Hamilton Tiger-Cats: Encyclopedia II - Hamilton Tiger-Cats - Franchise history

Hamilton Tiger-Cats - Franchise history

On Wednesday, November 3, 1869, in a room above George Lee's Fruit Store, the Hamilton Football Club was formed. In 1908, the Tigers won the dominion championship, a year before the Grey Cup was presented.

Prior to World War II, Hamilton's football team was known as the Tigers. The colours of yellow and black were well represented and the present philosophy of tough football was established in those early days. The only time that Hamilton football was interrupted as a spectator sport was during World War I and World War II.

After World War II the Tiger Football Team started competition again. At the same time, a new group in the city was formed and they became known as the Hamilton Wildcats. As it can well be imagined, competition was high on and off the field. The Hamilton Tigers were able to induce players like Frank Filchuk and Merle Hapes in the late 1940s to come up and play for no more than athletic awards.

The competition for fan participation was so great that both teams were unable to operate on a sound financial basis. Under the guidance of Mr. Ralph W. Cooper, Mr. F.M. Gibson and many other prominent Hamilton citizens, including the late Mr. C.C. Lawson and the late Mr. Sam Manson, it was decided that the two clubs should amalgamate and form one representative team for Hamilton.

The present name, Tiger-Cats, and what is known as the modern era of football started in 1950. In order that the two groups could work favourably together they selected Mr. Cooper as president to bring these two factions to work under one roof.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Franchise history", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki