Canadian Football League - West Most Outstanding Lineman (Prior 1974)

CFL - West Most Outstanding Lineman (Prior 1974)

For many years, the CFL had just three major awards, with the Outstanding Lineman Award being the third award to go along with the Outstanding Player Award and the Outstanding Canadian Award. The Outstanding Lineman Award was discontinued in 1974. The Demarco-Becket Memorial Trophy, first awarded in 1957, formerly went to the Outstanding Lineman in the West, but it changed in 1974 to become the West award for Outstanding Offensive Lineman. The problem was that the Outstanding Lineman award was open to both offensive and defensive linemen and in such a competition, the more glamorous defensive linemen are almost always going to win. There are no standard stats to measure the performance of an offensive lineman whereas defensive linemen can record sacks, tackles, interceptions, knockdowns, and fumble recoveries to back up their claim to excellence. In order to give more recognition to offensive linemen, the Outstanding Lineman award was discontinued and replaced by the Outstanding Offensive Lineman Award and Outstanding Defensive Player Award. The Demarco-Becket Memorial Trophy, first awarded in 1957, formerly went to the Outstanding Lineman in the West, but it changed in 1974 to become he West award for Outstanding Offensive Lineman while the Norm Fieldgate Trophy was created to honour the Outstanding Defensive Player in the West. In the East, the Lou Dandurand Trophy was created in 1975 to honour the East Outstanding Offensive Lineman and hte James P. McCaffrey Trophy was added for the Outstanding Defensive Player in the East. There was no trophy awarded for linemen in the East prior to 1975.

Canadian Football League - West Most Outstanding Lineman (Prior 1974) Winners