Bobby Simpson played basketball for Canada at the 1952 Olympics, but that is not the sport for which he remains a Canadian sporting legend. He started out in rugby football with the Windsor Rockets in 1949, but in 1950 began playing in the Canadian Football League (CFL) with the Ottawa Rough Riders. For the Rough Riders, he set numerous CFL records, including catching 65 touchdown passes, a record later surpassed. He played in the CFL thru 1962 and was four-times voted the All-Canadian Outstanding Player. In an era in which this rarely occurred, he was even approached by the New York Giants of the NFL to play for them, an offer he spurned to remain in Ottawa. Simpson’s basketball career began in high school, where he played on two Ontario Provincial champions. He later played for the Tillsonburg Livingstons, who won the 1952 Olympic Trials which allowed them, and Simpson, to compete in Helsinki. After his sports career ended, he coached briefly and then became a sports executive. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1976, the Greater Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame in 1998, and the Windsor-Essex Sports Hall of Fame, also in 1998.
Canada