Bill Werth is DEFINATELY dead:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/Sports/Ori ... story.html
Bill Werth was dedicated to Canadian football until the end.
One of the last remaining links to the pre-war Bronks and the original Calgary Stampeders football team of 1945, he sat beside his radio and listened to the Stamps' opening pre-season game last week.
He died Monday at age 90, leaving what is believed to be just two surviving players from each of the historic teams.
"He didn't have a long career, but it was important to him," his daughter Judy Bruggencate said Wednesday. "He did it, like everything he did, to a high standard.
"Dad certainly preferred the CFL -- he'd watch the other league, the NFL--and he would call his sister, Ella Surratt, in Vancouver and talk about the (Stampeders) games."
Werth attended games until about five years ago, when it became too difficult physically. Then he relied on television and radio.
Fellow players recalled Werth, a native Calgarian, as a tough-as-nails lineman and a good teammate.
"I remember being in the pits with him in practice, head to head, and there was no give," said Bob Freeze, who also toiled with the Bronks before football folded in Calgary for the war.
"He was one of the stalwarts that kind of kept football going before the Stampeders took off."
George Alexander, recognized as one of Calgary's great players of the early days who played on both teams, said Werth was like most linemen, who did a lot of the work and didn't get much credit.
"He was a good football player and was always there," said Alexander. "He was a really good guy."
George Hansen, who played from 1959 to 1966 and is past-president of the Stampeders Alumni, said the community has lost one of the few remaining links to a pivotal time in local football history.
"When you look back to 1945 and beyond, these guys were there when it started. It's a long time ago," said Hansen.
Werth went on to become a city police officer for about a decade after his playing days, then worked as a sleeping car conductor with Canadian Pacific Railway, before launching a career as an auditor in the oilpatch. He started with Redhead Oil and retired at age 64 with Gulf Oil.
"He enjoyed sports of all sorts and passed it on to my nephews," said Bruggencate.
"Dad was a marvellous man with a dry sense of humour. He was certainly a family man and had a life well lived."
Werth was predeceased by Pearl, his wife of 65 years.
The family will hold a private service.