Normie Kwong
Football Athlete - Inducted 1980
Normie Kwong, known also as the 'China Clipper', belongs to both of the cities of Calgary and Edmonton. After playing Calgary high school football and then junior football, he joined the Calgary Stampeders in 1948 and later moved to the Edmonton Eskimos. In 11 years, he gained 9022 yards rushing with a 5.2 yard average. In seven Grey Cup games, he contributed to four victories. In 1951, 1955, and 1956, Normie Kwong won the Conference Rushing Title. During his 14-year football career, he was named to the Western Conference All-Star Team eight times and five times to the Canadian Football League All-Star Team. He won the Schenley Award twice during his career and in 1955 was honoured as Canada's Athlete of the Year.
After Induction
Normie Kwong is a three-time inductee into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. He was also inducted in 2000 with the 1948 Calgary Stampeders football team, and in 2007, with the 1954 to 1956 Edmonton Eskimos football teams.
He set 30 CFL records during his career. Normie Kwong is the first Canadian to have won both the Grey Cup and the Stanley Cup as a player, manager or owner. After his retirement from the CFL, Normie Kwong developed a career in commercial real estate. He was the President and General Manager of the Calgary Stampeders from 1988 to 1991, and a co-owner of the National Hockey League’s Calgary Flames from 1980 to 1994. The Calgary Flames won the Stanley Cup Championship during this time, in 1989.
Normie Kwong was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1969, Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1975, and the Edmonton Sports Hall of Fame in 1993. The Edmonton Eskimos put him on their Wall of Honour in 1983, and retired his number 95 at that time. The Calgary Stampeders added Normie Kwong to their Wall of Fame in the Builder category in 2012. Normie Kwong was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1998, and the Chancellor of the Alberta Order of Excellence in 2005.
He was Alberta’s 16th Lieutenant Governor from January 20, 2005, to May 11, 2010. Queen Elizabeth II appointed him Knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem. In 2011, Norman Kwong was the recipient of an Honorary Degree from the University of Calgary. Normie Kwong passed away in Calgary, on September 3, 2016.
