Joe (King) Krol

Joe Krol was one of the great players in CFL history.  Krol, along with Royal Copeland, formed the "Golddust Twins" and were the heart of a powerful Argo team that won 5 Grey Cups during his career with them from 1945 to 1952.  Krol played college football at Wesern Ontario (1939-41), then spent three years with the Hamilton Wild Cats of the ORFU during the war (1942-44) when the Big Four as t he East was known then, suspended play. Krol celebrated his first of what would be six Grey Cup victories with Hamilton in 1943.   In 1945, Krol played for the Detroit Lions of the NFL, before finally joining the Argos.  Krol played with the Argos from 1945 to 1953, and then returned for a final season in 1955.  The Argos rolled to three straight Grey Cups in Krol's first three years with the team (1945-47), and also added cups in 1950 and 1952.  Listed as a halfback, Krol played in an era where they made extensive use of the halfback option, so it was not unusual to see Krol throwing the ball downfield to Copeland.  Unfortunately, statistics from that era are rare, so unless you saw him play, its hard to understand how dominant a player Krol was.  Krol won East All-Stars four times (there were no CFL All-Stars then) in 1945, 1946, 1947 and 1948.  Krol was also named to Ted Reeve's unofficial All-Canadian team in 1946 and 1947.  Krol was also given the Jeff Russell Award in 1946 as the Outstanding Player in the East.  Besides running and passing the ball, Krol was also a talented kicker, handling the punting and placekicking for hte Argos.  Joe Krol was one of the charter members of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1963.  Joe Krol passed away on December 16, 2008.

Wikipedia Article on Joe Krol

'Greatest Argo Ever' Joe Krol Dies at 89

Krol not amused with Lions tryout (Toronto Star - Oct. 23, 1945)

Joe Krol Decides to hang up Cleats