Les Lear

Les Lear
Date of birth	August 22, 1918
Place of birth	Grafton, North Dakota, U.S.
Date of death	January 5, 1979 (aged 60)
Place of death	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Career information
Position(s)	Offensive tackle
Canada university	Manitoba
Career history
As coach
1948–1950	Calgary Stampeders (HC)
As player
1938–1943	Winnipeg Blue Bombers
1944–1946	Cleveland/L.A. Rams
1947	Detroit Lions
1948–1950	Calgary Stampeders
Career highlights and awards
	NFL champion (1945); CFL All-Star - 1941, 1943
Career stats
	Canadian Football Hall of Fame, 1974;
Occupation	Trainer and owner
Major racing wins
	Major U.S. wins:; Suwannee River Stakes; (1962); Saratoga Special Stakes; (1964); Laurel Futurity Stakes (1964); Garden State Stakes (1964); Sorority Stakes (1965); Kentucky Oaks (1966) Major Canadian Wins:; Highlander Stakes (1960); Marine Stakes (1961); Manitoba Derby (1971); Toronto Cup Stakes (1971); Jockey Club Cup Handicap (1971)

Leslie Lear (August 22, 1918 – January 5, 1979) was a National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL) player and coach as well as an owner and trainer of Thoroughbred race horses.

Football

He grew up in Manitoba, Canada, where he played guard at the University of Manitoba. Lear started his professional football career with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League and helped the team to two Grey Cup victories. In 1944, he signed with the Cleveland Rams of the NFL becoming the first Canadian-trained player to play in the NFL. He would play a total of 4 seasons in the NFL. After his stint in the NFL, Lear returned to Canada where he coached the Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders to an undefeated season in 1948- the only CFL team to go undefeated in a season.^[1]

CFL coaching record

Team	Year	Regular season					Postseason
Team	Year	Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Result
CGY	1948	12	0	0	1.000	1st in Western Interprovincial Football Union	3	0	Won Grey Cup
CGY	1949	13	1	0	.929	1st in Western Interprovincial Football Union	2	1	Lost in Grey Cup
CGY	1950	4	10	0	.286	4th in Western Interprovincial Football Union
Total		29	11	0	.725		5	1	1 Grey Cup

Horse racing

Following his retirement from football, Les Lear became involved in Thoroughbred horse racing both as a horse trainer and an owner.

Later life and death

Lear was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1974. He died of kidney failure on January 5, 1979.^[2]

Lear was posthumously inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.^[3]

References

^ "The Montreal Gazette - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved April 9, 2018.
^ "Les Lear". Associated Press. January 6, 1979. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
^ "Les Lear". Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame - Honoured members database. Sport Manitoba. Retrieved November 10, 2021.

This biographical article relating to a Canadian football offensive lineman is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[1] "The Montreal Gazette - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved April 9, 2018.

[2] "Les Lear". Associated Press. January 6, 1979. Retrieved August 15, 2011.

[3] "Les Lear". Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame - Honoured members database. Sport Manitoba. Retrieved November 10, 2021.

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v t e Cleveland Rams 1945 NFL champions
Graham Armstrong Jim Benton Dave Bernard Gil Bouley Tommy Colella Bob deLauer Roger Eason Fred Gehrke Jim Gillette Don Greenwood Ray Hamilton Roger Harding Red Hickey Jack Jacobs Harvey Jones George Koch Floyd Konetsky Mike Lazetich Les Lear Butch Levy Sonny Liles Riley Matheson Art Mergenthal Ray Monaco Rudy Mucha Steve Nemeth George Phillips Steve Pritko Albie Reisz Bill Rieth Ralph Ruthstrom Mo Scarry Eberle Schultz Bob Shaw Rudy Sikich Bob Waterfield (NFL MVP) Pat West Joe Winkler Jim Worden Walt Zirinsky
Head coach: Adam Walsh
Owner: Dan Reeves

v t e Members of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame
Players	Abendschan Ah You Aldag D. Allen Anderson Atchison B. Bailey Baker Barrow Bass Batstone Battle Beach Benecick Bennett Bonk Bourke Bowman Box Breen Bright C. Brock D. Brock Do. Brown T. Brown Browne Brule Burden Burris Cahoon Calvillo Cameron J. Campbell Casey Charlton Childress Clarke Clements Clemons Coffey Conacher Connop Copeland Cornish Corrigall Covington C. Cox E. Cox R. Craig Crawford Cronin D. Cutler W. Cutler Dalla Riva DiPietro Dixon Dunigan Elgaard Elimimian Eliowitz Emerson Estay Etcheverry Evanshen Fairbanks Faloney Fear Fennell Fernandez Ferraro Ferrone Fieldgate Fleming Flory Da. Flutie Do. Flutie Flynn Frank Fryer Gabriel Gaines Gall George Golab Gorrell Grant Gray Griffing Ham Hanson Harding D. Harris W. Harris Harrison Helton Henley Highbaugh Hinton Holloway Huffman Hufnagel Hugo Ilesic Isbister Jackson Jacobs E. James G. James A. Johnson B. Johnson W. Johnson Ty. Jones Jurasin Kabat Kapp Keeling B. Kelly E. Kelly Kepley Krol Kwong Lapointe Lancaster Lawson Leadlay Lear Lehmann L. Lewis N. Lewis Lumsden Lunsford Luster Luzzi Makowsky McCallum McCance McGill McGowan McManus McQuarters B. Miles R. Miles Mills Mitchell Molson Montford Moon F. Morris T. Morris Mosca J. Murphy Narcisse Nelson Nettles Neumann O'Quinn Okeke O'Shea Pajaczkowski Jac. Parker Jam. Parker Passaglia Patterson Payton G. Perry N. Perry Phillips A. Pitts E. Pitts Pless Ploen Poplawski Pringle Quilty Racine Raimey Ray Rebholz Reed Reeve Ridgway Rigney Roberts Robinson Romano Rowe Ruby Russel T. Scott V. Scott Shatto Simon Be. Simpson Bo. Simpson Sprague Stegall Steinauer Stevenson Stewart Stirling Sutherin Symons Thelen Thornton Timmis Tindale Tinsley Tommy Trawick Tubman Tucker Urness Uteck Vaughan Vaughn Vavra Vercheval Wagner Walby Walker Weir Welch West Wilkinson G. Williams A. Wilson D. Wilson Winfield Wylie Yochum Young Zambiasi Zock
Builders	Ackles Anselmo Back R. Bailey Ballard Barker Berger Braley Brook D. W. Brown Buono H. Campbell Chipman Clair Connellan Cooper Cosentino Coulter Crighton A. Currie G. Currie Custis Davies DeGruchy Dojack Duggan DuMoulin Dussault Evans Forster Foulds Fracas Fulton Gaudaur Gibson Grant Grey Griffith Halter Hannibal Haylor Hayman Henick Hopson Hufnagel Bi. Hughes Ireland Keys Kimball Knight Kramer Levy Lieberman Loney Matthews McBrien McCaffrey D. McCann McDonald McNaughton McPherson Mitchell Metras Montgomery T. Morris C. Murphy Newton O'Billovich Pistilli Preston Reda A. Ritchie D. Ritchie Rodden Ryan Sazio Schwartz Shaughnessy Shepherd Shivers Shouldice J. Simpson F. Smith L. Smith Slocomb Spencer Spring Stukus P. Taylor Tindall Towriss Uteck Warner Warwick Wetenhall S. Wilson
Media	Afaganis A. Allen P. Allen R. Allen Avery Badham Beamish Bishop Bratina Brisebois Brunt Calcutt Carroll Tom Casey Chevrier Cluff Cole Coleman J. Cox G. Craig Cuthbert Davis DeGeer Dryburgh Dufault Dunnell Esaw Frayne Frewin Gilchrist Good B. Hall V. Hall Hanley Hooper Bo. Hughes Hunt Hunter Hynes Irving D. Isaac M. Isaac Te. Jones Kearney G. Kelly Kent Kielty MacCabe Maki Marsden Marshall Martin Matheson Matsumoto A. McCann McConnell McKnight McLean Melville Miller Milton Moir Naylor Newans O'Brien O'Meara Pascall Pascucci Pawson Picken J. Proudfoot T. Proudfoot Proulx Purcell Ralph Reeve Ruckaber Saunders Schultz Selnes Sgambati Sigurdson Simmons D. Smith M. Smith Stephen Stephenson Stukus Suitor Sullivan Swangard Tait J. Taylor Tucker Ullrich Viney G. Walker H. Walker Ja. Wells Jo. Wells Westwick Willes B. Williams Wittman Zurkowsky