PLAYER #112 - ART WEST (1936-40, 45-46)

"Go West, Young Man!" was the cry of the early part of the century, but Art West went north instead to became one of the most talented Argo running backs ever, although injuries cut short a great career and would plague him throughout his life.

The son of a soldier who later worked for Prudential Insurance, West was forced to grow up in different U.S. cities, due to his father's migratory job. He came to Toronto as a high school senior, where he dominated the gridiron at North Toronto Collegiate in 1935, and then jumped to the Argos a year later.

However, he almost didn't make it to Canada, as a freak injury suffered in 1934 in Maumee, Ohio almost resulted in West's death, a story he relayed to Gord Walker. As a typical teenage prank, West and some friends tried to scale a fence to get into a fairgrounds site for free. While his friends made it over with no problems, West landed in a bush and directly on a sharp branch, which punctuated his right side badly.

"I can remember putting my hand down by my side, and I could feel the blood coming out and the air going in through my side," recalled West. Given the progress of medical science at the time, doctors had placed his chances for survival as unlikely, but with plenty of support and prayers, West was able to make it through. At one point in his hospitalization, the entire student body at his high school came to his window, something he called "the most inspirational thing that ever happened to me."

Having stared death straight in the eye and prevailing, West was not going to be intimidated by angry opposition linebackers. He was a fierce competitor who hated to lose.

"Honest to God I could never like the opposition," admitted West to Walker. "Maybe 10, 15 years later, I'd be great friends with them. Like Doug Smylie for instance, my best friend, but when I played against him, I hated his guts. I'd do anything. I had nicknames for everybody, especially the Ottawa guys... I'd do everything to aggravate these guys on the field. In the meantime, a lineman would come to me and say, 'For Chrissakes, lay off. They're kicking the (crap) out of me'. I'd be yelling at the top of my voice so they could hear me, but they'd never get near me."

West's first three years with the Argos were Hall-of-Fame material, but like Bobby Orr, West's career was shortened due to a serious knee injury suffered in a 1939 pre-season game against Balmy Beach. The marvel who intercepted six passes in his Argo debut in 1936 (an unofficial CFL record), and led the league in touchdowns in 1937 and 1938, "had been rendered normal".

But West was still a key player on a couple of Grey Cup championships (1937-38) with the Argos, and was named captain in 1940. He played with the RCAF Hurricanes for two years, where he won a Grey Cup in 1942, and came back to the Argos after the war to play on a couple more Grey-Cup winning teams (1945-46), although he never saw game action due to his injuries. In 1947, he played a final year with the Montreal Alouettes, where the tough, injury prone-player they called "Snippet", suffered a serious neck injury and finally retired from football.