Along with his brothers Annis and Frank, Bill was one of the famous Stukus brothers who played such a huge role in football, mainly in Toronto during the 30s and 40s. While Annisis the best known and a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame (as a builder), some have argued that Bill ws the most talented football player of the three.
Bill joined the Toronto Argonauts in 1936, one year after his brother Annis. Bill played six seasons with the Argonauts before the war from 1936 to 1941, playing mainly quarterback though at that time almost everyone played sixty minutes both ways and Stukus also played defensive back. Bill won two Grey Cups with the Argos in that period, in 1937 and 1938. In 1939, Bill was named the IRFU / Big Four All-Star quarterback as well as the All-East quarterback (picked from IRFU, ORFU and college teams) and the McLeans Eastern quarterback. The IRFU would go on to become the East division of the modern CFL. It is interesting to note that Annis had won the IRFU and All-East quarterback All-Stars in the prevoius year in 1938.
With the war in full swing, Bill joined the RCAF and was able to continue playing football. The IRFU / BigFour had folded with most of their players in the armed services, but the ORFU continued to play, mainly with military teams. Stukus played in 1942 and 1943 with the Toronto RCAF Hurricanes, winning his third Grey Cup in 1942 with Lew Hayman coaching the Hurricanes. Bil would win the ORFU All-Star at quarterback in 1942, which this time was followed by Annis winning it in 1943. Bill was also the winner of the Imperial Oil Trophy in 1942 as the MVP for the ORFU.
Bill doesn't seem to have played in 1944, but with the war over, he returned to football with the Toronto Indians of the ORFU. The Indianswere a short lived third team in Toronto (the Argnonauts and Balmy Beach being the other two). Bill was named a second team All-East quarterback in 1945.
In 1947, Stukus returned to play one season for the Argonauts where he won his fourth Grey Cup on the Tedy Morris coached team.
After not playing in 1948, Bill would then finish his playing career in Edmonton. Annis had gone out West to help revive the Edmonton Eskimo franchise and brother Bill followed him. Bill played three seasons (1949-51) with Edmonton, mainly serving as a kicker and backup quarterback.
Bill Stukus passed away on July 1, 2003.
Bill Stukus Injured - October 20, 1939
Argo Stars Return - Annis and Bill Stukus Return - September 10, 1941
Bill Stukus Wins Imperial Oil Trophy - November 27, 1942
Stukus Uncertain for Today's Game - October 16, 1943
When Bill Disobeyed Hayman - November 22, 1945
Indians Win but Lose Bill Stukus - September 25, 1946
| Year | Team | GP | PA | PC | % | Yds | TD | Int | Sacked | Yds | TC | Yds | Avg | TD | Long | PTS | F | FL | OFR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | TOR | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1937 | TOR | 0 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1938 | TOR | 14 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1939 | TOR | 2 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1940 | TOR | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1941 | TOR | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1942 | TRH | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1943 | TRH | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1945 | TI | 5 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1946 | TI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 1947 | TOR | 10 | 0 | 10 | |||||||||||||||
| 1949 | EDM | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | |||||||||||
| 1950 | EDM | 14 | 43 | 22 | 51.1 | 309 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 14 | 1.8 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| 1951 | EDM | 13 | 17 | 4 | 23.5 | 67 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -15 | -7.5 | 0 | 0 |
Before 1950 in the West and 1954 in the East, the only individual stats kept were pointss scored.
