Les Lear

Leslie Lear (August 22, 1918 – January 5, 1979) was a National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL) player and coach as well as an owner and trainer of Thoroughbred race horses.

Football
He grew up in Manitoba, Canada, where he played guard at the University of Manitoba. Lear started his professional football career with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League and helped the team to two Grey Cup victories. In 1944, he signed with the Cleveland Rams of the NFL becoming the first Canadian-trained player to play in the NFL. He would play a total of 4 seasons in the NFL. After his stint in the NFL, Lear returned to Canada where he coached the Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders to an undefeated season in 1948- the only CFL team to go undefeated in a season.

Horse racing
Following his retirement from football, Les Lear became involved in Thoroughbred horse racing both as a horse trainer and an owner.

Later life and death
Lear was elected into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1974. He died of kidney failure on January 5, 1979.

Lear was posthumously inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.