St. Louis Cardinals 36

Toronto Argonauts 7

Aug. 2, 1961

For the third summer in a row the NFL came calling on the Toronto Argonauts. This time it was the St. Louis Cardinals (formerly Chicago Cardinals). There was much intrigue surrounding this game because of one name: Sam Etcheverry. Etcheverry, the former quaterback of the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes for 9 years and holder of many CFL records, had signed with the Cardinals in the offseason. He joined Cardinals coach Pop Ivy as former CFL legends who had moved on to the NFL. Toronto’s starting quarterback, Tobin Rote was injured with a sprain to his throwing hand in an earlier exhibition game. He would be backed-up by CFL legend Nobby Wirkowski and rookie John Henry Jackson. Also making the news that week was the loss of Toronto’s star reciever Ed Ochiena to a preseason injury. The coach of the Argonauts was Lou Agase.

The 24,370 spectators witnessed the game start with a bang as Larry Wilson intercepted a Jackson pass and went 25 yards for a touchdown on the interception return. The game was a battle of defenses as St. Louis was held to just 132 rushing yards on the night with star John David Crow carrying four times for only 7 yards. The Argos netted 162 total yards and -22 on the ground. The Argos only score of the night came on a 78 yard touchdown drive in which quarterback Jackson carried the ball in for the score. In the second half, tragedy struck the Argonauts when CFL great Nobby Wirkowski went down with a career ending injury. Wirkowski spent the first half in the press box sending down plays to the Argo bench. At half time he came into the Toronto dressing room and was approached by Coach Agase. Nobby describes what happened:

"Tobin and John Henry Jackson had stunk out the joint in the first half. God, they were awful! Lou said to me 'we have to put on some type of show for the fans. Can you suit up and go out there?' I was wearing slacks and a shirt and hadn't even practiced that week! I said 'okay' and suited up. I completed 12 straight passes and then Dick Shatto dropped one on me. The next play I dropped to pass and a Cardinal lineman got me around the shoulders. I was going down in a weird way and tried to kick my leg out and something was blocking it. I couldn't get it out and came down and tore the knee right up. I ended up in a cast from my groin to my ankle. I still have wires in my knee to this day.

I looked at the films to see why I couldn't get my leg out and saw Cookie Gilchrist had fallen down and blocked my leg so it wouldn't move. That was the last pro game I ever appeared in."*

The fans came to the game expecting to see Etcheverry play, but had been disappointed in the first half. Finally, in the final quarter, Etcheverry came in to lead the Cardinals to two touchdown drives. Prentice Gautt dashed 73 yards on a draw play for a touchdown and also carried over from five yards following a Willie West interception of a Jackson aerial. The Cardinals other scores came on a 70 yard touchdown pass from George Izo to Bill Stacey and Frank Mesnik’s 20 yard run which was set up by an Izo to Sonny Randle 48 yard pass. The Cardinals’ Ernie Benecke kicked three extra points and had two “singles” for a total of 5 points.
 

Former Argos and NFL great Cookie Gilchrist was kind enough to comment for this article. According to Cookie, “Yes, I remember very well those games back in 1960. I don't remember all of the details but the Steelers and Cardinals thought Canadian football was a pushover but we showed them we were tougher than they thought.”

Regular Season:

In 1961, St. Louis was 7-7-0 and finished 4th in the Eastern Conference. They were led by receiving great, Sonny Randle, John David Crow and Larry Wilson. Former CFL all-star Sam Etcheverry quarterbacked the Cards. Toronto finished 3rd in CFL East at 7-6-1. In the first round of the playoffs, Tobin Rote operated out of a shotgun formation to overpower second-place Ottawa 43-19. However, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeated the Argos in a two-game playoff series to end the season.

*information on Nobby Wirkowski obtained from Craig Wallace

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