Calgary Tigers

The Calgary Football Club was founded in 1920. The club joined the WFU as a founding member. The team’s founding owner was Bill Barker, who was very close to Edmonton owner and WFU founder Greg Mackenzie. Bill led a very strong team during the first decade of the WFU, making 6 Mackenzie Cups and winning 2 of them. In the mid-30s Bill would become ill and handed over the team to his son, Hank Barker. Hank would breathe new life into the team and they would return to the Mackenzie Cup to win back-to-back titles in 1938 and 1939. Following WW2, the Tigers would not quite be at the level they were going into the war, but they would capture a 5th title in 1949. Under Hank’s leadership, the team would continue to be a consistent contender, winning 3 more cups in 1952, 1957, and 1959. The Tigers would go through a couple of tough seasons in the early 60s but made it back to the big game in 1965. The team would continue to be competitive through the 60s, but in 1967, Hank would, unfortunately, pass away, leaving the team to his son Albert Barker. Albert had zero desire to own a football team, so he sold the team, thus ending the Barker family’s ownership of the Tigers. 

Tyler McNeil would purchase the team from the Barker family ahead of the 1968 season. McNeil was certainly a different style of owner than the Barkers before him. The Barkers were very traditional football team owners, that cared for the history of the team and the success on the field. McNeil on the other hand was much different. Sure, he obviously respected the history, but he certainly seemed to have a much more open mind when it came to changes being made to the organization, which to some could be a good thing, to others, not so much. McNeil has not made too many dramatic changes, but that could change in the near future. Either way, the WFU owners, especially Mark Livingston of the Vancouver Wolves, appreciate the perspective that McNeil has when it comes to ownership, as the WFU has needed to start thinking about the future a little more. 

The Team
The 1960s saw the Tigers team fall from their usually competitive position. They still made a couple of Mackenzie Cup appearances, mostly due to their coach Arnold Irvine. Irvine is easily the best coach the team has ever had. He was great friends with Hank Barker, and so when Barker passed away, Irvine decided he would retire at the end of the 1968 season. Irvine led the team back to the Mackenzie Cup in his final year, and then parted ways with the organization. 

McNeil was thrilled with the opportunity to bring in a coach of his choosing. He would certainly make a wild decision, hiring Alberta Provincial University Coach, Travis Hobson. Hobson had been getting some attention for his unorthodox, wild west offence. The offence was quite wild with lots of options, reverses, passes onto passes, and just about everything you can think of. On top of that, it’s a very fast-tempo offence with lots of no-huddle play calls. Hobson’s first season in 1969 as head coach was not great, but they are hoping as Hobson has the chance to get the offence installed they will improve. 

Last season, the offence revolved around a pair of running backs. RB John Drexel brought the speed to make big plays happen, while the veteran RB Tyler Smith was more of a power back. The Tigers like to run a lot of looks with both players on the field. The team does have a bit of a QB controversy on their hands. QB Jerome Sheppard was a steady QB with decent arm strength, that helped the team get to the Mackenzie Cup in 1968, but he struggled in the new offence which allowed the younger QB Jesse Essex to get into the game. Essex’s run-first style does give the wild west offence another option on the ground and seemed to work better in Hobson’s system. The team also had a couple of solid WRs in Ted Jackson and Spencer Hicks. While the offence does get more of the attention, the Tigers are packing some punch on defence with one of the best DLs in the WFU in Damian Battles, who is paired up with the Barrett twins in Chris and Roger. Junior Abbott is the anchor at LB and DB Scott Summerhayes has done well to create a lot of turnovers for the team in the secondary. The Tigers may still not be the best team out of the WFU, but they are certainly one of the most intriguing. 

The Brand
Most of the WFU teams would not be getting a massive change to their looks with the designs coming on short notice. However, Tyler McNeil certainly had some changes he wanted to make. 

Logos: The team does continue to use the same “C” logo that they have had for a long time, but the colours are the most noticeable difference. For a while, the Tigers were an orange and black team, but in the last decade they had added red to the look, but now black was now gone from the brand. 

Uniforms: The new jerseys are a completely new design. The home remains orange primarily, but now 7 stripes (4 red, 3 orange) are on each sleeve which are on white bases. The number font was changed for the jerseys after Tyler McNeil got to see the Boston Independents’ numbers and asked for those specifically. The road is not too different, although the colour of the stripes on the sleeves is opposite the home jersey. 

Stadium and Field: The Tigers play out of Tigers Stadium at the Stampede, which is located on the Calgary Stampede grounds near downtown. The Stadium is the newest facility in the WFU, being opened in 1963, and seats 32,400 regularly. There are some plans to expand the stadium if the NAAF deal works out and the team gains more success. As for the field design, the new orange-red marks fill the endzone with “Calgary” and the “C” is at midfield. The field numbers also get the treatment of the team’s font.