The Hamilton Wildcats were a

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

team based in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

that played in the

Ontario Rugby Football Union The Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) was an early amateur Canadian football league comprising teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ORFU was founded on Saturday, January 6, 1883, and in 1903 it became the first major competition to ado ...

(ORFU) from 1941 to 1947, and in the

Interprovincial Rugby Football Union The East Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League, its counterpart being the West Division. Although the CFL was not founded until 1958, the East Division and its clubs are descended from earlier leagues. T ...

(IRFU) from 1948 to 1949. The team was formed to play in the ORFU in 1941 to fill the void left by the

Hamilton Tigers The Hamilton Tigers were a professional ice hockey team based in Hamilton, Ontario, that competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1920 to 1925. The Tigers were formed by the sale of the Quebec Bulldogs NHL franchise to Hamilton interest ...

, who ceased operations that year due to many players joining the army.http://cflapedia.com/teams/hamilton.htm Hamilton Tiger-Cats In 1943 and 1944, the team assumed the name Hamilton Flying Wildcats to reflect the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...

personnel on the team.2009 Canadian Football League Facts, Figures & Records, Canadian Football League Properties/Publications, Toronto, Ontario, , p.292-293 After struggling to compete on a sound financial level with the Hamilton Tigers, who resumed operations following

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the two clubs merged in 1950 to form the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home game ...

History

Ontario Rugby Football Union

For many years, Hamilton had an unstable presence in the

ORFU The Ontario Rugby Football Union (ORFU) was an early amateur Canadian football league comprising teams in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ORFU was founded on Saturday, January 6, 1883, and in 1903 it became the first major competition to ado ...

, with various teams folding and being renamed. The more established

IRFU IRFU or Irfu may refer to: * Irish Rugby Football Union, The Irish rugby football union (IRFU), is the national rugby association of Ireland *Interprovincial Rugby Football Union, a four-team league that merged with the Westerm Interprovincial Rugb ...

team, the

, faced similar struggles, and

proved disruptive to both leagues' operations. In 1940, as part of a wave of hastily-assembled teams brought together to fill the void of the ORFU teams that had suspended operations, the ORFU returned to Hamilton with a team informally named after the

Hamilton Alerts The Hamilton Alerts were a Canadian football-rugby union team based in Hamilton, Ontario that played in the Ontario Rugby Football Union from 1911 to 1912. The club won the 4th Grey Cup in 1912, becoming the first ever team from Hamilton to win t ...

, a short-lived and long-dormant team notable for winning the

1912 Grey Cup The 4th Grey Cup was played on November 30, 1912, before 5,337 fans at the AAA Grounds in Hamilton, Ontario. The Hamilton Alerts defeated the Toronto Argonauts 11–4 to win their only Grey Cup. External links * Grey Cup The Grey C ...

. In 1941, the Tigers suspended operations due to the war, and the IRFU as a whole would do so from 1942 and 1944, leaving many talented players to join teams in the ORFU as well as a void in Hamilton football.https://www.cfl.ca/page/his_timeline_1940 CFL Timeline 1940s Hamilton's ORFU franchise requested to use the Tigers name and colours but were rebuffed, opting to take on the name ''Hamilton Wildcats'' and use colours of red and white. The Wildcats' usage of numerous Tigers alumni led the Wildcats to a very successful three years in which they posted a 19–6–1 record with two appearances in the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

championship game with one win coming in

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

. In the 1943 and 1944 seasons, the team is officially recognized as the Hamilton Flying Wildcats due to the RCAF personnel playing on the team. Consequently, the team that won the 31st Grey Cup is recorded as the Hamilton Flying Wildcats. After the war ended, the IRFU resumed operations and players that had played for the Tigers were returned to their club. The Wildcats dropped the "flying" from their nickname since the RCAF personnel no longer played for them. After a difficult season in 1945, which saw the club miss the playoffs, the Wildcats claimed back-to-back regular season first-place finishes in 1946 and 1947, but lost in the ORFU finals both years.http://www.profootballarchives.com/1947orfuhamw.html 1947 Hamilton Wildcats (ORFU)

Interprovincial Rugby Football Union and merger

Due to monetary disputes that the Hamilton Tigers were having with the IRFU, the Tigers transferred to the ORFU, with the Wildcats switching to the IRFU on April 9, 1948. The switch proved to be difficult for the team, who went from first in the ORFU to dead last in the IRFU, with only one win in their two seasons in that league. Both teams were struggling to compete for fan support and the financial repercussions started to mount. As a result, local prominent citizens including Mr. Ralph W. Cooper, Mr. F.M. Gibson, Mr. C.C. Lawson and Mr. Sam Manson decided that the two clubs should amalgamate and operate as one entity. As such, the

football club began play in 1950 in the IRFU as the singular representative of the city of Hamilton.

Canadian Football Hall of Famers

* Len Back * Tom Casey * Joe "King" Krol *

Vince Scott Vincent Joseph "Boomer" Scott (July 10, 1925 – July 13, 1992) was a Canadian football player. He played for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, and was later a Hamilton city councillor. He became a Canadian citizen in the mid-1950s Scott was born in ...

Jimmie Simpson Jimmy H. Simpson (1898–1981) was a British motorcycle racer. Simpson spent many years as a works rider, first with AJS and later with Norton. He was one of the most successful riders before World War II. Career Beginnings Simpso ...

Season-by-season

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton Wildcats (Canadian football) Sports clubs and teams established in 1941 Sports clubs and teams disestablished in 1950 Sports clubs and teams in Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton Tiger-Cats 1941 establishments in Ontario 1950 disestablishments in Ontario