Edmonton Eskimos - Five in a Row 1978-1982

To celebrate the 100th Grey Cup Game this year, Canada Post has issued a full roster of team stamps, plus one to honour the cup itself.

Logos of the Canadian Football League™ teams grace a choice of eight different PERMANENT™ domestic coils. Exceptional games or events, one per team, are captured on commemoratives available in booklets of ten. Finally, a single stamp spotlighting the cup itself is also available.

According to stamp design manager Liz Wong, when you’re producing an issue that includes 17 stamps, ten Official First Day Covers, collectible strips from coils and more (see pages 8 to 23 for all the stamps and collectibles available) you need everyone to be moving the ball in the right direction. The stamps were designed by Bensimon Byrne, the official advertising agency for the CFL®. The agency also provided the written content for the booklets and OFDCs. According to Wong, “Working with a creative team that knew the CFL—and the history of the teams—was instrumental in producing an issue of this scale. Securing the rights and permissions alone was a huge undertaking, but we were lucky to have both the right players in place and the support of the CFL along the way. That made things go smoothly.”

In addition to giving collectors who love sports stamps a real “field” day, Canadian consumers and businesses can show where their football loyalties lay and kick off the season by using their team stamp on their mailings.

Edmonton Eskimos*

Founded in 1949.
Grey Cup Wins: 1954, 1955, 1956, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1993, 2003, 2005.

The green and gold of the Edmonton Eskimos™ has been part of the CFL® for more than 60 years. The team wasted no time establishing itself as a League powerhouse; winning a string of three consecutive Grey Cups from 1954 to 1956 with great players like Jackie “Spaghetti Legs” Parker, Normie Kwong, Rollie Miles, Johnny Bright, and Don Getty. The 42nd Grey Cup® featured Jackie Parker’s famous fumble recovery and subsequent 90-yard touchdown, one of the most famous plays in Canadian sports history.

The Eskimos wouldn’t raise the Grey Cup again until 1975, when they rode a League-leading 12-4 regular season record to a championship game appearance. Kicker Dave Cutler scored all of Edmonton’s points en route to a 9-8 victory over Montréal.

Beginning in 1978, Edmonton set out on what would become an awe-inspiring five-year Grey Cup dynasty. With the stellar defensive play of Dan Kepley and Dave Fennell as well as the electrifying offense generated by quarterback Warren Moon; the Eskimos dominated the CFL for half a decade, and the dynasty helped Edmonton become known as “City of Champions.”

Brian Kelly, Gizmo Williams, and quarterback Damon Allen helped Edmonton shine in 1987, leading the team to a 38-36 victory over Toronto in the Grey Cup Game—the Eskimos’ tenth Cup victory.

The year 1993 brought the Grey Cup home to Edmonton for the 11th time. The Eskimos won their last eight games, including a 33-23 Grey Cup victory over Winnipeg. Kicker Sean Fleming scored 21 of Edmonton’s points, earning him Most Valuable Canadian in the Grey Cup.

In 2003 and 2005, the Eskimos met Montréal in the championship game both times. The stellar play of Mike Pringle, Terry Vaughn, Jason Tucker, and Ricky Ray kept Edmonton fans on their feet all the way to two Grey Cup victories.

With 13 Grey Cup wins in 24 championship game appearances, the Edmonton Eskimos are one of the CFL’s most successful and perennially competitive teams.

® Registered trade-mark of the Canadian Football League
™ Trade-mark of the Canadian Football League
* Trade-marks of the respective Canadian Football League teams, used under license.