1948 was a year to remember in Canadian football, a pivotal point in the way the Grey Cup game was perceived.
"That was the first of the big blowouts; there were headlines about horses in the Royal York Hotel," said Bill Lively, a member of the 1948 Argonaut squad. "I was there for the game, but I wasn't downtown for the partying."
Lively was at the game, but only as a spectator, since 1948 represented the year the Argos' Grey Cup win streak ended at three. They didn't even make the final, being replaced by Ottawa, which lost the game 12-7 to the Calgary Stampeders.
It was the wild Stampeder fans that started the Grey Cup Week festival tradition, and 1948 represented their team's first championship. It was also the only year Bill Lively got to play for the Argonauts, since a kidney ailment called nephritis forced him to retire prematurely.
"It ended my short and not very illustrious football career," said Lively in a self-deprecating manner. While he did not play for a long time, his memories have lasted a lifetime.
"I'll never forget this one," said Lively. "I backed up a guy named Byron Karrys at fullback and we're down at Delormier Stadium in Montreal. Anyways, I go in for him and they call my number. I'm running for a touchdown and when I get to the five-yard line, this huge hulk named Herb Trawik came out of nowhere and knocked me into next week. I didn't drop the ball, but he sure dropped me. I've never been hit so hard in my whole life."
The glory of scoring a touchdown may have eluded the then 20 year-old rookie, but he had no illusions about a long and wealthy career in football.
"I was paid the princely sum of $50 a game, and there were guys on that team that didn't get paid at all," said Lively, who remembers the pre-game ritual with a smile. "In those days, when you went in for practice on Thursday, if your stuff was hanging up, you'd be playing on the weekend; if it wasn't, you'd be back for practice on Monday afternoon."
An episode during one of the games that Lively sat out was, well, lively indeed.
"Me and Frank Hickey were in the stands at the Varsity game on Saturday and we brought a portable radio with us to listen to the Argo game (they were playing on the road)," said Lively. "Then we hear (announcer) Wes McKnight saying that Hickey was coming into the game, and there he was, sitting right next to me. We all had a good laugh over that one."
After football, Lively began teaching elementary school in Toronto, and then got into sales at Gage Publishing. He moved on to another sales position, this time at power transmission company called Tsubaki. He retired two years ago, and now looks after the fortunes of his four children (Jim, Ron, Bob and JoAnne) and 10 grandchildren.
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