeg instead for $800 along with a new overcoat and the chance to be close to his hometown in Perham, Minnesota.
And he instantly put the franchise on Canada’s sporting map.
The ‘Winnipegs’ – as they were known then, before the nickname ‘Blue Bombers’ was hung on them by Free Press sportswriter Vince Leah – had fallen in the Grey Cup semi-final in 1933 and were just 3-4 a year later when the Bombers added Hanson.
The game was changing then, with more American college players migrating north to Canada and passing coming into vogue.
Long overdue but I'm glad it's finally happening.