PLAYER #66 - HOWARD "RED" VAIL (1930-38)

Howard Vail played football at a time when men were men, when padding was almost an afterthought and anything short of death kept you on the playing field.

"At that time, when you went on the field and started the game, if you went off the field, you couldn't go on until the next quarter," said Vail, who played for the Double Blue during the Depression era, from 1930 to 1938. "It was not unnatural to start a game and finish it."

Vail did it many times in his career, playing the middle on both offence and defence. "You were the first man on the end run," said Vail of the popular three-man formation (fullback, halfback and middle), which the Argos employed for a lot of their successes. "That system came from Knute Rockne."

While the Notre Dame legend might have started it, it was an Argo legend, Lew Hayman, who first brought it to the team's attention in 1933. Hayman coached the Argos for nine years, which included three Grey Cup titles, in 1933, 1937 and 1938.

"If he wanted the thing done, he wanted it done; there was no arguing," said Vail, who still has the game ball from the 1938 Grey Cup game, his last in an Argo uniform. "But Lew was good, he was very fair. I have all the respect in the world for Lew Hayman."

Because of his bright red hair, Vail was not surprisingly known as "Red". However, during his latter years, he was not the only "Red" on the team, as former NHL referee "Red" Storey also played for the Argonauts from 1936-41.

During his playing days, Vail worked at Moffatt's Limited, which made stoves, as a cost accountant, but when the war broke out in 1939, instead of going to Europe, Vail stayed home and ran the company foundry.

"Somebody had to run the place," said Vail, claiming about 75-80% of the work was war-related. The plant made water-proof ammunition boxes, which were dropped from ships and had to be able to float to shore. The work was vital to the war effort and quite demanding.

"That was one big headache," said Vail, who in 1943 had a total of six days off all year. "The next time, I'll go over." The end of the war brought some relief, and Vail stayed with Moffatt until 1952, when he went to Empire Stove. After two years at Empire, Vail returned to Moffatt for another seven years, and then moved on to Garland Commercial Ranges, where he worked from 1961 until his retirement in 1977 at the age of 68.

Today, Vail lives in Weston and is still going strong, and at age 87 is one of the oldest surviving Argonaut alumni members. His wife Vivien passed away last year, and the couple had been married for 57 years and have one son, Barry, who also retired last year. Vail has two grandsons, Jason, who just got married two weeks ago, and Matthew.