Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal
EDMONTON – Tom Wilkinson is still the consummate teammate.
Thirty-one years after ending his playing career, the former Edmonton Eskimo quarterback still sees the guys who have always been ignored when he looks at the Canadian Football League team’s Grey Cup commemorative stamp featuring himself and Warren Moon.
“Back when you’re playing and you’re as successful as our team was, quarterbacks get a lot of credit,” said Wilkinson, 69. “And O-linemen never get any credit. You think someday that will even up and here it is, X-number of years later, and it hasn’t evened up.”
Wilkinson, a key member of the Eskimo dynasty that won a record five consecutive Grey Cups between 1978 and 1982, was at Edmonton’s main post office at Oliver Square on Thursday morning, when Canada Post unveiled the team’s stamp.
The eight CFL teams are being honoured with a series of stamps to commemorate the 100th Grey Cup, being played Nov. 25 at Rogers Centre in Toronto.
The Eskimo stamp prominently features Wilkinson, with Moon in the background. Wilkinson did say he was honoured to be a depicted in the stamp, but pointed out that once again, his offensive linemen were in the dark.
“You feel kind of bad, because it’d be nice to see them (get recognized) because they went to the Grey Cup as many times as we did,” he said.
“The D-line is talked about … but the O-line? No. That’s where it would have been really nice, I think, and they would have deserved to be on it, but once again,” Wilkinson said with a slight laugh, “things haven’t changed.”
Wilkinson said he still sees some of his former O-linemen at Eskimo games in the alumni room at Commonwealth Stadium. While he’s quick to dole out praise for them, he said he doesn’t repay them for their blocking with food or beverages today, nor did he back when he was playing.
“Well, no, they don’t have to block for me now, and back then, you never made enough money to buy them drinks,” he said. “You didn’t want them to get drunk because you wanted them to be blocking good.
“But it’s really good to see them and like (in moments like these), you just have to mention it because at least then they know you appreciated it.”
Wilkinson said that the ultimate recognition would be to get some of those offensive linemen from the five-in-a-row teams into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
“How can you go to the Grey Cup from ’73 through ’82 every year but one and not have at least one good offensive lineman? You can’t. You just can’t,” he said. “Billy Stevenson was a tremendous athlete, Hector Pothier, Eric Upton, even though Eric now looks like he’d be a wide receiver because he’s lost all his weight.
“Willy Martin, Charlie Turner, they were all really good and it made a huge difference.”
Former Eskimo O-lineman Rod Connop is a Hall of Famer, but Wilkinson never played behind him. His career ended in 1981 and Connop joined the Green and Gold in 1982.
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