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November 6, 2014

Stamps’ Waugh was first to 1,000

By Stampeders.com staff

The most recent Stampeders player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season, obviously, is Jon Cornish.

But do you know who was the first member of the Red and White to achieve that benchmark. If you answered “Howard Waugh” then move to the head of the class.

Waugh wasn’t with the Stampeders very long — he played 14 games in 1954 and 10 in 1957 — but he definitely made an impact.

It was in that 1954 season that he became not only the first Stamp but also the first player in all of Canadian professional football to rush for 1,000 yards. Despite missing two games that season, Waugh was also the rushing title in the Western Interprovincial Football Union, the predecessor of the CFL’s West Division.

Waugh left the Stamps to serve in the U.S. Air Force — he rose to the rank of lieutenant — before returning in 1957. He rushed for 499 yards and two touchdowns and added eight catches for 122 yards.

Waugh was a star at the University of Tulsa — he led the nation in 1952 with 1,372 rushing yards — and attracted attention from NFL teams, but he chose to come to Canada. The reason? A deeply religious man, he objected to playing for money on Sundays and preferred to play in the Canadian league, which in those days played its games on Saturdays and Mondays.

After hanging up his cleats, the Grenada, Miss., native settled in Tulsa, the city in which he had attended college and met his wife. He worked for IBM until 1971 but then found a higher calling as he joined Tulsa Habitat for Humanity.

As the organization’s construction manager, he oversaw the completion of nearly 200 homes for families in need.

Waugh passed away in 2009 at the age of 78. He was survived by his wife Ruby, three sons, three daughters and 15 grandchildren and left behind a legacy both on the football field and on the community.